Mercury Monarch

Manufacturer	Ford Motor Company
Production	1975–1980
Assembly	Mahwah, New Jersey Wayne, Michigan
Class	Compact
Body style	4-door sedan 2-door sedan
Layout	FR layout
Engine	200 cu in (3.3 L) I6 250 cu in (4.1 L) I6 302 cu in (4.9 L) V8 351 cu in (5.8 L) Windsor V8
Related	Ford Granada (North America) Lincoln Versailles

Mercury Monarch coupe

The Mercury Monarch is a compact sedan manufactured by the Ford Motor Company; it was sold by the Lincoln-Mercury division from 1975 to 1980. “The Ford Motor Company’s planners had originally intended to replace the Maverick and Comet with all-new, but comparable, lines for 1974. However, the energy crisis which revived the market for these cars forced a change in strategy and it was decided to continue building them. A further decision was to redirect the new model program toward developing two similar-sized, but upgraded, lines. Thus, a pair or more-luxurious-than-customary compacts arrived as 1975 models: the Ford Granada and Mercury Monarch.” Released in model year 1975 alongside the Ford Granada; the cars, which were badge-engineered, were identical save for the grille, taillights and some interior and exterior trim. The base engine was Ford's 200 cid inline six cylinder engine, with a 250 cid inline six optional. V8 power came from two engines: the 302 cid and 351 cid Windsor. A total of 575,567 Monarchs were produced during this time period. For 1981, the Granada was replaced with a smaller version based on Ford's Fox platform, and the Mercury version took the Cougar name.

Grand Monarch Ghia

The Mercury Grand Monarch Ghia was an upscale version of the Monarch built in 1975 and 1976. Grand Monarch Ghia had four-wheel disc brakes with a sophisticated central hydraulic power system as standard equipment.

Other standard luxury features include:

• Leather trim
• Vinyl roof
• Liquid crystal display clock
• Leather-wrapped steering wheel
• Power steering
• Dual map lights
• Illuminated visor vanity mirror (passenger side)
• 14 inch, cast-aluminum spoke wheels
• Solid-state ignition
• Whitewall steel-belted radial tires
• Reclining bucket seats with matching map pockets
• Plusher carpeting and soundproofing

According to the May 1976 edition of Car and Driver, Henry Ford II and three out of five of Ford’s top executives used the Mercury Grand Monarch Ghia as their personal car.

Lincoln Versailles

In the spring of 1977, Lincoln introduced the Versailles, based on the Granada/Monarch platform. The Versailles had many of the same luxury features as the Mercury Grand Monarch Ghia but it was not successful. Lincoln's brand-identity suffered when they began selling a Granada-clone rather than a product that significantly differentiated itself from other Ford products.

Past use of "Monarch" name

Monarch was a brand of automobile produced by Ford of Canada from 1946–1957 and from 1959-1961. It was introduced to give Ford dealers a product to sell in the medium-price field. This was typical practice in the Canadian market, where smaller towns might have only a single dealer who was expected to offer a full range of products in various price classes. The Monarch was dropped for 1958 when the Edsel was introduced, but the poor acceptance of the Edsel led Ford to reintroduce Monarch for 1959. With a drop in medium-priced vehicle sales in the early 1960s, and the introduction of the similarly priced Ford Galaxie, the Monarch was dropped after the 1961 model year.

Monarch used the contemporary Mercury body with only unique grilles, taillights and other trim to distinguish them. Model names included Richelieu, Lucerne and Sceptre.

See also

• Ford Granada (North America)
• Lincoln Versailles