George Formby’s unique Mercury for sale

All star cast

A unique Mercury Eight goes under the hammer at H&H Auctioneers’ Duxford sale tomorrow (26 May), a specialised and modified 99A driven by George Formby during the Second World War to entertain the troops.

And not only that, its first owner was Malcolm Campbell, the Land Speed Record legend.

Let’s find out more about it…

Bluebird’s sleeper

Campbell was the head of the UK arm of Lincoln, like Mercury a subsidiary of Ford, and needed a team car for his Record attempts.

He instructed Windovers coachbuilders to create a bespoke body that would also act as overnight accommodation for his hard-working mechanics.

A model maker

The Mercury marque had been launched in 1939 to split the difference between Ford and Lincoln-Zephyr, its sole 99A Eight model designed: ‘To extend Ford-Lincoln standards of mechanical excellence, progressive design and outstanding value to a new price field’.

The period advertisements could each have been a prescient catchphrase for what Formby would later subject his modified model to.

‘Action!’ exclaimed one, while others suitably declared, ‘It’s time to roam!’, ‘Maybe this is what you need!’, ‘So we headed the Mercury for Sun Valley!’ and ‘We matched our Mercury against the Painted Desert!’.

Badge of honour

The name Bluebird remains on the car today, reflecting part of its illustrious past.

It is believed to have been on the car throughout its life.

Under the bonnet

The engine block, a replacement but period-correct crate 3.9-litre Ford V8, is even in a suitable shade of blue.

Though not headline-grabbing fast, it is torquey and well-suited to off-road work.

A done deal

Formby bought the car from Campbell supposedly after a dinner at the Royal Albert Hall, where the two met.

When Campbell learned of Formby’s impending ENSA tour of the troops, he recommended the Mercury that was sat at his west London headquarters, the war having rendered it useless. 

Ready for action

Campbell had already had the car equipped for war work, with rifle racks in place according to suspension maestro Leslie Ballamy, who had tweaked the Mercury’s underpinnings.

The War Department then instructed the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers to make it even more rugged, with bigger tyres and sunstrips painted on to the windscreen.

Safe travels

All manner of leftovers remain in the tailgate of the Mercury today, including boxes and containers from the trip.

There’s certainly plenty of space for it: the seats all fold perfectly flat, better for Campbell’s mechanics to sleep. When Formby toured, some of his band slept in a lean-to tent attached to the side.

The instruments

Formby acclimatised himself with the car before heading to Africa and Italy with ENSA by driving around Blackpool in the Mercury.

It’s a comfortable wagon, too, its homely air has survived the eight decades since – though the speedometer is perhaps optimistic…

Repeat traveller

Little was recorded while away by Formby and his wife Beryl, but the car supposedly took in three tours. But its gruelling 53-day enduro in 1943 is best recalled.

Formby himself spent a lot of time at the frontline, even crawling through trenches to offer goodwill and lift spirits.

Long-distance lugger

The Mercury visited Morocco, where Formby sang impromptu off the plane, plus tank-strewn Tunis – “it was the hottest climate we had ever struck” – and from Northern Africa to Italy and Sicily.

There he met Chelsea centre-forward Alex Jackson. “Isn’t it funny how you meet people in strange places?” Formby said, after Jackson introduced himself as the welfare officer.

Malta, Gibraltar, back to Africa and across to Palestine followed, and some 750,000 beleaguered troops were entertained.

A sandy shade

How often the pair slept in the wagon during the tour is unknown, but thick, heavy blinds remain that would have kept the worst of the light and heat out.

The comfortable front seats have been retrimmed by a later owner, too, but suit the car’s weathered appeal.

In the firing line

Despite George and Beryl being deserted by the Eighth in Catania they latched back up in Naples and ate with General Montgomery.

On the way in the Jeep-led convoy the Formbys saw some native soldiers hit a landmine, bringing the perils to the forefront of their minds.

By October, when it was time to return home, they’d each shed a stone.

Post-war career

Following its long, arduous tour Formby sold the car to Earl Peel in 1946, and it was pressed into service on grouse shoots.

By the 1970s it was still active with a hotelier in the Lake District before it entered the Sorn Collection. Robert ‘Bobby’ McIntyre used his cars, once venturing from Ayrshire to Devon just to buy a Facel Vega HK500, and in 1986 the Eight visited The Netherlands on a Military Trust tour.

Continued appeal

With McIntyre it remained until the end of the ’80s when it was sold by Sotheby’s to Keith Schellenberg, who had been taken by its story.

It was perfect for travailing his Isle of Eigg, and he was persuaded to part with it after years of trying by collector Graham Greenwell, who was renowned for keeping historical vehicles relevant and running.

The restoration that never happened

The door fell off when he opened it…

But was soon refitted and the car’s travels continued as it visited as far as Norway, fragile but perfectly good on motorways, by all accounts.

Greenwell then sold the ex-Formby Mercury to Mike Ebeling, who was readying it for total restoration before he passed away.

Monument to the stars

While the passing of time has dulled some of the links to those sand-swept days, it remains a monument to Formby and the likes of Gracie Fields’ own war efforts when other performers remained in the relative safety of home.

Their impact is thought to have been unquantifiably important to the morale of troops, millions of whom were entertained by the stars of the day.

Cabin with a difference

And although Formby’s bravery pales alongside the sacrifices of the men he entertained, banjo under arm, it shouldn’t be underestimated the courage it must have taken to drive this Mercury from site to site, night after night within the faux-safety of its thin coachbuilt walls.

Preservation time

Forget restoration, perhaps, this one-off Mercury surely deserves to be preserved as much as any multi-million-pound rarity. If not more.

The chance to own and keep alive such a unique, special piece of history doesn’t come around often.

Take a piece of history

The Mercury Eight will be sold at H&H Auctioneers’ event at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, in Cambridgeshire, on 26 May, with an estimate of £25-35,000.

Registration is open now, happy bidding…