My older brother is six years and change older than me, and as is the case in many households with children of the same gender, hand-me-downs were the norm in the Dennis family. It wasn’t all bad. I have previously written here about how I was subjected to wearing his bell-bottomed trousers from the late 1970s into the mid-’80s, and how I hated it at the time. (Today, I wear boot-cut and flare jeans almost exclusively.) I emulated other styles of his with glee, to varying degrees of success.
My dad was quite a bit older than my mom and was already in his mid-40s when I was born. He was effectively retired by the time I graduated from high school. I loved him very much, though there were certain things about Dad that I found personally unrelatable. In addition to being a generation older than most of my peers’ dads, he was also a west African immigrant, very studious and busy with his university lesson plans, and not at all what mainstream media depicted as the norm for the all-American father. I later came to realize that his differences were positives in many ways, as my dad was also had the wisdom of extra life experience, in addition to being innately intuitive, highly empathic, and capable of meaningful conversation.
I’m also the child of a mother of European descent, and resemble neither side of my extended family in any obvious ways outside of a passing facial resemblance to my maternal grandfather, as well as being his height in my adulthood. All of this meant that when I was growing up, my older brother became almost like a de facto father figure to me in many ways, and the closest thing to a hero with whom I could truly identify and try to emulate.
He was the Camaro to my Vega, and the epitome of teenage manliness with his taste for alternative rock, cool clothes, and in beautiful women. I wanted so much to be like him and told myself that, someday, I would be. When I had finally hit adolescence, I found myself recycling many of his ideas, years after he had entertained them. Six years can seem like an eternity to a youth, and a sizeable percentage of a child’s life up to any given point.
By the time my brother had moved into more international, upscale attire, I had begun rocking his former style of distressed, bleach-splotched jeans (which I’ve seen on some youths recently), bolo ties, and even some of his old t-shirts he had left behind from when he had gone off to college. Teenage fashion can change with lightning speed. I don’t think my peers necessarily saw these outfits as being outdated (my brother always seemed very cutting-edge), but mine was definitely recycled fashion. I was even playing and enjoying much of his old music.
When the reborn Mercury Marauder arrived for ’03 looking like Darth Vader’s police car, I had a strange sense of déjà vu. “I’ve seen you before,” I said to myself as I remembered the well-liked and dearly departed, rear-drive Chevy Impala SS from 1994 – ’96. The funny thing is that the age gap between the last SS and the first Marauder was about the same as between my brother and me. And all the basic ingredients between the two cars were the same. Take a full-sized sedan built on a platform that dated from the late ’70s, give it all the powertrain and suspension goodies from the police editions, paint most examples monochromatic black, affix a throwback name to it, and sell it to the public.
In the case of the new Marauder, it was powered by Ford’s 4.6 liter V8 with 302 horsepower and 318 lb.-ft. of torque. With its standard four-speed automatic transmission and 4,100 curb weight, it was able to go from 0-60 miles per hour in 7.5 seconds. This was a full second slower than the ’94 Chevrolet Impala SS whose concept it had borrowed. The quarter mile arrived in 15.5 seconds at 91 mph, per Car And Driver. According to Consumer Guide, the example they tested was capable of just over 22 miles per gallon on the highway, and was closer to 17 in their test loop, though no one was buying one of these for economy. The Marauder had a sport suspension and a 3.55 limited-slip differential, as well as an aluminum driveshaft. The interior came equipped with front bucket seats, a center console, and a floor shifter.
A total of just over 11,000 Marauders were built between 2003 and ’04, with most of them (71%) being first-year models. (This was against almost 77,000 Chevy Impala SSs produced between 1994 and ’96.) The ’03 was initially offered in a Black, with Dark Blue Pearl and Silver Birch becoming available later in the year; Something like 90% of the ’03s were black like our featured car, and that’s the paint color I most closely associate with them. Another 3,214 Marauders were built for ’04, with 1,237 finished in Black as the most popular color, edging out 997 painted in Silver Birch, and 980 in Toreador Red. I think I’ve seen a few in the silver color, but not the red or the blue, that I can recall. (Maybe I had thought any red or blue ones were Grand Marquises with aftermarket paint and accessories if and when I had seen them.)
