page_title: Mercury Eight
section_title: First generation (1939–1940)
hierarchical_section_title: Mercury Eight / First generation (1939–1940)
caption_attribution_description: 1939 Mercury Series 99A Convertible Coupé
context_page_description: The Mercury Eight is an automobile that was marketed by the Mercury division of Ford between 1939 and 1951. The debut model line of the Mercury division, Ford slotted the full-size Mercury Eight between the Ford Deluxe model lines and the Lincoln. In total, Ford assembled three generations of the Eight.
  During its production, the Eight offered a full range of body styles, including coupes, sedans, convertibles, and station wagons. For its first generation, the Eight was produced with its own body, adapting its own version of a Ford body for its second generation; for the third generation, the Eight shared its body with the Lincoln.
  For the 1952 model year, Ford expanded its namesake division to three nameplates and Lincoln and Mercury to two each, with Mercury replacing the Eight with Monterey, lasting until 1974.
context_section_description: The advertisements for this car declared it to be "The car that truly dares to ask 'Why?'", referring to the idea that a big car couldn't also be economical. The Mercury was priced in the thousand dollar range, several hundred dollars more than the Ford V-8, several hundred less than the Lincoln-Zephyr and about the same as the upper-range Oldsmobile and Dodges, Hudsons, and the lower-range Buicks and DeSotos, sales from all of which, it was hoped, the new Mercury would usurp. Its engine was a 95 hp version of the Ford flathead V8 engine, its styling was inspired by the Zephyr, and it had hydraulic brakes from the beginning. With a wheelbase of 116.0 in (2,946 mm) and an overall length of 196.0 in (4,978 mm), it was a good-sized car, which the Ford company advertised extensively, together with its up-to-20 mpg performance-"few cars of any size can equal such economy." Double sun visors became standard in 1940. Braking was via 12-inch drums.
  Although "Eight" script would not appear on the front of the hood until the 1941 model year, sales literature prominently referred to the car as the "Mercury Eight" from the very beginning. This is no doubt because the actual series names, 99A in 1939 and 09A in 1940, were somewhat less enticing. A 1940 09A model has the words "Mercury Eight" in an emblem that runs from front to rear alongside the top hood lines on both sides.  It appears as chrome wording on top of a double red bar.
  By the end of 1940 Mercury could run with the headline "It's made 150,000 owners change cars!"
caption: 1939 Mercury 8 Sport Convertible
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