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I never thought about that. Only thing that could top that is a "Pearl Harbor Survivor" license plate surround on a Mitsubishi.

(Mitsubishi was the Japanese company that built the Zero's that bombed Pearl Harbor for those not aware of it.)

Tis a true story. My father is a WWII veteran and he makes no bones about not liking Japanese cars. My sister, his first-born bought a Toyota and he didn't talk to her for a while, there was "write you out of the will" talk, but they got over that. He's been a Buick man for a while, and that brand seems safe for a while.

I've never bought a Mercury. Last I checked, they had laws here against releasing Mercury into the environment.
My brother has one and my mother had a couple. I just never saw the point since they were not much different mechanically and usually uglier in appearance. IMO

I have had four Mercury's was more than satisfied with each one. The one thing I liked best was that the dealers that I used provided better service than ford dealers. My feeling was that Lincoln Mercury dealers had more Lincoln attitude toward customers than Ford dealers. May have been just the ones I dealt with seemed to be more interested in the customer being satisfied. This is my feeling as I usually found that the higher price car dealers were more likely to satisfy the buyers.

Agreed that Mercurys has become nothing more than badge-engineered Fords.

However, on the channel 4 (Detroit) local news last night, auto analyst Jim Hall remarked that he thought the news that Mercury will be axed was a deliberate leak, designed to get a reaction from dealers/the general car buying public.

There have been rumors of the marque's demise before.

On the other hand, the division sold about 99,000 cars last year. And their 2010 model lineup is half what it was in 2009.

We shall see!

Also read they were going to two models next year--not sure which two remain but locally judging from the used car offerings, great majority of the past few years sales seem to have been the Grand Marquis. Seem to recall reading Ford was getting rid of the rear drive chassis--not sure when--but if that's the case and the model gone don't know what they will have left that would sell here.

That is sad news, indeed.

Though I was never really into Ford product, there are some Mercury models that intrigued me - like the '49-'51 Mercs, which were so popular with customizers. Then, '55-'56 Mercs have some styling elements which remind me of the V8 Packards that I love so much. I also like the '57-'58 Mercs (in spite of the awkward front bumper) - especially the Turnpike Cruiser. Styling was still different enough during the '60s to make Mercury stand apart from other Ford product; of course, I really like that Breezeway back window (that I wish Packard had been able to pull off years earlier). Yet, one model that really sticks out in my mind was the '67-'70 Cougar; it wasn't just a facelift of the Mustang, but a stretched wheelbase with a complement of equipment and options that offered the masses a sport-luxury car.

IMHO, with a few exceptions Ford styling took a wrong turn coming into the 1970s, and the Big Three started down the garden path with badge-engineering. While Mercury had a brief success with one last Cougar a few years back, its styling was a bit too far out in left-field for my tastes and interior room was poor. That's a shame as it road and handled better than most other cars of the time.

I will always remember the winged messenger and the sign of the cat as great automotive icons.

Seems like the Big Three like to blame shifting market tastes for killing off brands, but it is their own brand mismanagement that is to blame. The manufacturers have lost touch with the very consumers that once made them so successful. I believe that those consumers are still out there in significant numbers, but are turned away by inferior styling, too much content that they don't want, sticker prices that are way out of line with average incomes, and resale values that sink like a stone in water.

The prevailing Amerikan korporate mindset only makes it easier for off-shore brands to make further inroads in the USA.

Of course, I still think there's a market for Plymouths, DeSotos, and Pontiacs - done right.

AP article says Ford will announce Mercury's demise in a conference call later today. Lincoln will get more models to help fill the gap.

Sad to see another Detroit marque bite the dust. My dad has owned a Mercury Marquis since 1973. His current Marquis is a 1992 with 140,000+ miles on it. I drove the 1973 through college. The early 70's Marquis were pretty luxurious compared to the Ford LTDs of the time. We called it a baby Lincoln as it reminded us of a scaled down Town Car. Now the bad news, they had crappy steel. Rust out was common. I had to replace the front doors on the '73 around 1979-80. Only 7 years old.

The mid 60's Montereys and Maurauders were very nice. My uncle had two Montereys (a '65 and a '66). The '66 had the breezeway rear window. That was cool