RIDE-CT – Classic Cars Celebrating Classic Cars in Connecticut
TORRINGTON, CT – Sometimes stories take unusual twists after the fact. That’s true of even RIDE-CT classic car stories, and, specifically, one published three months ago about a model that wasn’t what it was believed to be at the time. It’s actually a rarer, short-lived and largely forgotten model bearing a different name…
For seven years or so, Roger O. Geiger of Torrington has owned and enjoyed a two-tone 1958 Mercury sedan that he thought was a Monterey. RIDE-CT wrote about him and his stunning classic car in a mid-August, but it wasn’t long before a puzzling question arose once the story got shared on the website’s YouTube channel.
A viewer watched the video that showed off the model and immediately asserted, “The car isn’t a 1958 Mercury Monterey, it’s a 1958 Mercury Medalist.” The person’s identity and location weren’t disclosed. A request for those details went unanswered, but the claim took Geiger (and RIDE-CT) by surprise. It also prompted some digging into the models that Mercury offered 66 years ago.
Here’s the original YouTube video on the 1958 Mercury…
—
Like the other Detroit automakers back in the 1950s, Mercury had a body style for its main car offering and sold different trim levels. Each level had a name. The brand’s 1958 brochure shows the Monterey at the low end, the more upscale Montclair in-between and the Park Lane at the top end. There were also variants within the models. All versions promised “sports-car spirit and limousine ride.”
However, the viewer disclosed that the Medalist “was introduced later in the model year” as a less expensive, entry-level Mercury – below the Monterey – to compete with the then-new Edsel, another Ford brand that only lasted from 1958 to 1960. The Medalist’s mid-year introduction likely explains why it wasn’t shown in the Mercury brochure for the 1958 model year.
“Medalists were built only in two-door and four-door sedan form. The name plate on the front fenders says ‘Mercury.’ Early Medalists were built with that name plate. On later Medalists, the ‘Mercury’ name was replaced by a ‘Medalist” name plate,” the YouTube viewer wrote.
Geiger’s Mercury says “Mercury” on the fenders.
Trim Gives Away Model’s Identity
The giveaway as to the model’s identity, the person noted, is the side trim: “The one-strip side trim is Medalist trim.” Other, more expensive Mercury models in 1958 have two-strip side trim.
Geiger’s Mercury has only one trim strip.
Seeking confirmation that Geiger actually owned a Medalist, RIDE-CT contacted the International Mercury Owners Association in Northbrook, Ill. in mid-October and was initially told by the club’s Jerry Robbin that there wasn’t such a model as a Medalist in 1958. End of story, right?
A few hours later, though, Robbin sent another email saying that further digging revealed there was indeed a Medalist model that year. He provided a photo showing single bodyside trim on a two-door model.
The photo included info that said the MSRP for a four-door 58C version of the Medalist was $2,617 and that 10,982 examples were manufactured. Robbin also supplied additional evidence that there were two Medalist versions – the four-door 58C sedan and the two-door 64B sedan.
Medalist Identity Confirmed
Geiger’s car is a two-door model. A few days after RIDE-CT got confirmation of the Medalist model from Robbin, Geiger took his car to the Car Show on the Beach in Morris where, together, we inspected the patent plate on his car. Under “STYLE” was stamped the designation “64B.”
So, yes, the original story’s description of Geiger’s car as a Monterey wasn’t accurate; something Geiger himself didn’t know. He bought the car from the estate of the previous owner in Denver, which touted it as a Monterey, and he had no reason to question that it was anything else – until RIDE-CT began its inquiry.
“I was amazed. I could not believe it ’cause it was really set in my mind what is was, but now I know it’s more than likely not (a Monterey),” he said recently. “The belief right now (is) that it is truly a Medalist.”
Rather than be upset, Geiger is pleased. “I’m glad of that because it makes it a little more rare on top of being beautiful,” he said.It also might be worth more because the Medalist was only built for half of the 1958 model year. It was sold as “a brand-new, low-cost series … that gives you big-car size, weight, roominess, luxury, ride and handing ease…” The recessionary model wasn’t offered the following year in 1959.
“It may make it more valuable. If so, probably not that much, but it makes it a lot more interesting ’cause it makes it even more rare of a car,” Geiger said.
“When have you lately seen a ’58 Merc? On top of that now, when have you seen a ’58 Merc Medalist? Probably not. Even though it’s not a high-end car, now it’s become a more interesting car.”
Geiger talks about the Medalist in this YouTube video…
—
That’s not the end of the story, though.
After finishing up an interview with Geiger at his home eight days ago for this follow-up report, I asked him to pull out the car’s registration, expecting it to say “Monterey.” It didn’t. Instead, under model, the registration said “MONTCLAI” – an agency abbreviation for the even more expensive Montclair.
Not only did Geiger not know what model he owned for many years, the state of Connecticut still doesn’t.
(Photos by Bud Wilkinson)