About its name, I get that Lincoln-Mercury was looking for something butch and manly to call their reborn muscle car, but “Marauder”? It may have “roamed about and raided in search of plunder” (thank you, Merriam-Webster), but it seems Mercury never found that plunder with such low sales and brief tenure. I can somewhat excuse the appellation for the original Marauders of the ’60s and 1970, when Mercury was on an alliterative roll with their M-themed model names, such as the Meteor, Montego, and Montclair. In the early Aughts, though, wasn’t there something else they could have come up with? “Meteor” might have worked slightly better on this car, given the meaty, two-ton presence of this car.
My initial impression of the latter-day Marauder was that of a “me-too” Impala SS, though I loved that Ford had thought enough of GM’s idea and still had a RWD platform in production so as to have been able to bring it to production. (The Marauder show car from 2002 was a two-door convertible. Let that alt-world coolness sink in for a second.)
Even in the six years between when my brother and I had taken the same classes with the same teachers, there would invariably be at least one of them who would call me by his name. I don’t even think we looked (or look) that much alike outside of sharing a general sort of family resemblance. Twins we weren’t; My younger brother and I looked much more similar as kids. Ultimately, my older brother and I had carved out our own, individual personas, like the Impala SS and Marauder, even if one had a six- or seven-year head start over the other. Hopefully, not that many people thought of me as an also-ran version of my brother because, in the end, there was room enough for both of us to exist at our high school, even if at completely different times.
Rogers Park, Chicago, Illinois.
Sunday, June 21, 2023.
I’m not surprised the Marauder flopped. Yes, it felt like an inferior copycat of the departed Impala SS when it was new. It was slower and less attractive (IMO). And how can such a huge car have such tight rear seat accommodations? The Impala was loaded with interior space, and the 6-window styling and airy greenhouse made it feel even bigger. Then there was the marketing angle. The Impala SS had a long, well-established history of being a big performance car, even if that image was largely from the 1960s. The Marauder though was largely forgotten, if it was even known. And it was a Mercury, a brand not well known for their muscle cars. Their clientele was mostly older and more conservative, preferring cars like the Grand Marquis which had a vastly different image from the Marauder even if the car itself was almost the same. This car may have done better as a Ford rather than Mercury.
I too got called by my 5-year-older brother’s name by high school teachers. Mostly that was understandable, but one time I got called by my bro’s name by my science teacher who was new at the school that year and didn’t even know my brother. How did that happen?
I’m going to suggest there were two reasons the Marauder bombed. The primary one is cubic inches: the 4.6L DOHC engine just didn’t have the torque to lug that beast around. It was like the 180° opposite of that old torque monster 390 that Ford threw into just about everything. Wasn’t so great for anything resembling high-performance, but had enough low-end grunt to get whatever beast it was in moving smartly off the line.
The bottom line is if the Marauder had gotten the 5.4L version of the 4.6L, it might have had torque enough to at least pull the skin off of a bowl of pudding.
The second reason was the 2002 retro-Bird or, more accurately, how dealers killed sales by insane mark-ups. The problem wasn’t so much the impact it had on the production Marauder sedan (it didn’t help), but the ‘Bird’s poor sales sealed the fate of the very cool Marauder convertible concept. I was always disappointed since that one would have brought back the classic, big, domestic convertible.
To that end, the final 2-seat Thunderbird also did in any chances of the nifty 2002 Chevy Bel Air concept which was passed on to build the quite craptacular SSR quasi-truck.
The bottom line is the last Mercury Marauder never had much of a chance due to the one-two punch of an engine that was short on cubic inches/torque and the possibility of a convertible version killed by poor retro-Bird sales (which was mostly caused by dealer greed).
The problem is that the 4v 5.4 wouldn’t fit with proper clearance to service the vehicle. As it is the valve covers of the 4v 4.6 have minimal clearance between the brake booster on the driver’s side and the HVAC box on the passenger side, not to mention it would also need a different intake or a hood bulge/scoop.
The big reason for the less than great performance was the bean counters. The car and its rear tire size was designed for 4.10 gears instead of 3.55 but worries about CAFE nixed that. It was also designed for 2 1/2″ exhaust but again the bean counters said too expensive, use the standard car’s 2″ system which was designed for the early 2v engines that only made 210 hp with duals. Make those two changes and you are running neck and neck with that Impala SS.
I do not think that Ford ever seriously considered making a production convertible. No way the bean counters would have given a green light to engineering and tooling for all the new sheet metal, glass, interior bits and of course top mechanism, when they wouldn’t authorize spending the money on the exhaust pipes that had been engineered.
A convertible would have been great and if more than the one existed there would be at least one in the driveway, instead of two 4drs.
