If you have a Mercury with OEM Mercury Wheels on it, then you probably already know that Mercury was a marque of Ford and it was founded in 1939. It was discovered by the son of Henry Ford: Edsel Ford. The reason of Mercury was so it can market entry-level-luxury cars that were slotted between Ford models and Lincoln luxury models.
The name "Mercury" comes from the meaning "messenger of the Gods"; which is from Roman mythology; and if you love Roman mythology then you know way more than I do.
When Mercury was at it's beginning, they were known for their performance and their Mercury Wheels.. I think, but their performance for sure. You can find the Mercury brand complete with Mercury Marauder Rims here in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and even in the Middle East! In around 1999, Mercury was dropped in Canada.. even though they were still marketing the Grand Marquis.
Earlier this year (well it had to be earlier this year because the year is ending!), Ford decided to phase out Mercury so they can focus more on Ford brands and Lincoln brands.
In 1935, Edsel Ford had come up with a design for a more luxurious version of the Ford; he wanted to call it the "Falcon". Since he didn't think it was going to fit in with the other Ford models, he came up with a new brand - and then Mercury was born.
Right from the beginning, Mercury appeared as if they still needed to find their place here in North America and in the North American Automotive Market. A lot of the Mercury cars that were released shared platforms with some other Ford Models. The Mercury Cougar had the same platform as the Ford Mustang and the Ford Thunderbird, even the 2002 Mercury Cougar Rims kinda look the regular Ford Wheels.
On June 2 of this year, the official announcement came from Ford saying that they were going to discontinue the Mercury line and the Mercury models by the end of the year. Out of all of the automobiles here in North America, Mercury just represented 1% of the market. Ford, on the other hand, had a 16% share. Ford also said that they will be producing more Lincoln models in order to replace any shortfall from the discontinued Mercury brand.
When the announcement about Mercury came out, the Mercury brand was selling an approximate 90,000 units per year. This meant that they were selling less units than Plymouth and Oldsmobile.
When the first logo for the company came out, it was its namesake, the Roman God named Mercury. The logo that you see in the middle of the wheels are the God's side profile; it's complete with the famous bowl hat with wings that was used during the early years. Later in the 1950s, they changed the logo to a simple M with some horizontal bars that are shown to be extending outward from the bottom.
Thirty years later - around the middle of the 1980s - the logo was changed from the M to the really stylish version of the letter M. This new logo was first introduced on the '84 model of the Topaz with the OEM Mercury Wheels on it. It was then continued on to the Sable models, Tracer models, and the Grand Marquis models. Now, it's the logo that we always see for Mercury.
