1968 Mercury Monterey

The mid-level Mercury marque was positioned between Ford and Lincoln in the Blue Oval's range and was renowned for its affordable luxury. It excelled at offering upscale style and accouterments at a downmarket price and, occasionally, melding performance with luxury as it did with the Marauder high-performance option offered on the Monterey, Montclair, and Park Lane lines.

The Monterey served several roles during its twenty-two-year existence, from 1952 to 1974. For a period of time, the Monterey was the marque's flagship, mid-range, and entry-level full-size model. In 1968, it was the base-trim full-size sedan.

The 1968 Mercury

Mid-Sized Models

The Comet was a mid-sized, 2-door hardtop that shared its chassis and many components with Ford's mid-sized Fairlane and Torino models. Priced at $2,475, a total of 16,693 examples were built.

The Montego was a new model for 1968, consolidating the previous Capri Comet Caliente into a single nameplate. It, too, was a mid-sized model priced slightly higher than the Comet and adding additional standard amenities. The four-door sedan was priced at $2,500 and the hardtop coupe at $2,550, with 18,492 examples of the former and 15,002 of the latter produced.

The Montego MX was the top-of-the-line mid-sized model offered as a sedan, hardtop coupe, convertible, and station wagon with prices that ranged from $2,660 to $2,940.

The wheelbase measured 116 inches for passenger cars and the station wagons measured 113 inches. The standard engine was an overhead valve, 200 cubic-inch, six-cylinder unit with a one-barrel carburetor, seven main bearings, 8.8:1 compression, and delivered 115 horsepower at 3,800 RPM.

Musclecar / Pony Car

The Cougar two-door hardtop coupe, priced at $2,930, was the company's entry in the popular 'pony car' category. Introduced the previous year and earning Motor Trend's Car of the Year award, it was very popular, with 81,014 examples built in 1968, plus 32,712 of the Cougar XR-7. The Cougar rested on a 111-inch wheelbase and had an overall length of 190.3 inches.

The Cyclone became its own distinct nameplate for the 1968 model year, previously serving as a performance-oriented version of the Comet. For 1968, it was positioned between the Cougar pony car and the full-size two-door models (the Marquis and Marauder). Both the fastback coupe and hardtop coupe were priced similarly, at around $2,770. A total of 12,260 examples were fastbacks and 1,368 were hardtops.

The standard engine was an overhead valve, 302 cubic-inch V8 with a two-barrel carburetor, 9.0:1 compression, and produced 210 horsepower at 4,600 RPM.

Full-Size

Mercury's 1968 full-size models rested on a 123-inch wheelbase platform for its passenger cars and 119 inches for its station wagons. The passenger cars had an overall length of 220.1 inches, and the station wagons were 215.4 inches. The standard engine powering the Monterey, Montclair, and full-size wagons was a 390 cubic-inch V8 with overhead valves, a two-barrel Autolite carburetor, a 9.5:1 compression ratio, and delivered 265 horsepower at 4,400 RPM. The range-topping Park Lane and Marquis were motivated by a 390 CID V8 with 10.5:1 compression and a four-barrel carburetor, boosting output to 315 hp at 4,600 RPM.

The Monterey was the 'base' full-size model with a sedan body style priced at $3,050, a hardtop coupe at $3,130, the hardtop sedan at $3,200, and the convertible at $3,440.

The Montclair was the 'intermediate' full-size model with the sedan priced at $3,330, the hardtop coupe at $3,390, and the hardtop sedan at $3,460. A total of 7,255 sedans, 3,497 hardtop coupes, and 4,008 hardtop sedans were built.

The Marquis was trimmed similarly to the Montclair but had a vinyl-covered roof and a nicer interior. Offered solely as a hardtop coupe, it was priced at $3,685 and 3,965 examples were sold.

The Park Lane was the top-of-the-line full-size model with its sedan priced at $3,550, the hardtop coupe at $3,575, the hardtop sedan at $3,650, and the convertible at $3,820. The most popular body style was the hardtop sedan, with 10,390 examples built, followed by 7,008 of the sedan, 2,584 of the hardtop coupe, and 1,112 convertibles.

1968 Mercury Monterey

The 1968 Mercury Monterey was the final year of the 'Sixth Generation' styling that had been introduced in 1965 and progressively updated year-over-year through 1968 before the all-new sheet metal was unveiled for 1969. The wheelbase of the 1965 Mercury grew by three inches over the previous year, and its all-new chassis was suspended by a redesigned rear setup that replaced the previous leaf springs with a coil-sprung live rear axle. Styling features included a horizontal bar grille with the middle section protruding slightly, four horizontal headlamps (two one each side), and straight-lined front fenders. The rear taillights were vertically and fully integrated into the bumper and rear fenders.

