Eight Sportsman Convertible (1946)

STORY

The Eight was the car Mercury was invented for. Launched for 1939 to fill the gap between Ford and Lincoln-Zephyr, it used a 239 cubic inch flathead V8 bored out beyond the Ford unit, so the brand's first product was quicker than the car it was based on. The 1949 redesign, on the new 255 cubic inch flathead, gave it the slab-sided body that became known as the bathtub Mercury. That shape, chopped and channelled, is the founding object of American custom culture, and it stayed there after the Eight name was retired in 1951.