1969 Mercury Monterey Sedan

[tomsheehy]

Finished this one up a few weeks ago...1969 Mercury Monterey, Missouri State Highway Patrol replica. Too Many Projects 3D resin body w/his clear glass. Body is mated to the AMT 70 Ford police kit for chassis and interior with modifications. Dashboard is from my parts box, a spare 80s LTD dash from another project. Paint is Tamiya TS87 titanium gold and is a close match for the 69 Mercury gold shade. Decals are Chimneyville, lights are from the JoHan 68 Plymouth police kit with clear domes by Plaskit (painted clear red). Roof speaker is 3D printed by Shapeways.

[espo]

Great looking paint and trim finishes. The Police equipment looks very well done. Interesting that MO. Highway Patrol used the Mercury in 1969. Where I was living in California a few of the cities went with the Mercury as well as a couple of CHP units. 

[Yeah Nah]

Always good to see the unusual! Partially open rear windows are a nice touch.

[Jim B]

Great looking Mercury. Very well done. 

[Hard_2_Handle_454]

Cool

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Good looking cruiser!

 

[stavanzer]

Wow!

Awesome Cruiser. The Gold Colour is striking.

 

Good Show.

[Rodent]

7 hours ago, espo said:

Where I was living in California a few of the cities went with the Mercury as well as a couple of CHP units. 

Yes, the CHP used Montereys in 1970. They were odd cars. Even though the 429 had come online for civilian use, the police package was still the tried and true 428 Police Interceptor. Legend has it that the cowboy cops found them "tail happy" after years of understeering Dodges because Ford added a rear stabilizer bar to the police package. I found one at PickNPull in 1999-2000 and I am 100% certain that they didn't know what they had. The only thing missing was the carburetor. The engine and C6 transmission were intact and I am sure someone got them for $100-200.

LAPD used 351C-4V Montegos in 1970 which were probably a good match for the 383 Belvederes they used previously.

Nice build, I enjoyed it!

[Sledsel]

Very Cool

[ChrisR]

Very nice.

[XYHARRY]

Very nice Mercury cruiser, well done Tom. 

Cheers, 

David. ??

[Gustavo Reis]

Beautiful cop car.

[Bainford]

Cool Merc. It's good to see the less common subjects modeled. The Merc looks great as a police cruiser. Nice work.

[TooOld]

Nicely done !  How hard was it to polish the printed windshield ?

[tomsheehy]

3 hours ago, TooOld said:

Nicely done !  How hard was it to polish the printed windshield ?

The clear windshield/rear window are very well done, and very clear.  My only negative is that they're a bit too thick.  They do require a little bit of trimming to massage them into place, and you should definitely pre-fit them prior to paint.

[tomsheehy]

Thanks for all the replies.

As far as Missouri using Mercurys, they had a long history of using full sized premium sedans all through the 60s. 70s  and into the 80s.  And a mix of many makes each year, and colors were mixed, not just one  color.  It is not unusual to see a fleet photo containing Mercurys, Buicks, Pontiacs and Chryslers.  They also used their share of Oldsmobiles and AMCs.  Once the mid 80s came along, they standardized and pretty much went with Fords or Chevies.

Here's a 1965 image from MSHP with a row of Buicks and Chryslers...

Edited June 27, 2024 by tomsheehy

[ncbuckeye67]

That is an amazing build. I love old cop cars!

[PappyD340]

Looks great!

[thatz4u]

get stopped by this car & judge will say "Show Me" the money...well done...

[slusher]

Beautifully done!