1970 Mercury Montego

History

Produced during the 1960's, the Montego was an intermediate vehicle manufactured by the Ford Motor company from 1960 until 1976.

A British version of the Mercury Montego was the Austin Montego. Available only in Canada, the Meteor Montego was the top trim level model of the Ford Meteor.

The model name was an inspiration from the exotic Montego Bay, the second city in size and importance in Jamaica. Montego Bay is also the island's tourism capital, and the name has been originally used for this Mercury vehicle since 1967.

Replacing the intermediate Comet in 1968 with the same body-type, it was upsized from the Mercury Cougar. The main differences between the Montego and Comet were the curb moldings, the cigar lighter and a glove box lock.

The MX version of Montego had both full length upper and lower body trim, and chrome wheel well trim. It also came with a vinyl top, metal upper door frames, wood inserts in the lower body molding, carpeting and wood grain trimmed door panels.

Basically considered to be a twin of the Ford Torino, the Cyclone was a variation of the Montego through 1971. The Cyclone came with a mid tire level body tape stripe and shared the same production numbers as the GT version.

In 2005, Mercury used the name for their version of the Ford Five Hundred which eventually replaced the Mercury Sable.

The new and improved Montego includes an optional all-wheel drive system, and has an MSRP of $25,000.

By Jessica Donaldson