The 1952 Mercury Monterey is a full size automobile. The Monterey was named after the California town on Monterey Bay in Central California.
The Monterey first appeared in 1950 as a high end part of the Mercury Eight Series. In 1950 the Monterey was offered as a two door coupe. Two years later in 1952 the Monterey came out as it’s own series and with more models.
As a side note, the Mercury brand was introduced for the 1939 model year and sold 65,000 vehicles that first year. That was a record to date for the first year of a new car brand. The 1939 Mercury 8 was the idea of Edsel Ford and was intended to fill a gap in Ford’s rather narrow product offerings.
The Monterey model was produced from 1952 to 1974 and during this time the model was offered in all shapes and sizes. As an example, the Mercury Monterey served as a high-end, mid-range, and entry-level full size Mercury model at various times during it’s production run. .At one time many referred to the Mercury Monterey as the Little Lincoln. There were a lot of similarities between the two brands, Lincoln and Mercury, except for the lower Monterey price tag.
1952 Mercury Monterey Styling
Some have said that Mercury’s were Fords with lots of chrome and new badges. If that was the case, the 1950’s may have proved them wrong because Mercury took on all new styling with plenty of new innovations. These included the Merc-O-Matic transmission, retracting rear windows, an automatic front seat adjustment and more.
Mercury automobiles went through a restyling for 1952 as did all Ford Motor Company models.For the 1952 model year the Monterey was available in more models. These included a four door sedan, convertible, and station wagon.
Changes for 1952 included a redesign of the dashboard. The exterior saw a larger windshield with chrome all around the window.
Standard equipment with the 1952 Monterey included power steering and power brakes, full carpeting, nylon or vinyl seats for the convertibles and two tone paint. Options included a heater, windshield defroster, fog lights, and radio.
1952 Mercury Monterey Specifications
The 1952 Mercury Monterey was produced with a 255 Cubic Inch Flathead V-8 delivering 125 HP.
The 1952 Monterey offered three transmission choices. These were the Silent-Ease manual, the three speed Merc-O-Matic automatic, and the Thrifty Touch-O-Matic Overdrive.
Brakes are power assisted four wheel hydraulic drums.
1952 Mercury Monterey dimensions include a 118.0 inch wheelbase, 206.8 inch overall length, 76.9 inch width, 64.8 inch height.
The 52 Monterey was known for it’s good handling characteristics due to it’s independent suspension in the front and it;s solid axle design in the rear.
As a whole, 1952 Mercury production ended up being about one half of the 1951 totals. What contributed to this was certainly the Korean War and a recession.
1952 Mercury Monterey estimated production totaled 59,660 vehicles. Out of that number 5,600 were convertibles. The 1952 Monterey Convertible was priced new at about $2,380.
Related Auto Museum Online articles are found on the links below..
Reference material used for this article includes..55 Years of Mercury : The Complete History of the Big M by John Gunnell..Complete Book of Collectible Cars by the Editors of Consumer Guide..Mercury Gold Portfolio 1947-1966 by R.M. Clarke.
1952 Mercury Monterey Collector Automobiles
Mercury automobiles of the early to mid 1950’s are fairly popular with collectors. It was during the early 1950’s a few years after the Ford Motor Company unveiled their new post war designs that Mercury stood out. One example is that in 1952 the Mercury line expanded to the Custom and Monterey passenger vehicles along with wagons.
Excellent examples of the 1952 Mercury Monterey Convertible may be found in an asking price range from $35,000 to $45,000. The higher end of this would be a model in pristine condition and original.
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