I’d also add the 5.4 really isn’t really the powerhouse you’d expect it to be with that nearly extra liter, and from a cost standpoint would have required at the very least a dedicated manifold casting (there were never any 5.4 car applications domestically besides the exotic SVT Cobra R) and the tall deck iron block would have made the heavyweight Marauder another 100lbs heavier than the aluminum block 4.6 it had.
Displacement: 330 cu in, 5410cc
Power: 500 bhp @ 6500 rpm
Torque: 500 lb-ft @ 3250 rpm
“I’d also add the 5.4 really isn’t really the powerhouse you’d expect it to be”
It wasn’t? These specs weren’t bad for 2005-2006.
Of course this 5.4 Ford was the engine they put int the Ford GT; however, it could have been put in the Marauder with a bit of work. The Ford GT (modified of course) which still owns the standing mile record: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM3nH-IYUeU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYz-6fnLm9U
I think it goes without saying that the roots supercharged, dry sump, aluminum blocked Cobra R headed, supercar 5.4 is a far far cry from the 300 horsepower Navigator 5.4 that would most conceivably hypothetically been put into the marauder. The only thing the two have in common is displacement
But I’ll also add that the supercharged 4.6 DOHC has all the potential to make those numbers as well, 390 underrated horsepower in the 2003-2004 Cobra was extremely potent at that time, and 500 horsepower was tried and true surpassable on that platform.
https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/mmfp-0411-2003-ford-mustang-cobra-kenne-bell-twin-screw-supercharger-mods-for-mods-part-2/
As Matt stated the GT’s 5.4 is a bit exotic for such an application and the one that would have made sense to use as the starting point was the Navigator engine. The Navigator engine actually made less HP with 300 @ 4750 rpm vs the Marauder with 302 @ 5000 rpm. It did gain torque, importantly at a significantly lower rpm with 355 @ 2750 rpm vs 318 @ 4300 rpm.
However that Navigator intake is a tall, long runner design, specifically to produce peak torque at low(er) rpm, that wouldn’t even somewhat fit under a Panther hood w/o a massive power bump/scoop. Any intake that would fit w/o obstructing vision would push the peak torque to about where the 4.6’s is. Yes it should then make more HP too, IF the bean counters would have allowed a big enough exhaust. Which puts us back where we started in that the car needs more gear and exhaust, the 2 things cut by the bean counters.
Thanks for the comments that effectively shoot down the idea of the 5.4L in the Marauder (even the Navigator’s 5.4L).
I’ll go along with the sentiment that proper gearing and a larger diameter exhaust would have went a long way to giving the Marauder the oomph it needed to at least come close to matching the old ’94-’96 Impala SS with the Corvette’s pushrod 350.
In fact, I sure would like to see some numbers from any Marauder owners who made those modifications on their own. You just know they’re out there.
Yes those numbers are out there, at mercurymarauder.net there are a few owners that have made dyno runs after an exhaust and tune. To be honest it was a way back when I bought my first that I read them so I don’t remember the actual details, but the improvement wasn’t insignificant.
Admittedly, I don’t too much about Mercury’s performance pedigree as a brand, but I immediately think of “Mercury Blues” – I’m gonna buy me a Mercury, Baby, and cruise up and down this road… I do seem to recall big ’50s Mercs definitely being performance machines. And then there were the hi-po Cougars and Cyclones (including the Spoiler), so it did make sense to me that the RWD muscle sedan from FoMoCo was a Mercury.
And about your high school incident with your science teacher, maybe your brother’s reputation preceded him, as they say!
I share the author’s sentiments about the Marauder. Although I’ve always lusted after the ’94-’96 Impalas, I’d be equally as proud to call a Marauder my own. Taken on their own merits, either car is good-looking, quick, and with proven mechanicals (the LT-1’s Opti-spark possibly excluded). These cars were dinosaurs even when new, but for those of us who’ve always loved old-school vibes, they’re hard to beat. To paraphrase Jay Leno: they may be dinosaurs…but dinosaurs once ruled the earth.
Yes! And that’s a great Leno quote. The more I learned later of his car enthusiast status, the more I really liked him.
When these first came out I thought Ford should have resuscitated the Galaxie name. However, in retrospect, I can see why they didn’t as it was too much of a me-too after the Impala SS. But the name Marauder still doesn’t work on this car.
