1962 Mercury Monterey Project

Since I got my truck running I was finally able to go empty my used oil at the part store. The collection pan has been FULL since I drained the engine and the transmission on the Mercury - and I needed to get rid of some more in my oil pan & parts cleaning bin. The truck runs fine, but I can hear & feel the power steering pump breathing its last. It vibrates through the steering wheel and sounds like it is humming a tune as I drive. It seems to work ok for now, but there is clearly something not happy about it. More on that adventure later. Lady E came out to help. She climbed into the engine bay with a plastic pan (like you use for collecting coolant) and several scrapers and set about cleaning up the front cross member, suspension, steering box, and clutch linkages. She squatted in the hole for 2 hours and scraped and scraped and pushed grease and dirt off the car until some parts turned a new color. She discovered suspension pieces that had not seen daylight in 60 years. Her...

  It is still not "mine" - and is currently in a barn with no barn door, so these pics were taken at noon in the dark. The last tag on it is May 1984.. This means it has been off the road for for quite a bit longer than it ever was on the road. Interior looks great (even the seats look good for the age). Car is filthy, but the paint looks fine. Someone removed the back glass with a hammer which is too bad. The engine has a lot more disconnected and surface rust than I had hoped.