The 1949 Mercury: Happy 70th Birthday!

We actually passed her birthday back in June, but it’s worth noting that the iconic 1949 Mercury debuted in the Summer of 1948. When the first post-war Mercury was revealed, it’s E.T. Gregorie design felt like the car’s exterior had jumped ahead a full decade in just one model year, and it was finally it’s own unique platform from the baby brother Ford. By the Fall of that year, Sam Barris bought a new Merc and promptly began lowering, shaving, and eventually chopping his coupe into what would set the standard for the ultimate post-war custom (nay, Kustom). This car’s status would be further cemented by Louie Bettancourt’s chopped ’49 Merc built by the Ayala Brothers around the same time, followed by the Wally Welch, Jerry Quesnel, and Buddy Alcorn versions within a year or so. By late 1955, the ground-breaking film ‘Rebel Without A Cause’ showcased the custom 1949 Mercury Coupe as the counter-cultural ‘bad boy’ vehicle of choice to uptight 50s American society. I doubt a mild custom ’49 Frazer Manhattan sharing the screen with James Dean would have had quite the same impact…