Doghead, I do not know where you find the photos you post and I certainly do not understand what is going on in many of them, but I do look forward to seeing them. Happy New Year.
As a kid, I remember asking my mom why we stopped out in the street in front of the gas station. I'd kill to have that car she had at the time- a red 70/71? Malibu SS.
My guess is that Mercury may have been sitting up on a jack getting a tire replaced and it got pushed forward off the jack by an explosion or vehicle (bus or tractor/trailer?) careening out of control. That tangled mess to the right of the image could be a mangled trailer. Either way, it looks like that photo was 1 in a million taken the second it all went down.