Mercury received its first major redesign in 1941, offering greater size, finer detailing, and additional standard features.

A favorite project of Edsel Ford, son of the company’s founder, the Mercury 8 made its debut in the 1939 model year to broaden the Ford Motor Company’s popular but limited product line. Closely based on Ford passenger car components but with greater size, exclusive styling, and additional features, it was the car for Ford buyers who wanted more. And with its price initially set in the $900 to $1,000 bracket, Mercury went head-to-head in the showrooms against Oldsmobile and Pontiac, Dodge and DeSoto.

For its first major redesign in 1941, the Mercury shared even more hardware with its high-volume Ford sibling, including the basic body shell. The wheelbase was stretched another two inches to 118 inches, four inches longer than Ford, while overall length was now just over 200 inches. To give the Mercury its own distinctive identity, Ford design chief Bob Gregorie and his tiny styling department created a split, two-element grille with fine horizontal detailing. If we may editorialize for a moment, the Mercury got the better deal of the two FoMoCo products in ’41, at least where the front-end styling was concerned.

Another Mercury differentiator was its larger, more powerful flathead V8. While the ’41 Ford offered 221 cubic inches and 90 hp, the Mercury boasted a 239 CID version with 95 hp. Buyers were also treated to an exclusive instrument panel and finer upholstery and interior  appointments, including a lighter, clock, locking glove box, and crank-out vent windows. To drive home the fine-car message, there were no standard or deluxe distinctions in ’41, only a single Mercury trim level. Multiple sales slogans were tried out that year, though our favorite is “Different From the Rest.”

The seven available body styles in ’41 included coupes, two-door and four-door sedans, a convertible coupe, and Mercury’s first station wagon. The cheapest of the lineup was the three-passenger Coupe (above) at $910, with no rear seat but folding jump seats available for $26 more. However, the best seller of the bunch by a mile was the four-door Town Sedan, below. Priced at $987, the Town Sedan was selected by more than half the Mercury buyers in the ’41 model year. A minor refresh for ’42 included a handsome full-width grille.

Ford’s original plans for Mercury included another complete redesign for 1943 with radical innovations, but the outbreak of World War II and the total conversion to military production eliminated that possibility. When civilian vehicle production resumed in late 1945, Edsel Ford was gone, Henry was well into his dotage, and the automaker was in disarray as grandson Henry Ford II launched a total reorganization. The ’41 package remained in production with only minor periodic facelifts all the way through 1948.