1948 Mercury Marmon-Herrington AWD Sedan

One of One? The “Bigfoot” of Marmon-Herrington’s

Long before Jeep arrived on the scene with their first four-wheel-drive utility vehicle, Marmon-Herrington Incorporated was formed in 1931 in Indianapolis, Indiana, by Walter C. Marmon and Colonel Arthur W. Herrington. Taking over the old Duesenberg assembly plant, the pair started building 4X4 and 6X6 trucks for the army.

In 1937, they began converting light-duty Ford passenger cars and trucks to all-wheel-drive before halting production when World War II arrived to focus again on military trucks and tanks.

Marmon-Herrington then resumed all-wheel-drive production for Ford and Mercury customers in 1946, ending Mercury passenger car production with the 89M series by April 1948. Anxious to get the retooling completed prior to the launch of the all new 1949 Models, the ’48 Mercury’s were basically warmed-over 47’s with very few discernible changes. The steering column lock was no longer present and some changes to the gauge dials among them but other than that it would take a very discerning eye to know the difference between the two years.

The exact number of 1948 Mercury Marmon-Herrington models is not publicly documented but a total of 24,283 Mercury 89M 4-door Town Sedan’s were built in what ended up being a very short 4 month production year. When adding limited production together with the exclusivity of an all-wheel-drive conversion, the 1948 Mercury Marmon-Herrington AWD instantly became one of the rarest American Sedans ever produced.

The exact number of Marmon-Herrington all-wheel-drive conversions is presently unknown, with no factory production records having survived from this period. However, Marmon-Herrington aficionados report that only a dozen or so total Ford examples of ALL body styles of each year are known, with far fewer Mercury versions in existence due to their premium price and lower production numbers.

With the popularity of the Woodie Station Wagons as a driving force, many have searched the world over for information as to the whereabouts of any and all Marmon-Herrington AWD conversions. As a result, only three such Mercury Marmon-Herrington Station Wagons are presently known to have survived – one example from 1946, another from 1947, and one from 1948. That being said, this ’48 Mercury Fordor Sedan featured here, while not by any means declared as being the only such example ever produced, we have yet to find any documentation of another sighting of a similar Sedan in the past 30+ years, making this Sedan quite possibly the last surviving example of a very rare breed indeed.

Essentially hand-built, the assembly rate of all Marmon-Herrington conversions was necessarily slow and the output small. When this premium four-wheel-drive conversion was ordered from the Lincoln-Mercury Dealer, a complete Mercury was delivered to Marmon-Herrington’s plant, where the factory body and power train were removed. From there the original chassis was then heavily modified to include new cross members, full inner bracing of the frame rails, complete front suspension replacement, switching from its factory original independent suspension to a parallel leaf spring setup. A four-speed truck transmission was installed with an 11-inch clutch, and a heavy-duty transfer case was mounted behind it.

A 1939 rear axle that had been heavily modified, with its differential placed off to the passenger side of the vehicle in order to align with the transfer case, as well as having steering “knuckles” installed, was then mounted to the newly installed front suspension. This also included an extra “lever” next to the new floor mounted shifter, allowing on-demand engagement of the front axle. The rear suspension was “raised” to allow for more ground clearance, thereby matching the height of the new front axle.

The body was once again reunited with its heavily modified chassis, transformed into its new AWD configuration. With the base price of a new Mercury Sedan hovering around the $1650(plus options) mark, combined with the $1025 cost of the Marmon-Herrington AWD conversion itself, the new owner was then presented with their “new & improved” Mercury Sedan at a cost hovering right around $2700, give or take a few other options. This at a time when the avearge cost of a home was right around $7700. Easy to see why so few of these M-H conversions were ever ordered, and why so few are known to exist to this day.

Marmon-Herrington all-wheel-drive conversions, especially those of the Mercury brand, are some of the most desirable vehicles in the Collector car hobby due to their engineering, rarity, and impressive visual stance. However, the significance of this particular Mercury Sedan cannot be overstated, offering collectors an unrepeatable opportunity to acquire that unique “crown jewel”one of one” for their collection. The exact number of 1948 Mercury Marmon-Herrington models is not publicly documented but a total of 24,283 Mercury 89M 4-door Town Sedan’s were built in what ended up being a very short 4 month production year.

Combine that with the extremely low number of 1948 Marmon-Herrington All-Wheel-Drive conversions makes this example even rarer. While the exact total is unknown, sources suggest only a dozen or so of these rare conversions existed for the Ford line, with even fewer Mercury versions. 

Disclaimer: In the pursuit of attempting to find out anything and everything pertaining to this particular ’48 Mercury Marmon-Herrington Sedan, as well as any known history, we have done our best to research the history of all things Marmon-Herrington. Having said that, with the lack of any verifiable records being available none of this information should be relied upon as the undeniable truth. Please do your own research and we are always more than happy to learn anything we can in our search for the facts.