Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
"1949 Mercury Eight convertible coupe." A golden Forty-Niner if there ever was one. Color transparency from the Ford Motor Co. photographic archives. View full size.
And I bet you will find models like this still in drive-able condition in Cuba!
The 1949 Mercury Eight convertible coupe was the first and last American automobile that featured a steering wheel mounted on the inside of the passenger door.
Either that or a land slug. But still very beautiful.
Thanks, Dave, for these old Ford photos. I'm enjoying this series so much!
I'm guessing these were medium-format Kodachromes?
[Or Ektachromes. - Dave]
Thanks, also, to Sewickley for posting this photo of the '56 Merc. I love this car. Especially in the front-end treatment, I seem to see the influence of the 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car. Looks swell.
[The Futura influenced the 1956-57 Lincolns. - Dave]
A time of extreme class and sophistication in the US.
For my taste, the '49 has an elegant simplicity that looks good even 70 years later. It's interesting to watch how the design changed year by year. By 1956, a similar Mercury was a very different car: loud and busy to my eye, but you may think otherwise.
Dave, what can you tell us about this collection? Is it a collection that's available online, for public view? I ran a Google search on "Ford Motor Co. photographic archives", but all I found are things like a Facebook page of mostly old Ford of England pictures, and the collections of The Henry Ford Museum. So, not anything that looks like this collection.
[Click here. - Dave]
Oh, *that* site. I didn't realize it was the Ford media site. I've visited there before, but it was years ago (maybe ten or more years). I'll have to go poke around there. Thanks Dave.
"Well my baby went out, she didn't stay long.
Bought herself a mercury, come a cruisin' home.
Hey now mama you look so fine, ridin' round in your mercury 49.
She's crazy 'bout a mercury".....
*Thank you Alan Jackson
Go downtown; buy a Mercury or two!!!
Is the actual paint name for this golden oldie.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5