OK folks, I am back again with a new challenging project. This time I will restore a very unusual 1967 Mercury S-55 Convertible. The S-55 for 1967 is probably the lowest production Mercury convertible ever. Only 145 cars found their way out of the production line before the model was discontinued in late September 1966.
This specific car was built in ST. Louis September 12 1966 and sold by Yucca Motors in New Mexico on September 30 same year. I know very little about the history of the car until I bought it sitting in a cattle field in Texas back in 2002. I was told the car had been sitting there for at least 20 years, so I did not expect it to be in very good condition. I paid $315 for the car. That is not much for a classic convertible, so what could go wrong? 3 weeks later the shipping agency in Houston, TX called to ask if I really was aware of the condition of my new car. They wanted to make sure that I had not been scammed and they also needed a confirmation on if I really wanted to spend the money to have this "wreck" shipped to Norway. At that point I started to wonder what I had done. Oh well, I like a real challenge, and the car didn't look that bad, or what? Click here to see more:

These pictures shows the car as it was presented to me when i bought it. What's not so visible is that most of the floor and trunk is gone. I was also told that the original 428 motor had found a new good home in a Mustang. The back seat should be in the trunk together with misc other parts that came with the car. As you can see the original Trafalgar Blue paint had been covered with a dark blue color.

1967 Mercury parts WANTED:

All 4 wheel opening moldings, prefer NOS but nice used will also be considered. The part numbers are:

C7MY 16038-A
C7MY 16039-A
C7MY 5429164-A
C7MY 5429165-A

Convertible top tacking strips for rear curtain and top attachment to the quarter panels.

Perfect interior door panels, Parchment or any color Monterey

Trunk lid molding, NOS.

Rubber deflector in between the rear bumper and body of the car.

Rubber molding filling the gap between the quarter panels and bumper


If you think you can help or know about some of these parts, please contact me by e-mail at partsforS55@start.no

With the S-55 here in Norway an inspection made iit pretty obvious that I would need a lot of extra parts to get it restored. What was left of the car was either rusty or had sun and heat damages. The car looked a lot better in pictures than in real life.

What I found to be in good shape was the frame, quarter panels, doors and front fenders. Hood and trunk lid was trash, same thing with the top frame and all of the interior.
It was easy to see that I could need a parts car. The good thing was that I wasn't in a hurry as I had no plans for an immediate restoration of this car anyway.

So in 2005 not one, but two parts cars showed up in my way.

The pale green 4 door is a fully loaded car with the number and date code matching 428/C6. The car was in fact too nice to become a parts car with only 53K miles since new, but because of the vast numbers of doors it had no real value here in as a collector car. The price was right and I decided to buy it.

The convertible parts car was found on ebay, and became mine for $1250. It was rusty, but had a lot of good parts for the restoration and to upgrade my S-55.
Among the parts I found most interesting was the complete power window set up and the perfect working top frame. It also had a 410 motor and C6 transmission and other parts I could sell to get back what I paid for the car.

With parts from these two cars I started to make plans for the restoration. I want to keep the car as original as possible when it comes to colors. That means I will bring it back to the Trafalgar blue (which in fact is more green than blue) color, probably put on a white top and have a new interior made in Parchment color.

The car had a few factory options like power steering and brakes, tilt steering, AC, tinted glass, remote trunk release, 8 track stereo w power antenna and door edge guards.

I want to build a loaded car out of it and will add all the facory options I am able to find. So far I have found power windows, power seats, cruise control, automatic head light dimmer, tissue dispenser, bumper guards, front fender turn signal indicators, cornering lights and more. I also found a complete set of NOS wire wheel covers for it. Time will show if they will be used or if I decide to go for non stock 17 inch Shelby wheels like those in the picture on the top.

1967 Mercury parts FOR SALE:

4 doors from a 4d ht. Rust free and in perfect condition.

Complete MINT interior, 4 door ht

Cornering lights, complete set up

Tilt steering column with automatic shifter

2 complete power seat tracks.

Power windows, complete for 4 door.

4 original steel wheels/rims

1 hood

Front fenders

LH and RH doors 2 door and convertible.

Used front and rear bumpers, not perfect but good user.

9 Inch 31 Spline 2.80:1 differential or complete rear end.

Lots of AC parts, radiators, brake boosters and much more. Please ask, I will ship world wide.

partsforS55@start.no

If you think this is a great project and a great site, but at the same time think I am way slow, that might be a result of my financial situation.
Why not show your appreciation for my restoration work and my effort to bring this unusual Mercury S-55 convertible back to life by a donation to this project? That might speed me up.
THANK YOU.

 

 

I am planning on making a registery on the very few of the 1967 S-55 that are left.

If you know own one of these cars (both convertible and coupe) or have pictures and/or information related to them, please contact me. You can use the same address as I use for parts, partsforS55@start.no to contact me.

Thank you,
Gry A Stordahl.

1967 Mercury Monterey S-55 convertible.

 

Follow the restoration step by step.

Introduction