The listing for this 1952 Mercury Monterey is a new twist on automobile promotion. There are adequate images included but no details other than an inspection report which must be, well, inspected, to determine what’s what with this 1952 Mercury Monterey. I’ll hit the highlights and you all can peruse the report if you want more specifics. This Monterey two-door hardtop is located in New London, Wisconsin and is available, here on eBay for a current bid of $2,222 with four bids tendered so far.

I find an interesting attraction to auto marques that are fallen flags. The story with Mercury isn’t a whole different than what happened to Plymouth and Pontiac, among others. Once the “uniqueness” is bred out of a brand it simply becomes a more, or less, expensive version of what becomes the surviving brand. And unfortunately, that was Mercury’s destiny. We had a ’68 Mercury Monterey in our family way back when and a friend’s family had a ’68 Ford LTD – there wasn’t a lot of difference. Sure the styling between the two was discernable but it was just skin deep, the remainder was pretty similar. Fast forward thirty years and those ’68 differences were no more, it became an exercise in badge engineering – how unfortunate!

So, before all of that happened, there were more notable differences between a Mercury and a corresponding Ford. Take the engine, for example, both Merc and Ford used a flathead V8 but the big M’s was a  125 HP, 255 CI V8, while the corresponding Ford’s powerplant was a 110 HP, 239 CI unit. Sure, they’re similar in design and architecture but the Mercury’s mill is larger and more powerful as a marketing plan would designate for a more upscale car. Unfortunately, according to the inspection report, this Mercury’s flathead is a non-runner. Supposedly there are fuel and electrical problems though the cooling system checks out as OK – seems to me that the engine would need to be operational to know that with certainty. The Merc-O-Matic automatic transmission checklist has been wisely left blank.

As for the body, the images show a pretty straight, corrosion-free canvas though the report has the boxes for “poor condition“, “missing components” and “significant rust” checked. The rear bumper has obviously been painted silver, and the result is not working, and the finish, though burned through in places, doesn’t show badly. Underneath, the frame is revealing heavy scale, and maybe worse, it’s hard to tell with certainty. One nice styling feature of this Monterey is the three-piece backlight. It’s ostensibly done that way because of the technical inability to bend the glass as sharply as desired, but the result is stylish.

The interior is obviously a redo and the white vinyl/red pipping upholstery is a matter of taste, it does show well, however. Ditto the carpet, that looks like a recent replacement. I have to say, I like the instrument panel with its protruding “shelf” and vertically positioned levers – it reminds me of a locomotive operating station. It’s safe to say that the dash has been repainted at some point in the past – it looks OK but not like a factory application. The inspection sheet states that the fuel gauge and the “tach” are inoperative. With a no-functioning electrical system, I’m not certain how the status of the fuel gauge can be known and the tach selection is obviously an error.

The verdict? This is a car that really needs an in-person inspection. It shows well enough and seems to belie the inspection report, but it obviously has problems that only a good set of eyeballs will be able to verify its true condition. Take a chance on it as described? Not me, how about you?