Other than perhaps Cyclone, I’m not thinking of any good Mercury names for this car. So maybe Marauder was the best they had…
With no older siblings I never had to worry about the pre-conceived notions of others. However, as my father was on the school board of my very rural K-12 school, I was always being compared to him. We are night and day, so I can only imagine the shock of people thinking I’d be like him.
Speaking of my parents, the house down the street and around the corner from them has a silver Marauder parked in the driveway.
“The best they had…” You know, Jason, after I had written this and gave more thought to what else this car might have been named, I was honestly at a loss. “Well, Joe, ya criticized the name… What would YOU have called it?” LOL
I imagine that a silver Marauder would look splendid.
Best they had wasn’t very good. Mercury sold exactly 2,317 Marauders with a performance connotation in the 1960s. It was chiefly a designation for either a roofline, or hardtop styling.
The Big M’s big car performance history could fit in a Comet’s trunk.
1962: Monterey Custom S-55 is introduced. Analogous to the newly introduced Ford Galaxie 500 XL, both carry buckets and console as standard. S-55 engines and performance options are the same as any big Mercury. Coupe and convertible only.
1963: Like the XL, the S-55 balloons to four body styles, including a 4-dr hardtop. Mercury sells 9,000 S-55s to Ford’s 95,000 XLs. The mighty 390 prevails across all big Mercurys, with the same performance options. Ford introduces a 1963 1/2 fastback 2-dr hardtop coupe roofline, and Mercury gets the same roofline, and calls it Marauder on all trim lines. The S-55 Marauder coupe sells 2,317 copies. In theory a few may have carried a 427 engine.
1964: S-55 is dead. Marauder name applied to 2-dr fastback hardtops and 4-dr hardtops in all three models, base Monterey, Montclair and Park Lane.
1965: Marauder name used the same as 1964.
1966: The Marauder is murdered, and is no more. The S-55 returns for one more year in coupe (2,916 units) and convertible (669 units).
The one and only (performance engines optional) performance Mercury Marauder of the 1960s……..
I am another who thought of this car as a day late and a dollar short. The Impala SS hit its small target dead on, while the Marauder was late getting here and less satisfying when it did. This was a market that wanted mega-torque. The Chevy V8 could supply it, but the 4.6, while a great engine, was a little challenged here, especially in this version. I always wondered if a 5.4 in this car would have given it the cred it needed. If a person could erase the Impala SS from the mind, this was a cool car.
Your family analogy describes this car perfectly.
Thanks, JP. Ultimately, I wouldn’t liken my older brother and me to Impala SS and Marauder, only because at some point in my development I discovered and embraced my own set of strengths and gradually learned to play into them. He and I are in different classes and on different platforms, completely. It’s probably why we’re friends. We’ve never really been in competition with each other.
Per usual, Joseph, you weave such wonderful narratives. Great story and find.
Thanks so much, Dave!
I had a 95 impala SS that I had sold in 2001. I liked the idea of the marauder a lot but I couldn’t come to grips with the inferior performance despite arriving 7 years after the impala stopped production.
I could totally get and respect that some prospective buyers might have seen the downgrade in numbers as being retrograde. I’m sure this prompted more than a few Impala SS owners to hang onto theirs a little longer than they might have, otherwise.
Pssst-Moderator: The years for the SS in the link to the older post above need to be corrected from ’04-’06 to ’94-’96.
“Ope!”, as we say in Michigan. Thanks and fixed.
I’ve often thought the name was derived from the WWII airplane: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-26_Marauder
I wouldn’t have put it past Ford / L-M to name it the original after a plane. The Mustang was also a plane, after all.
My brother Jeff is 18 months younger than I, but unlike your sibling comparisons, in my case the younger brother was always the more advanced, smarter, and cooler one.
I played the clarinet… not very well.
Jeff played the saxophone very well and transitioned to the even cooler banjo.
I was a poor student in high school. (I would later find out I am very dyslectic, but in the mid 1950s no one knew what that word meant.)
Jeff was an honor student; studies came to him easily.
I went to Adelphi University as a commuting student with a side job and had to incur student debt. After graduation it took me years to pay off my student loans.
Jeff went to RPI on a scholarship, joined a fraternity, and was a BMOC. He graduated with no debt.
In college I drove an old flat head 6 Chrysler; Jeff had a TR4 and a Honda motorcycle.
After college I wrote prosaic Cobol business programs; Jeff worked on the ultra-cool AIM-54 Phoenix missile system for the F-14.