The taillights on the 1966 Monterey were redesigned, abandoning the lower lenses from the bumper and adding chrome trim bands. 1967 brought more revisions, now spanning from the top of the fender to the bottom of the bumper. The two-door hardtops of the 1966 Monterey were given a new roofline with thinner C-pillars; the following year, the four-door sedans received a more formal C-pillar profile.

The 1968 Monterey had larger parking lamp lenses, was devoid of front fender vents, and its front fascia received minor updates, continuing to mirror its Lincoln Continental counterpart. The vertical signal lights wrapped around the front fenders, as did the bumper.

Standard Amenities

The Monterey came standard with a padded dash, padded sun visors, an energy-absorbing steering column and steering wheel, a heater and defroster, an ashtray light, a trunk light, a glovebox light, and shoulder belts. It had dual brakes, four-way emergency flash, side marker lights, and a 390 cubic-inch, 265 hp V8 engine.

Mercury built 30,727 examples of the sedan, 15,145 of the hardtop coupe, 8,927 of the hardtop sedan, and 1,515 of the convertible.

by Dan Vaughan

An automobile marque of the Ford Motor Company, Mercury was founded in 1939 with the purpose to market entry-level-luxury vehicles that were slotted in between Ford-branded regular models and Lincoln-branded luxury vehicles. All Mercury models are today based on Ford platforms. The Mercury name is derived from 'messenger of the gods' of Roman mythology. In the beginning years, Mercury was known for its performance.

The 1950 full-size near-luxury car Mercury Monterey represented a choice that the Ford Motor Company had to make. At the time General Motors and the Chrysler Corporation were producing a plethora of 'hardtop convertibles' and Ford realized that it couldn't convert its year-old bodies into hardtop models at a reasonable cost. Determined not to stand idly by as GM and Chrysler attempted to dominate the car market with its attractive new pillarless coupes.

Ford decided that the only solution was to customize existing two-door bodies into a new line of specialty models. These included the Ford Crestliner, Lincoln Capri and Lido, and the Mercury Monterey.

All of these vehicles were developed from the same formula with grained top coverings that were harmonized with a very limited number of pain colors. Color-coordinated interiors also matched the external theme, while special trim and badging were used both inside and out.

Responsible for the Mercury Monterey's special touches, William Schmidt took over the design work. A choice of either canvas or vinyl roof coverings were offered on the all-new custom coupe, along with either fabric-and-leather or all-leather seats. A deluxe steering wheel was showcased, and bright trim edged the windows on the inside.

The base price of a 1950 Mercury Monterey was $2,146. Mercury's flagship sedan from 1950 through 1974, the classic 'Monterey' was considered to be '4,000 lbs. of Pure Decadence.' Still coveted even today, the sleek lines of those earlier models make the Monterey a popular collectible classic.

Featuring the same chassis and running gear used on all other Mercurys, the Monterey featured a 118-inch wheelbase that ran between coil-and-wishbone suspension up front and leaf springs under a live axle in the rear. Achieving 110 bhp, the Monterey received its power from an L-head V-8 that displaced 255.4 cubic inches.

In early 1951, Ford decided to replace the Crestliner with the first hardtop, regardless of the cost. In 1952 Mercury and Lincoln came out with all-new bodies that were designed to include hardtops.

The Monterey name continued on, but on a premium series of Mercury's in three body styles. The Monterey later shared the same body style with the slightly more upscale Marquis, the Montclair, and the Park Lane. After the 1968 model year, the Montclair and Park were eliminated from the lineup. The Marquis-Monterey body eventually shared the same body as the Ford Galaxie, the Ford Custom, and the Ford LTD.

From 1961 through 1963, the Mercury Monterey was sold in Canada as the Mercury Meteor. Available in three trim lines, the Meteor was sold as the LeMoyne, the Montcalm, and Rideau. After the United States, Monterey was retired, Canadian Meteors were still marketed from 1964 until 1976. They were re-badged Marquis models following the deletion of the U.S. model Monterey in 1974.

The Monterey nameplate was resurrected in 2004 for a minivan, though it was essentially a re-badged Ford Freestar with more features and newly modified cosmetic features. The Monterey comes with a high level of equipment and several styling cues from Mercury. These minivans were made to fill the gap in Mercury's vehicle lineup following the discontinuation of the Mercury Villager. Offered in only one trim level, for 2006 Mercury Monterey was offered in the fully-loaded Luxury edition.

The Luxury edition was featured in front-wheel drive and is powered by a 4.2-liter V6 engine that was matched with a four-speed automatic transmission and anti-lock braking system. The inside of the Monterey featured amazing standard features such as cloth upholstery, dual-zone air conditioning, first and second-row captain's chairs, power sliding doors, tilting steering wheel, and much more.

The all-new Monterey also came with a great safety warranty. Standard occupant-sensing front passenger airbag, heated power-adjustable side mirrors that featured built-in warning/turn signals, perimeter anti-theft system, and Safety Canopy curtain and side-impact airbags. Optional features were Traction Control and Advancetrac electronic stability control.

by Jessican Donaldson