The 1953 Monterey was the premium model for the Mercury line of automobiles introduced in 1950.
When it came out as a two-door coupe, the Monterey was considered a full size near luxury car.
The first 1950 model had quite different styling than the 53 model. The 50 model had a very rounded look both front and back but would become very popular to customizers later on.
All Monterey models were built at Ford’s Lincoln-Mercury Division’s St. Louis. Missouri plant from 1950 to 1974. The 1953 Mercury Monterey model had several engineering advances.
A lot of the styling with this car was also shared with Ford’s Lincoln brand as well as other Ford models. The Mercury Monterey was positioned between the Ford and Lincoln lines.
If you wanted something a little fancier than a Ford but couldn’t or didn’t want to pay the price of a Lincoln, well the Mercury Monterey was your car.