1941 Mercury: One Year Only Styling

When the 1941 Mercury Eight premiered, it was radical departure from the rounder, bubbly styling of the ’39-’40 models. The fresh-for-’41 look shared the basic body shell with new Ford Super Deluxe, but with an expanded wheelbase and featured the same flared door bottoms that were the beginning of the end of running boards. The front end had flat, split grilles that resembled a gentleman’s mustache, but the overall look was clean and stylish. Head Designer Bob Gregorie claimed that the ’41 Merc was a ‘compromised’ styling execution because of politics at Ford that he was never happy with. I’m not quite sure why in the world he would say that when you compare this car with clunkier styling with the 1942 Mercury models. The ’42 models came with a very heavy, horizontal grille with too many bars that was ‘busy’ at best. In my opinion (and I’ve said it before), not nearly as elegant, not half as clean. My evidence is in the number of milestone ’41 Mercury Customs: Hal Peterson’s, Bill DeCarr’s, and Bob Tomey’s, for example, compared to the number of custom ’42 or ’46 models built after the war. Regardless, here’s a Mercury factory film extolling the new features of the car. Please post your favorite ’41 Merc custom below!!