There’s more, but …. you get my drift.
So Joseph, I can relate to your older brother guiding image, but only in reverse, where I saw life style guidance in my younger brother.
It’s almost like – in my case – the Impala SS came after the Marauder as an improved Darth Vader conveyance.
This is a great post on sibling relationships and on big monochromatic sedans built on fading automotive architectures.
I can also identify with finding inspiration from my younger brother. This was absolutely the case for a period in my life. My problem was that I was gaslighted by my other parent into believing my sexual orientation made me inferior to both brothers, and that was a whole world of narcissistic suck that took years to undo.
For a few years, though, I watched my younger brother go to law school, study abroad, and live for a few years in an exciting city, and I absolutely believed at some point that if he could do some of these incredible things, why couldn’t I?
Ultimately, emulating either brother to a tee was a dead end and I was able to correct what needed to be corrected, which included learning to embrace and love myself and my unique gifts, and do what I was put here to do instead of trying to be someone else or compete for parental approval, or other such BS. Believe me when I tell you that it saved my life.
About this time, Ford owned Jaguar. Seems there are DNA gene splicing outcomes from shared design studio software. Look at the comparable year XJ8 and note the similarity in stance, wheels, back end, and the 4 doors. Until 2009, the XJ8 kept the legacy look of its older siblings. For Marauder this rhymes with Merc’s Grand Marquis and Crown Vic origins, kept well past the market design trends begun a decade or more prior. In the end, Ford sold Jag to Tata and Merc faded away to history, which seems to be the inevitable outcome for designs that try to live way past their peak.
These are very interesting points that are leading me down the path of further examination of these comparisons. Thanks for this.
That would be the British cousin then:)
Have had two GRAND MARQUIS, 78 (with 460) and 2007. Both were great cars. Never a fan of blacked out speed vehicles. Believe that like me, most MERCURY customers were looking for a comfortable, upscale family car. Consequently Marauder was a marketing mistake. Even bigger FMC mistake was in dropping Crown Vics, GRAND MARQUIS and TOWN Cars in favor of SUVS and crossovers. Look around and see how many are still going strong. Frequently get offers to buy my 2007 TOWN CAR (including dealer who sold it to me).Not enough $$ to even tempt me. How many Full size Impalas do you see? 😎
The Panther was not compliant with new federal crash testing and could not be updated to achieve compliance. It had to die. Ford could have designed a chassis that could have underpinned a mythical 2012 Ranger, Bronco, Crown Vic, and Town Car but they took the easy way out and killed the Ranger. The Taurus and Lincoln MKS were designed on old Volvo architecture and the Bronco became the Flex.
In either case, the market ultimately was served by Chrysler as the company was hitting peak LX with the refreshed 2011 Charger and 300. The 300 was available in SRT trim through the 2014 model year.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2012/11/28/2012-28810/federal-motor-vehicle-safety-standards-side-impact-protection
It had nothing to do with crash testing, it was all about the requirement for stability control to be on 100% of cars and light trucks produced for the 2012 model year. Add in the fact that sales for both the Ranger and Panthers were on a downward slope and some of tooling was pretty worn by 2011 and it became very hard to justify the cost of developing and tuning stability control systems for those platforms.
Yeah chances are pretty low that you would have seen a Dark Blue Pearl version as only 328 were made making it the rarest color. Which is why when I found one for sale locally with the Light Flint interior (215 of 328) I knew I had to buy it even though it was high on miles and is showing that it was a daily driver for most of its life.
Unfortunately there is no way to definitely tell if a Black (or Sliver Birch) Marauder is an 03 or an 04 w/o looking at the VIN or door sticker. Of course it is most likely an 03 based on production numbers.
While it only ran for 2 model years there are actually 3 different versions. The first batch of cars built prior to the traditional Sep new model year start time are known as 300a. The 300a cars (and other early 03 Panthers) have some parts/features that were carried over from the 02 cars. The later 03’s were when the bean counters started their infamous de-contenting. The most noticeable way to tell the two apart is the fuel door, 92-02 cars and early 03’s have a remote fuel door release while the later cars got rid of that. So if it doesn’t have a finger pull it is a 03 300a and if it has one it is a 300b or an 04. That messes with me since I have both and often find myself pushing a blanking plug to open the fuel door or getting out and finding I have open the door and push the button.
So if you see one w/o a finger pull it is an 03 but if you see one w/ finger pull it could be an 03 or an 04.
