25th-Anniversary Breezeway Crew Cab: 1964 Mercury Montclair

If you haven't been paying attention to the latest trends of Hollywood, the ongoing theme of interest is the 1980s. The 1980s have been the inspiration for television shows such as Stranger Things and The Goldbergs have manage to take the 1980s and make that decade actually cooler than it really was. The decade I'm hoping television returns to at some point however is the 1960s; Mad Men did the overall best representation of the 1960s, but that's the only show I can think of that focuses on the 1960s. Until that day comes, you can throw yourself back into the 1960s with this 1964 Mercury Montclair four-door sedan. Find it here on Hemmings in Newport Beach, California, with an asking price of $11,500 obo.

After a four-year hiatus, the Montclair returned to the Mercury lineup to replace the Monterey and Monterey Custom lines. Available as a convertible, coupe and sedan, the Montclair was not much more than a trim option, albeit a very good-looking one. Overall, Mercury built 15,520 four-door Breezeway sedans. Resplendent in white with chrome trim, this crew-cab Breezeway was purchased new by an elderly woman named Wonda (I'm guessing misspelling, but you never know) from a Mercury dealership in Oroville, California. After driving it back and forth to the local market and church, Wonda sold the car to the seller; the seller's son then used it to get back and forth to high school, but he is now in college and needs a more practical car. The paint was redone ten years ago and shines pretty well, as does the chrome. I love the edgy lines, the three taillights on each side, the original California black plates, the spinner hubcaps, and especially that Breezeway rear window. 

Remember when cars had engines that had more guts than those of equivalency to a toaster oven? Being a Montclair, this car is powered by a 390 V8, but which version is unknown and unmentioned (I'm guessing either the 250 horsepower or the 300 horsepower version). Backed by a Cruise-O-Matic automatic transmission, the big-block 390 benefits from a rebuilt carburetor, changed fluids, new belts, and some minor mechanical maintenance items. There's a video of the car being started up on Youtube, and I must say the car runs nice and quiet. There are a few things that still need to be done, such as the fitting of a new belt to the air conditioning system and the replacement of the windshield wiper switch, but otherwise this car is ready and rarin' to go.

I decided to take a wildcard's perspective on viewing and discussing this Montclair's interior. Finished in a blue cloth-and-vinyl interior, there are a few flaws in this car's interior. Fixable areas include a torn headliner, a cracked dash pad, pitting in the chrome gauge bezel surrounds, wavy door panels, and dirty and faded-looking seats. For the half-glass full perspective, the manual windows, space-age-esque gauges, factory clock, air conditioning, and Breezeway roll-down rear window all garner a thumbs-up from me. I would address all of the flawed areas, retrofit the radio with modern guts, clean the seats, and take this car to some cruise nights, Cars and Coffee events, and some nice weekday and weekend cruising until the weather gets too cold. What are your thoughts on this fairly clean, driver-status crew-cab Montclair Breezeway?