Goodbye, Mercury!

Bloomberg is reporting that Mercury is going by the wayside, officially so only after a July meeting at Ford. How sad -- but in a way, nothing much lost by the decision. The current model line up for the most part is nothing but re-badged Ford products, and a Grand marquis that is favored buy the oldest demographic group in the American market.

What cannot be lost are memories of the Mercuries of the past that had an impact on my life. In particular, a 1953 Mercury that my cousin Richard (who was 15 years older than I, had in 1955 when he married his first wife Laureen. I loved the shape of that car for some reason, and its maroon color. And then school friend Don Izard's father's 1957 turnpike Cruiser, a wonderfully overly- accessorized model at a time when the dinosaur in the drive reigned supreme in American life.
Edsel Ford's Mercury may be gone after 2010, but in the hearts and minds of us who grew up loving cars, how can we forget the car that was at the center (along with James Dean!) of Rebel without a Cause.