Ford Motor Company bolstered its place in the medium-price field with introduction of the Mercury for 1939. Mainly the idea of Henry Ford’s only son Edsel, then company president, the new make was conceived as a "super deluxe" Ford to fill the big price gap that had long existed between Ford and the Lincoln Zephyr. Initially, it was carefully priced somewhat below Oldsmobile and about even with the Pontiac Eight. Though Mercury wouldn’t match the volume of these GM rivals in its early years, it did average about 80,000 annual sales through most of the Forties, good for 12th or 13th place in the industry production standings. This represented important new business for Dearborn, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Mercury’s arrival coincided with a low point in Ford Motor Company’s fortunes, which wouldn’t begin to improve for another decade. Though Ford had long been able to boast the industry’s only low-price V-8 cars, as well as the innovative Zephyr and the great coachbuilt K-series Lincolns, old Henry’s hidebound adherence to out-moded engineering like mechanical brakes and leaf-spring, solid-axle front suspension had cost the company dearly in the high-volume market. Mercury was part of Edsel’s plan to reverse the steady sales slide, and it was shrewdly planned to keep development costs low and thus help the firm conserve cash.

The first-year Mercurys looked much like the 1939 Fords, which was a plus. E.T. "Bob" Gregorie, the company’s young chief stylist, gave both makes one of the most pleasing shapes of the late prewar era. The major design elements were a crisply pointed prow bisecting a vee’d grille, headlamps moved into the front fenders, and rounded overall lines characteristic of "first -generation" streamlining. The Mercury arrived on a four-inch-longer (116-inch) wheelbase and was somewhat heavier than the Ford. To compensate for the extra weight, Edsel specified a boredout version of the familiar Ford flathead V-8, with 239 cubic inches and 95 horsepower instead of 221 cid and 85 bhp. Body styles were limited to four five-passenger types: two-door sedan and coupe-sedan; four-door Town Sedan, and two-door convertible. Prices ranged from $916 for the two-door sedan to $1018 for the convertible. An important new mechanical feature shared with other Ford Motor Company products this year was Henry’s long-shunned hydraulic brakes.