1949 Mercury Coupe Is Black Tie on the Outside, Fun and Games Inside

Freed from having to produce military-spec vehicles for the needs of war, car designers let loose a flood of imagination that didn't recede until well until the seventh decade of the century.

The 1950s and 1960s have been especially lucrative, design-wise. We learned from the cars made in those years that vehicles can be much more than just boring or utilitarian. They became sexy, stunning, inspiring, and even scary at times. Some, like the Mercury Coupe we have in the gallery above, could even be called elegant.

Elegant was Ford's department back then. While the main brand of the company was about to be dragged in an epic war with the likes of Chevy in segments that were just being invented, Mercury was the nameplate tasked with keeping things all business.

The car you see in the gallery below was once part of the first new Mercury model line made after the war. Technically belonging to the third generation of the then already-old Mercury Eight, it was powered by a flathead V8, and looked like a million bucks.

It never looked as good as the one we have here though. Restored only 2,500 miles ago (4,000 km) by Big Dick's Muscle Cars in Sunrise, Florida, it now sports a fittingly-named Tuxedo black paint with Mercedes-Benz silver. Under the hood no longer sits the original engine, but a Ford 302.

But the real magic happens inside. Beneath the official, black-tie look you can find things like air conditioning, sewn seats front and rear, a center console with brushed aluminum insert, and a custom dashboard.

High-tech gadgetry includes a Pioneer receiver with Bluetooth, a 7-inch display, and speakers in the rear deck and doors. A 10-inch subwoofer is also on deck for clear sound, as is a 5-channel amplifier.

The Mercury coupe is for sale, going for $104,000 complete with a scale replica.