My 1940 Mercury Sedan Coupe

Tom O’Donnell

When my sons were pre-teens, I decided that I needed to spend more time with them.  Madeleine and I discussed it and decided that an old car would interest them, especially if they could work on it with me. With my job, I wasn’t able to commit to Little League or Scouting but I could grab a couple of hours with my sons when I was home to work on the car. The decision was to get a stylish convertible or coupe with enough room for all 6 of us.

I have always liked the Ford V8 engine. It is peppy, easy to work on and requires few special tools to do regular maintenance. I had several Fords and Mercurys and liked the 1940 models the best. The 41,42, 46,47,48 convertibles were more roomy than the 1940 models and both Madeleine and I liked the styling of the 47 and 48 Mercs. We started the search for 47 Merc convertible. I looked at several convertibles in Illinois, New York and California. Most of the eastern cars had serious rust problems with the body mounts and trunk floor. The California cars were priced as if they were gold plated.

We were at the Auburn auction when there were a 1939 Ford convertible, a 1940 Ford business coupe with the jump seats and a 1939 Mercury coupe for sale. We ruled out the 2 Fords as we would not have enough room for all 4 kids in them, The Ford coupe was very tempting until I remembered how uncomfortable those jump seats were. Madeleine liked the Mercury styling, but bidding went way over our limit.

Two months later, I saw this 1940 Mercury Sedan Coupe for sale and the price was within reach. It was a California car and rust free. I negotiated with the seller and arranged to have the car shipped to Illinois. My boys and I worked on the car for the next 2 years to make it presentable and drivable. We spent many hours together looking for parts and then installing them on the car.

The 1939 and 1940 Mercury bodies were just for Mercury. No components are shared with Ford, while the 1941-1948 Mercury used the same body as the Ford with a longer hood and front fenders. When you have the 1940 Ford and Mercury side by side, you can see the wider body, longer hood and sharper angle to the windshield on the Mercury. The wider body also gives the car wider seats and more interior room. The longer wheel base of the Mercury makes it ride better than the Ford. The sedan Coupe body has unique styling similar to the “hardtop convertibles” of the 1950’s cars. The body is a convertible body with a hardtop welded on. This was done to reduce costs by having one set of dies for 2 cars.

Over the years, we have attended many shows with the car and have enjoyed driving it. We also collected many NOS and good used parts to upgrade the car.

In 2003, we decided that it was time to repaint the car and rebuild the engine as it was burning oil. My son Steve and my grandson, Tom helped me take the car apart and Jordon Beller helped me get the pieces to the body shop where it would be repainted. I hauled the engine to the machine shop to be rebuilt.

Over the winter, I made new plastic for the dashboard and straightened and polished some of the stainless. The pieces that were beyond my skills were sent to Jack Edison in Florida. I had the chrome plating stripped from the window moldings and painted them with a base coat for wood graining. I am still trying to get the right look on the wood graining. I also refurbished the buckets for the head lights and tail lights with new paint, wires and looms. Bob Paladino color matched the dashboard paint for me.

The body shop finished the paint job in the last week of July. I started putting it together in the body shop and they helped me when the task called for 2 or more people. While I was waiting for the paint to cure on the fenders, I installed the stainless on the hood and body. I also installed the chrome on the hood and deck lid. We put the rear fenders on, and then the dashboard. The front fenders were mounted along with the grill and left loose until the hood could be lined up. Then we aligned the front fenders with the hood. The doors took a lot of work to get them to line up. The reproduction upper seal was too thick and a new one had to be ordered. We aligned the lower halves to close properly and left the upper stainless loose until the new seals came. Steve came over a few times to help in the afternoon and we had the car ready to come home in the middle of August.

My son, Steve, son-in-law Joe and grandson Tom all helped putting the car together. We installed the windshield, back window, gas tank, seats and motor in the next week. The car was running by the end of August and it went to the upholstery shop for a new headliner. When it came back, the rest of the glass was put in. There were many problems with the engine and the car didn’t get into good running condition until September of 2004, when a different engine was put in.

The car is running good now. I took it to the Auburn Motorfest last summer and it performed well. I intend to take it to Winona and the Motorfest this year as well as going on local tours and attending some cruise nights with my granddaughters.

What I like most about my car is the memories of working on it with my sons and how it kept us close. Now my Grandchildren enjoy the car as much as I do. They can ride in a car that is different from the usual cars on the street.

Because the car was designed before air conditioning became standard, it is comfortable to ride around with the windows open. And they roll all the way down to the sill, not just halfway like the modern cars. The car also sits higher than newer cars and the grandkids enjoy looking down on the drivers in modern iron.

All four of my kids still come to visit the Mercury and enjoy going for rides in it. My 3 grandsons all talk about getting an old car to restore and my 3 granddaughters are still interested in collector cars and talk about driving one when they get their license. Two of my granddaughters are getting to the age where boys are becoming interesting and finding out that boys like to talk about cars. So their interest in cars is growing also.