The steam system as a sterilizing agent is totally natural, clean and harmless, free of chemicals and radiation. What should you not clean silver jewelry with? Model choices were mostly as before: Cruiser two- and four-door hardtops in each series, four-door Monterey/Montclair sedans, Monterey two-door sedan, Park Lane convertible and, still a distinct series, four-door Commuter and wood-sided Colony Park hardtop wagons. Monterey resumed as the premium Mercury, listing a four-door sedan and hardtop, a two-door hardtop, and a convertible. Custom denoted the upmarket midsize Meteors, S-33 the sportier bucket-seaters — a two-door sedan for ’62, a hardtop coupe for ’63. S-22, a $2300 bucket-seat two-door sedan, responded to the sporty-compact craze beginning in 1961, when all Comets gained an optional 101-bhp six. This offered a standard sedan and hardtop coupe; MX sedan, hardtop coupe, convertible, and wagon; and top-line MX Brougham sedan and hardtop. Model-year 1966 brought a smooth Cyclone GT hardtop coupe and convertible powered by Ford’s 335-bhp 390 and offered with a variety of useful suspension upgrades. The first arrived at the low end of the 1961 full-size line: two- and four-door sedans and hardtops in “600” and nicer “800” trim, offered at vastly reduced prices beginning at $2535.

The “Big M” shrunk noticeably in both size and price for 1961. In fact, it was again a “deluxe Ford,” though on an inch-longer, 120-inch wheelbase. The size and complexity of your duct system play a significant role in determining the average cost of cleaning. Cleaning and Restoration Certification certified firm. “Sharpshooter saves time cleaning the build-up on shower floors,” says one Merry Maids franchise owner. Choosing the best cleaning products online doesn’t have to be daunting when approached systematically with consideration of personal needs and preferences in mind. The four-series big-car line (which might have been Edsels had things gone better there) remained two-ton heavyweights with huge compound-curve windshields, but a handsome facelift removed a little chrome while adding a tidy concave grille and more-discreet “gullwing” rear fenders. By 1967, the Comet line started with a pair of very basic “202” sedans. This underlined a basic marketing assumption: Mercury buyers were wealthier than Ford’s, and thus probably wanted a compact larger than Falcon.

Beginning with the 1960 Comet, Mercury followed the growing industry trend of adding models in new sizes, with name changes sometimes confusing buyers. Wagons — woody-look Country Cruiser and plain-sided Villagers (a name transferred from the Edsel line) — joined hardtops as 1963 additions. The rest of that year’s line comprised Capri (borrowed from Lincoln to replace “404”), Caliente, Cyclone and Station Wagon. The separate Station Wagon series reverted to conventional pillared four-doors: six- and nine-passenger Commuters and Colony Parks. Custom sedans and wagons and a posh Villager wagon with imitation wood trim aided ’62 sales. The following year brought Custom and S-22 convertibles and Sportster hardtop coupes. So what brought them out of retirement? Although the bottom dropped out of the medium-price market in ’58, Mercury remained eighth despite building only 40 percent of its 1957 volume. Indeed, volume went up substantially for 1960 — to over 271,000 — though that was owed mainly to the new compact Comet. Despite the retrenchment, model-year volume failed to top 150,000 units — hardly the hoped-for recovery. Sales jumped by 55,000 units for ’64 and remained high into ’67. Dismal sales since ’57 had rendered a separate Mercury platform unacceptably expensive, hence this return to the make’s original concept.

Comet received its first major overhaul for 1966, going from compact to intermediate by shifting to that year’s new Fairlane platform. This 116-inch-wheelbase platform continued on Comets through 1969, but sales waned. Although Meteor actually outsold Monterey, sales were not spectacular. The ’59 slate listed a 210-bhp 312 for Monterey, a 345-bhp 430 for Park Lane, and 280- and 322-bhp 383s for others. The 383 was standard for all ’58 Mercs, save Medalists (which came with a 235-bhp 312) and Park Lane, and delivered 312 or 330 bhp depending on model. These came with the 335-bhp 428 V-8 that had first appeared in the “19681/2” Mercury Cyclone as the “Cobra Jet.” A $133 option was “Ram-Air,” a fiberglass hood scoop connecting to a special air-cleaner assembly with a valve that ducted incoming air directly into the carb. These were ostensibly Cruiser replacements with less hoke and a giant 360-bhp 430-cid V-8 shared with that year’s Lincolns. So were powertrains, including Ford’s fine new small-block V-8 with 221 cid and 145 bhp or 260 cid and 164 bhp.