LeMons’ “deduct parts sold from the purchase price” rule may account for 95% of the vehicles generating “OMG NO WAY THAT’S $500!” butthurt. If you happen to know the street price of a few key interior or trim bits from, say, an e36 M3, you can get a wretched, somewhat-crunched, high-mileage example into Class A with a mountain of bribes and some penalty laps.

While I have no aspirations of class-A domination, the same logic tends to send me down a road that ends in running a brand-specific junkyard permanently. Case in point: this ’66 Mercury Colony Park wagon showed up in my searches, as did the S-55 behind it. Turns out the seller has two S-55s and the Colony Park currently for sale. There appears to be a later sedan and ’66-ish wagon in the background as well, but not listed. The ’66 S-55s are particularly notable, as it was the only year where the S-55 was technically its own model, rather than a trim/option on the Monterey. I smell rat pee an opportunity to come out ahead with a threesome! Wait…

Of the three, the S55 convertible is potentially the most valuable, as they only made 145 of them, with this one originally sporting a Q-code 428ci V8. Of course that 428’s long-gone (probably into a Mustang that’s long since been wrapped around a tree), but we’re offered a 410 as a consolation prize. The S-55 hardtop and Colony Park Wagon are probably more interesting to enthusiasts, depending on what you’re into, but neither of them has a motor either.

Were it me, I’d buy the lot for a couple grand, then put either the wagon and the hardtop on the track powered by the convertible’s 410 and whatever other FE Craigslist yields. Strip them down to the essentials and sell the take-offs along with a slightly cleaned-up convertible for what you bought the whole pile for. Maybe see if you can get the ‘Vert running (in a fashion) with a donor motor just to bump the desirability a notch. Also, anyone suggesting scrapping the wagon for metal gets an IP ban.

1966 Mercury S-55 Convertible for sale – eBay Motors
1966 Mercury S-55 hard top for sale – eBay Motors
1966 Mercury Colony Park Station Wagon for sale – eBay Motors