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Just hauled my late mother's 1959 Mercury Monterey from the 4-corners to southern NM. It was bought by my Dad when she casually mentioned one day on a Sunday drive where she saw it somewhere that she thought is was pretty. Next thing she knew, my Dad had bought it, had the brakes redone and a few other things and parked it in the drive. She only drove it short distances and had it for maybe 10 years before she was unable to drive it. It got stored under a carport and then in a shed. It was then moved into an outdoor lot for about 5 years in the New Mexico sun. So far, I've put new tires on it. Turned the motor over manually with a 3/4" drive socket, soaked the trunk lock in spray lubricant and gotten it opened, and dropped the fuel tank to clean it out. I did squirt a bit of oil in a few cylinders and soak them, but couldn't resist putting in a good batter just to see what it might do. It fired right up, so I shut it down in about 20 seconds. I tried a few more times and the ignition switch locked up. I have a new switch and cylinder on order. The oil was clear enough when I first pulled the dipstick to see the hashmarks. My biggest task now is to get a new gas tank if possible. The one I dropped is seeping in a number of places. I did take another stab at cranking it up by hotwiring it and checked to see if the generator and oil pressure lights were working. Both went off just as soon as the engine caught. I can't seem to source any new gas tank.
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