While the bean counters were all about the de-contenting, they did let a couple of upgrades slip through. The 300a cars didn’t have traction control while all 300b and 04s do, and a sunroof option was added for 04.
Thank you for this in-depth – much appreciated. I got the model year from a license plate search. When I was researching this model, I did also read about the decontenting that happened after the initial run. I started going down that path, but then decided to leave the facts more basic only because it would have turned into a different kind of essay that others here are better at writing.
These are all fascinating facts about the Marauder that you’ve pointed out, and reading this comment and remembering some of the articles I had referenced has again piqued my curiosity about these cars.
No, thank you, for writing about it. I’m happy that you don’t include too many of the facts about your subject automobiles. I read your articles to see what memories/thoughts the muse (subject vehicle) sparks in you. IF the vehicle sparks some interest then google will tell me and others all the nitty gritty numbers.
Interesting analogies with the cars and siblings.
I get lots of first hand looks at the Marauder. My friend autocross’ one. Sports about 100 more horsepower, 4.10 rear gears, wider tires and wheels and some suspension modifications. No slouch. At 4100 pounds its a bit hefty but there are Camaro’s, Challengers, Chargers and Mustang’s weighing in at similar numbers.
As far a siblings go, I am one of five, two older brothers, 3 and 6 years ahead of me. I had many of the same teachers and was often called by my brothers names. My mother also was friends with many of my teachers so best behavior was a good idea.
You make a great point about the weight of modern versions of cars like Camaro, Mustang, Challenger. It’s absolutely true that they weigh not that much less than this Marauder.
I often wonder what kind of student my brother had been for many of his former teachers to recognize me as a Dennis brother a full six years after he had sat in those classrooms. Academically, he was straight-A’s, but there were a lot of kids in those classrooms over the intervening six years. Best behavior is always a good idea for an older sibling, though it doesn’t always work out that way. LOL
Initially, like the Impala SS, the Marauder seemed like a swan song for the full size full frame RWD Ford platform to end the era on a high note, but the panther soldiered on for over a half decade after the Marauder was cancelled so it became a sort of footnote.
The Marauder was first and foremost an enthusiast product, it’s straight off the AutoZone shelf AutoMeter gauges should be a strong hint at that. Most of the performance faults were present on 4.6 Mustangs as well, so died in the wool Ford guys weren’t too bothered by it as the same speed parts and tuning that could wake up a 4.6 4R70w drivetrain applied – looser torque converter, steeper rear gears, altered shift points to take advantage of the DOHCs broader powerband freer flowing exhaust etc. Ford’s of this era all needed a little massaging, but the late model Ford aftermarket was very healthy back then, so was it a perfect product off the shelf? No. But did it inject some interest in the panther platform? I think so. The Marauder buyers seemed to the same demographic who bought Mustang GTs or SVT Cobras, but those who didn’t like the Mustangs ergonomics(SN95s were pretty uncomfortable for tall men, or so I’m told) or wanted the Q ship image over a loud sport coupe festooned with fake scoops. Middle aged buyers, but much younger than the usual clientele who were buying Grand Marquis or Crown Victoria LXs by a good couple decades.
For me, the bodystyle was just too boring, I’ve always lived in the Chicago area and until the last 7-8 years the 98-12 Panther body was absolutely everywhere, be it cop cars, taxis, or grandpa and grandmas cars going to church. The Marauder looked different from grand Marquis by trimming it like a police interceptor and darkening the lights, that’s about it. The Impala SS looked unique when it was introduced as it brought with it the radiused rear wheel opening and hoffmiester kink, and it remained unique looking because very very few civilian Caprice models with those updates were sold and there was no tinsely luxury brand twin to water it down, the Roadmaster had a totally different look to it. Marauders though, I mixed the, up with unmarked police interceptors or Crown Vic Sports in black constantly, to the point an actual marauder stopped even catching my eye.
This is a great point about the size of the Marauder versus in something like a Mustang or Camaro. What if I was super tall or large and didn’t want to feel like a sardine, but wanted the V8 performance? A car like this or an Impala SS would absolutely make sense. The Impala SS has always seemed much better differentiated from the Caprice than the Marauder was from the Grand Marquis, from a visual standpoint. I think just a few extra tweaks might have taken the looks of the Marauder there.
The panther platform was profitable at that time. Ford should have grown the Marauder platform to include Thunderbird (2-door, 4-door coupe?, convertible, Mark 9, 2-door and convertible, Cougar (yes a real cougar not what we got in this time period) then do a Torino CobraJet version of Marauder for Ford. Who knows what could have been.
