Mercury Colony Park in Context
Mercury introduced the Colony Park as the flagship of its station wagon line at a moment when the brand was pushing upmarket with its own bodies separate from Ford. The wagon wore simulated wood trim along its flanks, a nod to the timber-bodied estates of earlier decades, and adopted a four-door hardtop configuration without a fixed centre pillar, which was unusual for a wagon. Positioned above the Voyager and Commuter wagons, the Colony Park gave Mercury a premium family hauler to rival Buick and Oldsmobile estates.
Understanding 1 generation
The 1957 and 1958 model years form the first generation, with the 1958 cars receiving revised front-end styling and updated engines in line with the rest of the Mercury range. Later Mercury Colony Park generations moved the wagon onto shared full-size platforms with more conventional pillared construction, so this initial hardtop design stands apart in the model's history. As a body style, the five-door estate was the only configuration offered, and the Colony Park name would always denote Mercury's top wagon rather than a separate model line.