There is a 56 Mercury Medalist being advertised as a “one year offered” car which is obviously not correct. I can find others that are 55, 56 & 58 but no 57. Were they so rare that I can’t turn one up or was there no 57 Medalist offered?
The \Medalist was produced in 56, skipped in 57, then built again in 58, for the last time. Actually, the Medalist was a “stripper” model. Unfortunately, it was priced very competitively with the Ford Fairlane and if you could “deal”, you might get a Ford Fairlane 500, which were much dressier looking cars.
I found a 55 Medalist for sale at Redmond Motors LLC in Redmond, Oregon.
It looks much more like 55 than 56 trim on it but the VIN starts 56SL………….. That looks more like a 56 VIN.
It’s listed in the http/bend.craigslist.org listings. I would be interested in your take on it.
I have to wonder why they left out 57 and what caused them to reinstate it in 58.
Thanks for your contact
Joe Woelfel
If the serial number begins 56SL that is a ’56 built in St Louis. There were no ’55 Medalists according to my shop manual which lists all of the ’55 models. I believe in ’55 the “cheap” Merc was a Custom.
As to why there are no ’57 Medalists, who knows.
Were you able to find the listing of the car I mentioned?
http://www.redmondmotorsllc.com/vehicle-details/1955-mercury-medalist-sedan-5c0d053da058e74e8dbdae3a2cd02ad1/
Certainly looks like a 57 but I wasn’t even aware of a “Medalist” until I came across the 56 for sale. Don’t count me among the experts. I just find it interesting.
Joe,
Thanks for the link to the ad for the car. For a bunch of easily seeable reasons that is NOT a ’55. The grill is from a ’56, the “MERCURY” lettering on a ’55 is on the hood, not the bumper as on the car pictured. The quarter panel molding is definitely a ’56 and it is a Medalist model which was not made in ’55. Also, as stated above, the serial number of 56SL is for sure a ’56.
I have seen this come up before on these older cars. When the car was an early production (for the model year) and it was registered for the first time, many motor vehicle departments (the local county in my case in Nebraska) registered the car for the year it was built but not the model year of production. Remember, back in the 50s the new cars were almost always introduced in September or early October. The confusion can arise from that. It could also be a simple typing error on the title or registration as well.
.