I will say that the Marauder two-door convertible concept from 2002 was a real looker. I applaud whoever had come up with its basic concept.
The Maurader isn’t slow. The Chevy had a different rear end giving it the edge. That seems to be where the Mercury was shortchanged.
However, the Maurader is a higher quality car than the SS. The quality of the interior, fit and finish and the pieces come together better than with the SS.
So what’s the attraction? A dependable solid car with the Police Interceptor options bolted in. Power and comfort. Smooth. I love it.
Is this one yours? It’s a nice one, regardless. I don’t recall reading anything about the build quality of the Marauder versus that of the Impala SS. I would like to think it held a definitive edge in at least one regard.
The Maurader isn’t slow. The Chevy had a different rear end giving it the edge. That seems to be where the Mercury was shortchanged.
I don’t think anyone said a Marauder is slow, but contemporary road test do show that it does not accelerate as quickly as an Impala SS. The Impala SS had a 3.08:1 rear axle ratio versus the 3.55:1 in the Marauder. The Marauder also used tires about 1.5″ taller, however, even factoring that in, the Marauder still has lower gearing. Doing the math, if the Marauder had the same diameter tires as an Impala SS, it would be about the same as an Marauder using a 3:36 rear axle ratio. This would result in the same overall ratio as the larger tires and 3.55 gears. So the Chevy had no rear axle advantage. The Marauder still lower overall ratio than the Impala SS with its shorter tires and 3:08 gears.
As previously mentioned in this post, the 5.7L LT1 simply had more low end power/torque than the 4.6L DOHC engine, allowing it to out accelerate the Merc with a 40 hp deficit.
If that pic is your Marauder, it looks like a very sharp car.
Joe…”He was the Camaro to my Vega”. Such a perfect line that pretty much encapsulates the theme of the entire post. Excellent craft.
I had no older siblings, but I can entirely understand the dynamic that you describe, and think it translated perfectly to the car-related analogue. I was quite enamored of the Impala SS, but only noticed the similar Mercury in its shadow. That’s the great thing about retrospect, we get to reflect and reconsider.
I think that in my mind, when we’re both in our sixties or seventies, or whatever, he’ll still be the Camaro to my Vega on some level. And I mean that in a good way.
“I think it goes without saying that the roots supercharged, dry sump, aluminum blocked Cobra R headed, supercar 5.4 is a far far cry from the 300 horsepower Navigator 5.4 that would most conceivably hypothetically been put into the marauder. The only thing the two have in common is displacement
But I’ll also add that the supercharged 4.6 DOHC has all the potential to make those numbers as well, 390 underrated horsepower in the 2003-2004 Cobra was extremely potent at that time, and 500 horsepower was tried and true surpassable on that platform.”
It would be nice if it could; however, until the 4.6 does this, I’m skeptical.
https://auto.jepistons.com/blog/under-the-hood-of-the-worlds-only-300mph-ford-gt
“https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/mmfp-0411-2003-ford-mustang-cobra-kenne-bell-twin-screw-supercharger-mods-for-mods-part-2/
Undeterred, the team put together another 5.4-liter V8. With a stock block, worked-over factory cylinder heads with custom cams, a billet crankshaft, forged connecting rods, custom JE pistons, and a pair of Precision 8685 turbos, the combination makes about 3,000 horsepower by Kesterson’s estimate. “Stock block and factory heads – it’s kind of insane,” he notes.”
“
This is the kind of know-how that has my utmost respect.
Interesting to read your father’s age, Joseph. I’m likewise the son of an older father, but without the older brother to help pave the way for me. I was always a bit embarrassed about my father’s age; by the time I was in high school he looked (and acted) more like a grandfather than a father – you can imagine how that went down with a sensitive teen. I might have felt different if I’d had siblings, but I was an only. I didn’t make that mistake; my youngest was born when I was 32. But then, I married at 27, not 47.
I remember reading about the Marauder. It seemed a strange fit for Mercury at the time, and disappointing that it was slower than the earlier Impala SS. Ten years newer but – worse? As an Aussie I never understood why Ford didn’t develop this platform to be the best that it could be but seemed content just to let it coast, though from the comments it seems the bean counters were largely at fault. How odd that Ford Australia were allowed to develop the mighty Barra engine but at much the same time Mercury in the US couldn’t give this car the beans it needed. Weird.
