Mercury Eight History

The Mercury Eight was the debut model of Edsel Ford's new Mercury division, introduced at the New York Auto Show in November 1938 for the 1939 model year. Powered by a 239-cubic-inch flathead V8, it was an all-new car positioned in price and size between the V8 Ford and the V12 Lincoln-Zephyr, and over 65,000 sold in its first year.

The redesigned third-generation Eight of 1949–1951 — with its low, slab-sided 'bathtub' body — became the most celebrated base for postwar custom cars. Chopped and lowered into 'lead sleds', cars like the 1953 Hirohata Merc made the '49–'51 Mercury an enduring custom-culture icon; a 1949 Mercury also famously featured in the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause.