Ted Burleson ’s gleaming smasher of a 1950MercuryMonterey coupe featured here proves that the choices we make in life history can be very of import .
The Los Angeles - built Merc spent many year in Colorado before the Alton , Illinois , adult male get thecarin 1990 and finished its renovation . " It was a rust - free car in good condition to start with , " Burleson noted . Good choice , Ted .
The Monterey itself represented a choice Ford Motor Company had to make back in ' 50 . Suddenly surround by a legion of " hardtop convertible " from rival General Motors and Chrysler Corporation brand name , Ford determined it could n’t commute its year - older torso into hardtops at a fairish cost .
But neither could it afford to stand idly by as GM andChryslerwooed railway car buyers with their attractive new pillarless coupes . The temporary solution was to custom-make exist two - door bodies into a new line of credit of speciality good example : Ford Crestliner , Lincoln Lido and Capri , and Mercury Monterey .
The elevator car were formulate from the same chemical formula . Grained top coverings harmonized with a limited number of paint color , and color - coordinate inside correspond the international theme . Special passementerie and badging were used inside and out .
The Monterey ’s special touch were project under the focussing of William Schmidt , whose Lincoln - Mercury Division styler performed a short face lift of Eugene Gregorie ’s 1949 Mercury design for 1950 . The custom coupe came with a pick of canvass or vinyl radical cap coverings , and fabric - and - leather or all - leather seat . Bright trim adjoin the windows on the inside , and a deluxesteeringwheel was used .
Burleson ’s Cortaro Red Metallic Monterey is topped by a black vinyl group roof and features all - leather upholstery , option that together added $ 21 to the $ 2,146 stand price of a 1950 Monterey .
Otherwise , it features the same chassis and draw cogwheel used on all other Mercurys . The 118 - inch wheelbase runs between curlicue - and - wishbonesuspensionup front and leaf spring under a lively axle in the rear . Power comes from an L - nous V-8 displacing 255.4 cubic inches and making 110 bhp .
Regardless of the cost , Ford felt oblige to introduce its first hardtop in early 1951 to supersede the Crestliner . Mercury and Lincoln attend on with their gussied - up coupe until re - engineered railroad car came out for 1952 with all - newfangled bodies design to include hardtop . The Monterey name persist in , but on a premium series of Mercs in three trunk styles . However , none of that can change the fact that a ' 50 Monterey like Ted Burleson ’s is a pick automobile .
