So almost a year ago I bought a 1966 Mercury Monterey breezeway from a friend in Washington state, and drove it back to Texas, which was quite the adventure in itself but that's a story for another day. First things first lets take a look at her when I got her.
Here's some photos from the trip on the way back from Washington state, we took scenic 89 then a few remaining pieces of Route 66.
So to give some contents to the photos, the first one is Aiken's lodge in Kanab, UT a short drive to the grand canyon, and next to Zion as well. It had a cool retro rooms with faux 50s appliances. Was a nice stay. The next photo was just a short stop right after the Grand Canyon, was a little store that sold rocks, saw that T-bird sitting out there obviously hasn't moved in a long while as one of the tires was flat... The Arrowhead and Blue Spruce were a couple Route 66 motels within a mile of each other, both closed for building code and health violations... The Blue Spruce is/was one of the first motels on route 66. My favorite photo is the last one at the Desert Skies motel, used to have a pool near that sign that unfortunately is long gone, was still family run but unfortunately didn't have enough rooms available for that night. I think that picture looks like a post card. More photos and fun coming soon...
So, I also have photos from the trip, the first one is the set of Mercury keys, I believe them to be an original set to the car. Picture two was taken at a Sinclair station in Idaho Falls, alongside the little green dinosaur. I love that those are making a comeback. Picture three is Joe posing with the Monterey and Thunderbird, after we left the Grand Canyon. And, picture four, well, all old cars can't be perfect; Joe's repairing (read: 'duct taping') the headliner in back. It attempted to rip apart the second day, and repairs were done at a few places along the way.
So our trip came to around three thousand miles, across eight states, seven passes from 6000+ to 8000+ feet, five National Parks, and a museum, the Buddy Holly Museum in Lubbock, TX.
The car is built with a 390-2V/MX ('green dot') transmission and 9" rear diff. It has the Breezeway power rear window and gauge cluster. Unfortunately, cars of that era had standard 4-wheel drum brakes with a single-chamber master cylinder and no brake booster. We have obtained parts from a '71 LTD sedan that, once rebuilt, will allow us to install boosted brakes with a dual-chamber MC and front discs. The engine has been rebuilt, and with new gaskets, now doesn't leak oil. It was going through leaked oil during the trip, and we found out afterward the rear intake seal was poorly done. We obtained a good-condition set of dual exhaust from a '66 Galaxie, and with them installed, it's a bit quieter.
