Mercury Montego

Mercury does not build many cars like the Mercury Montego: a 2-door hardtop / 2-door convertible / 4-door sedan / 4-door hardtop / 5-door station wagon with 200 cuin I6, built from 1968 to 2007 in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar.

Where it came from

The Mercury Montego is a nameplate that was applied to three separate generations of vehicles marketed by the Mercury division of Ford Motor Company. Taking its name from Montego Bay, Jamaica, the nameplate made its first appearance for 1967 in the Canadian market as part of the Mercury-derived Meteor model line. For 1968, the Mercury Montego made its debut across North America, becoming the Mercury counterpart of the Ford Torino intermediate-size model line for two generations.

For the 1977 model year, Ford revised the intermediate-size product ranges of both its Ford and Mercury divisions; as part of a mid-cycle update, Mercury discontinued the Montego nameplate and expanded the Mercury Cougar line to include a full range of sedans and wagons (with the Ford Gran Torino becoming the Ford LTD II). After a 28-year absence, the Montego nameplate was revived for the 2005 model year, this time applied to a full-size sedan. Marketed between the Mercury Milan and Grand Marquis, the 2005 Montego, internally code-named D333, was the Mercury counterpart of the Ford Five Hundred (D258). For the 2008 model year, the Montego adopted the nameplate of the car it had replaced, becoming the final generation of the Mercury Sable.

Under the skin

Under the skin sits 200 cuin I6; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. The gearbox is a 3-speed manual / 4-speed manual / 3-speed automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 116.0 in (sedans) / 113.0 in (station wagons). These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

In context

Where it sits in Mercury's history is not in doubt: the Mercury Comet / Mercury Cyclone came before it; the Mercury Cougar followed it; it was built at Atlanta, Georgia, United States. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Toyota Hilux, the Peugeot 504, the Range Rover Range Rover. Nearby in the Mercury catalogue sit the Mercury Bobcat and the Mercury Capri.

The money

MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Mercury Montego has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.