Sales figures in 1949 for both Ford and Mercury broke records. The 1949 Mercury Eight was the first post World War Two design. The Mercury Eight was first introduced in 1939 and lasted until the 1951 model year.
The new design introduced in 1949 would also last through the 1951 model year. The Mercury’s new design for 1949 was truly new. The design was so well received that the 1950 Mercury models would see very little changes from the 1949 models.
Some other automobile post war designs were considered little different than the prewar models. The 1949 Mercury was different. Just about everything was changed when compared to the 1948 models. The Lincoln model of that year also came out with a clearly new design. All models of the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury lines came out with much more modernized designs in 1949.
Mercury’s Place in the Ford Motor Company Line
Mercury was created to be positioned between the Fords and the Lincolns. The price gap between the highest priced Ford model and the lowest priced Lincoln model was large. The Mercury was meant to fill that large price gap.
The marquee name was introduced in 1938 by Edsel Ford, Henry Ford I’s son. The Mercury was also introduced in spite of the fact that Henry Ford didn’t believe he needed a new brand.
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