(No car pic today)
No car pic? Oh, no! Seriously, Peter, I love seeing the scale models in your collection every time you post a picture of one. I hope you don’t ever feel obligated to do so.
I have long been fascinated by the Australian Fords, and it has nothing to do with the Mad Max movies.
I was actually the product of my dad’s second marriage, and I have an older sister with whom I am also close. I can identify with what you mention about feeling like your dad was more grandfatherly to you, as I sometimes also felt. My dad’s health wasn’t the greatest from his 60s on, but one would never know it by his absolute lack of complaining and soldiering on. I can only hope to be like that as I advance in age.
Ha! No car pic because I’ll soon be writing about them for CC! (And because I don’t have a relevant model to show)
Yes!!!! 🙂
I drove my Black Marauder today, sparked in part by this article, part by the fact that its been too long since I drove it, it needed gas and I was going to be right by the Costco with Premium currently cheaper than Regular at the Costco closer to home.
It pointed out that the Marauder was indeed successful. Sure they had hoped to move 18k per year, but the primary objective was to draw in a (relatively) younger clientele and serve as a halo vehicle, which it did well.
I was reminded of that when I was at the gas station today. On my way there I was passed by a 98-02 Crown Vic that I could tell had non stock wheels. As I got to Costco I found myself two cars back from him and saw that they were Explorer wheels. When we picked lanes I got the better luck of the draw and made it to the pump sooner. He was in the lane next to me and once he got the pump started he came over and said “nice Marauder” and asked me a bit about it. He couldn’t have been over 30. One of the other interactions that sticks out was when I first got the black one over a dozen years ago, and I was at the gas station. The late 30’s or early 40’s woman next to me said nice Marauder, mind if I take a picture? She then went on to tell me how her 13? year old son loved Marauders and wanted one. Of all the cars I’ve owned the Marauders are the ones that have sparked the most comments and questions. My IH’s are a close second but the difference between those that make comments is significant. Those younger than me might say something about my Bronco or Jeep but the folks that say nice Scout are almost all older than me, even now. With the Marauder the people who comment and know what it is are always younger than me, unless they have/had one of their own.
On the younger buyer front, on a personal front it certainly didn’t hurt. In 2002 I was a (late) 30-something with a wife, 2 kids and a minivan. Now the wife was never that happy about driving a “soccer mom” minivan and that winter her grandmother passed. Since the funeral was in North Dakota, it was the middle of winter and she would need a vehicle to drive other relatives I had her rent a SUV for the AWD/4WD. That turned out to be an Explorer. It wasn’t too long after she returned that she made it know that she wanted one instead of a mini van. Now we did look at Explorers but of course I insisted that we also look at Mountaineers. She liked the looks and the fact is being paired with the Aviator in the showroom putting pressure on Mountaineer pricing it meant that as I wanted it the Mercury was cheaper, even though at the time of purchase there was a bigger incentive on the Ford. By mid 2003 the minivan was gone, replaced by a 2003 Mountaineer. So yeah I would have found that out thanks to the internet and almost certainly ended up with the Merc over the Ford, but getting to check out a Marauder or two while shopping certainly didn’t hurt. Now the thing is the wife did prefer the Panthers we had before and the Marauder was actually cheaper, but we needed 3 rows. To rub it in though when we returned to pick up the Mountaineer it was lined up in the delivery area next to a Marauder.
But fast forward a few years and I eventually brought home a Black 03 Marauder to replicate that delivery area match up, and it was eventually joined by a Dark Blue Pearl. Had Mercury survived it is highly likely that the wife would currently be driving a Mariner PHEV instead of an Escape PHEV.
Loved reading this, and thank you for circling back. I imagine that it’s part of the thrill of owning a cool car – when others also share in your enthusiasm and recognize it for the special machine it is. Sounds like the perfect end to the day.
Another well written and insightful, interesting article followed by good comments with loads of information .
Siblings : can’t live with ’em, not allowed to shoot ’em .
Your father sounds like a very good one to me .
-Nate
He was. Thank you, Nate.
As I’ve said before :
He raised you well Sir .
I’m very envious of any who had good fathers, mine caused me to be very careful indeed with how I raised up my son .
I think I could have done _far_ better, he assures me I was great .
Mixed there, at least no drugs, gangs bastards, arrests so on and so forth .
How I could have raised up a mixed race son to be an alt-right loving white power racist escapes me .
-Nate