1964 Mercury Park Lane

Edsel Ford conceived the Mercury line of vehicles in 1939 to fill the market gap between Ford and Lincoln. Throughout the years, the marque's image has gone from a premium Ford to a baby Lincoln. During the 1960s, however, Mercury created its own persona with models in three sizes and priced from $2,000 to over $3,500. The top-of-line model was the Park Lane, with premium trim, a fastback hardtop model called 'Marauder,' and powertrain options of up to 425 brake horsepower.

The 1964 Mercury Park Lane had a chrome trim that ran across the bodysides and an interior done in nylon face, biscuit-design upholstery, and walnut-tone door panel inserts. Body styles included a sedan, 2- and 4-door hardtop fastbacks, and a convertible with a glass rear window. Pricing ranged from $3,350 to $3,550. The sedan was the most popular body style with 6,230 sales. 1,786 examples of the hardtop coupe and 1,967 of the convertible made these body styles the most exclusive in the lineup. The 2-door and 4-door pillarless hardtop fastback (model number 57 and 68) body styles were called the Marauders.

Power was from a 390 cubic-inch, overhead-valve V8 with a Ford C4MF-9510D two-barrel carburetor delivering 250 horsepower at 4,400 RPM. a three-speed manual was standard and a four-speed manual and Multi-Drive automation were optional. Optional engines included a 390 CID four-barrel V8 with 300 and 330 horsepower (depending on configuration), a 427 CID V8 with four-barrel carburetor offering 410 horsepower, and a 427 CID V8 with a dual four-barrel carburetor and 425 horsepower. Additional performance options included a heavy-duty battery, power brakes, and tachometer. Luxury options included padded visors, two-tone paint, outside remote-control rearview mirror, tinted windshield and glass, push-button AM radio, and padded instrument panel.

by Daniel Vaughan | Aug 2020