A late model Ford is parked next to a late model Mercury. Ford decided to end the brand after over 70 years after declining sales.

Edward Vielmetti | AnnArbor.com

Ford Motor Co. announced the end of the Mercury automobile brand Wednesday at a press conference in Dearborn. Edsel Ford launched the brand just before World War II as an affordable luxury brand positioned between Ford and Lincoln and against General Motors' Buick and Oldsmobile lines.

The 14th Annual Orphan Car Show is set for this weekend, Sunday, June 6, at Riverside Park in Ypsilanti. Orphan cars are those which are no longer manufactured; in 2008, this Motor Trend article described the first year that pre-1959 Plymouth vehicles were welcomed, after an eight year wait. The show is run with the support of the Ypsilanti Auto Heritage Museum, located in Depot Town in the old Miller Motors Hudson dealership.

Here are some links about the Mercury brand, both recent and historical coverage.

News roundup

NPR runs an AP story. On air, Tracy Samilton covers the auto beat: "Mercury sales peaked in 1978 at more than 580,000 vehicles but just over 92,000 Mercurys were sold last year."

New York Times: Jerry Garrett writes the Wheels blog for the Times. He has two retrospectives on Mercury, writing about classic ads and "a brand without a cause." "When Ford came out with the popular Mustang, Mercury got its equivalent model in the Cougar - a model that proved to be one of Mercury's most popular."

The Los Angeles Times coverage focuses on the effect on Lincoln, Ford's luxury brand: "Previously, with Mercury paired with Lincoln, it was kind of like selling Cartier watches and Timex watches side by side. It was hard to get the luxury experience," said Brian Allan, general manager of Galpin Premier, a Lincoln Mercury dealer in Van Nuys. Freed of Mercury, Lincoln can now become a "true competitor to Lexus and other imports," he said.

The LA Times auto beat is covered by Jerry Hirsch, who moved there from the food beat. The paper's announcement of the new assignment notes that Hirsch "has proven himself to have a keen eye for the kinds of stories that resonate with readers and rocket their way to the top of the most-viewed and most-emailed lists."

Xinhua, the Chinese news service, notes that "Mercury is the latest American brand to die as part of an industry-wide restructuring. Others included the Chrysler Plymouth and GM's Saturn, Hummer, Pontiac and Oldsmobile."

More coverage: MLive, Detroit Free Press, Associated Press.

The Mercury brand

Mercury started as an entry level luxury brand, placed between the Ford and Lincoln brands. According to a 2003 Ford media release, "In 1939, the first model, the Mercury 8, went into production. The 1939 Mercury 8 sold for $916 and boasted a 95-horsepower V-8 along with more room and comfort than the $825, 85-horsepower Ford Deluxe. More than 65,000 were built the first year."

"Announcing the New Mercury 8 for 1941," trumpets this Oct 7, 1940 ad in LIFE Magazine: "Introduced just two years ago, in a field crowded with well-established cars, the Mercury dared to challenge the recognized standards of value and performance with new ideas! And to date, it has won over 150,000 owner-friends!"

The most popular Mercury model was the Mercury Cougar, seen in this 1975 advertisement featuring the late Farah Fawcett. At various times in its history, the Cougar was a mechanical twin of the Ford Mustang, Torino, Thunderbird, Granada, Fairmont and Contour models. The Wikipedia page for the Mercury Cougar has a lot of detail; MercuryCougar.net is a forum and bulletin board for enthusiasts, who are mostly enthused about the older models.

The Mercury Lynx was a compact car produced by Ford for its Mercury division from 1981 to 1987. It was a rebadged version of the Ford Escort, and its final assembly was at the Wayne, Michigan Ford plant. "Impressive advances over the Pinto/Bobcat", wrote Popular Science in October 1980. "In the trade, we also call this "damning with faint praise".

Orphan Car Show in Ypsilanti

More detail on the Ypsilanti Orphan Car Show is on the Arborwiki page; I wasn't able to find a main page for the show itself on the Internet.

Mercury as toxic metal

The Mercury brand couldn't have been helped by the growing realization that metallic mercury is a potent neurotoxin.

On July 10, 2000, the City Council of Ann Arbor approved a new Ordinance to add Chapter 69, Mercury Thermometers, banning their sale in the city.

The Ann Arbor Ecology Center's, Clean Car Campaign is an effort to systematically replace automobile switches with those that are free of mercury.

Mercury playlist

Here's a playlist that will help you think about Mercury, though perhaps not in the same way that Edsel Ford would have thought you should.

Mercury in Retrograde by the Reverse Engineers: "You can't flee Mercury in retrograde".

Bohemian Rhapsody, originally from Queen, here seen performed by the Muppets. Animal performs the first solo, sung in the original by the late Freddie Mercury.

Salon has a review of Bob Dylan's "Thin Wild Mercury Music," from 1965-1966.

Edward Vielmetti is the grand nephew of the late Chester Vielmetti, who ran a Chevrolet garage in Ishpeming. Contact him at edwardvielmetti@annarbor.com.