1956 Mercury Montclair Coupe

This 1956 Mercury Montclair 2-door Hardtop Coupe was their best selling model that year and sat in their top-of-the-line range.

While the 1956 Mercury still used the same bodies from the previous year there were some styling changes. The front bumper and grille combination was changed placing the MERCURY lettering along the center bar having been moved from the hood. At the front now sat a large M which was a symbol of the latest “Big M” marketing campaign.

The side trim was changed too, producing a lightning bolt effect. The Montclairs were easy to spot as, in addition to the name script on the front fenders, they had a color panel immediately before the side windows. This was painted the same color as the roof.

side view of the Montclair - Top-of-the-line for Mercury in 1956
Montclair – Top-of-the-line for Mercury in 1956

New for 1956 was a new 3-tier instrument cluster. The deep dish steering wheel came standard with the Montclair and was part of Ford’s safety initiative to protect the driver from the steering column.

Dash / instrument panel of a 56 Montclair
new for ’56

The two-tone interior blends perfectly with the Classic White and Carousel Red exterior.

Interior of a 1956 Mercury Montclair coupe
Matching interior

Under the hood there is a 312 cubic inch ‘Safety-Surge’ V8 engine. This is paired with a Merc-O-Matic Drive automatic transmission. This combination produced 235 horsepower. This year also saw the move to 12 volt electrics.

312 Y-Block V8 from Mercury
312 Y-Block V8

Mercury produced 50,562 Montclair 2-door Hardtop Coupes for the 1956 model year. The base price was $2,765 although this car is also fitted with Merc-O-Matic Drive and power steering which would have cost an additional $189 and $81 respectively. Other options included an AM Town ‘signal seeking’ radio and tinted windows.

This ’56 Mercury Montclair is currently for sale on eBay. (follow the link for even more photos)

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