Follow the ongoing restoration of my 1967 Mercury Monterey S-55 Convertible. The S-55 for 1967 is the lowest production USA made Mercury convertible ever made with its 145 cars produced before the model was discontinued in late September 1966. Today only a handful of the 145 S-55's exists, and very few have been restored so far.

When I bought my S-55 back in 2002 I wasn't looking for a car like this at all. Anyway, when it showed up for sale on eBay I could not resist it because of its rarity. From the auction description it was obvious that this car would require a total restoration. The bidding on the car was slow and I got the winning bid at $315. That's not bad for a classic convertible.

I know very little about the life of this car. I have found that it was built in ST. Louis September 12 1966 and sold by Yucca Motors in New Mexico on September 30 same year. Then there is a huge history gap until it was pulled out of a cattle field in Texas back in 2002. The seller of the car pulled the original 428 motor and transmission which he intended to use in a Shelby Mustang.
I have a Marty report for the car, which shows that it is 1 of 7 cars with this color combination.

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. As you can see the original Trafalgar Blue paint had been covered with a dark blue color.

1967 Mercury parts WANTED:

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

C7MY 16038-A (RH Front)

C7MY 5429164-A (RH rear)
C7MY 5429165-A (LH Rear)

These will also fit from 1967 Monterey, 1967 Montclair, 1967 Wagon and 1968 Monterey.



Perfect interior door panels, Parchment is preferred, but any color for a 2 door Monterey will work.


If you think you can help or know about some of these parts, please contact me by e-mail at partsforS55@stordahl.com

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 and will add all the factory options and accessories 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:

Cornering lights, complete set up


Power windows, complete for 4 door.

4 original steel wheels/rims 15" x 6"

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@stordahl.com

If you love this project and my web site, but at the same time think I am way too 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 working on a registery for the very few of the 1967 S-55 that are left.

If you own or know about one of these cars (both convertible and coupe) or just 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