(first posted 3/28/2013)
Memorable (def): 1. worth remembering 2. easily remembered
Maurauder (def): one who raids for booty
In my 1967-1968 Cougar CC, I claimed there were only three Mercuries truly worth remembering. The Marauder X-100 wasn’t on the list, and many of you protested. Fortunately, there are two definitions for the word, and the Marauder is certainly easily remembered; more like impossible to forget. And what exactly is it memorable for? Its booty. So how could we possibly not honor that?
Marauder is a bit of an unlikely name for a big Mercury. It appeared in 1963.5 to distinguish the semi-fastback roofed Mercs from the reverse-angled Breezeway models (CC here). NASCAR racing made it a necessity, and it presumably brought some suggestion of sportiness to the Monterey, Montclair and Park Lane. And if you were one of the maybe seven folks who paid big bucks to get a genuine eight-barrel 427 in your Marauder, you were obviously not into the herd mentality. But that’s not the key to success, and the name disappeared again in 1965, as the sporty affectation apparently didn’t exactly suit the staid Mercuries all that well after all: “I am so torn between buying a GTO or a Marauder…”
After a four year absence off raiding for booty, the Marauder reappeared in 1969, showing off its newly-acquired embarrassment of riches. It was an oddly timed and predictably unsuccessful attempt to compete in a market segment that was not only long in tooth, but utterly moribund. The full-sized “muscle-sporty” segment had its birth with the 1955 Chrysler 300, and within a few years expanded to the popular price segment in the early sixties, like the Impala SS, among others. It was a heavily GM-dominated field, as the original Marauder’s demise soon proved.
But when the new 1964 intermediate muscle cars appeared (GTO etc.), the full-sized progenitors quickly became dinosaurs, in more way than one. What little relevance they once had now evaporated. The segment leader, the Impala SS, was a distinct model from 1963 through 1967, but reduced to a trim option only through its final years in 1968 and 1969. That must have been the cue for Mercury to create the Marauder to glean the Super Sport crumbs.
I realize that this 1969-1970 Marauder holds an exalted place for lovers of big and distinctive booties, so I kind of hate to pop the big bubble. The Marauder, like so many easily remembered Mercuries was just another Ford with heavy makeup. Very heavy, in the case of the X-100.
Here are the two Blue Oval blood brothers: the Marauder on top, and its near-twin, the Galaxie XL below. The Marauder is nothing more than the XL with a Marquis front end, and a few trim details, like the fake vent and a cheap fake crackle-finish plastic slab that encases the tail lights.
But the most distinctive difference was the matte black paint applied to that whole rear of the X100 (optional on the base Marauder).
So why isn’t our featured Marauder wearing those black Lycra tights to really set off its hind assets? Because this one is a 1970 model X-100, and the matte black paint on the rear deck was a delete option for 1970. Boo hoo.
Which also explains why there’s no leather, which was standard on the ’69.
So let’s try to recreate an authentic picture in our minds what these big bad babies were like to drive. Now I could contribute my own memories of a summer’s worth of illicit marauding in a very similar ’69 Ford LTD coupe. But that didn’t have the Marauder’s standard performance handling package suspension or the Marauder X-100′s big 429 V8. Nevertheless, it’s hard to conjure up any memories of even a hint of sportiness in the perpetually understeering LTD, which was a hallmark of Ford products. It was their way of keeping you safe.
But who’s going to want to believe the drug-addled memories of an eighteen-year old joy-riding the back roads of Baltimore County with no fewer than three girls sharing the endlessly-wide front seat with him? (details revealed when I find a ’69 LTD coupe). But wait! I happen to have a December 1968 issue of Car and Driver which curiously features two road tests of the two most polar opposite cars available that year: the tiny 1.1 L 60 hp Corolla Sprinter coupe and the 7.0 L 360 hp Marauder x-100. These ultimate extremes of trying to turn pedestrian sedans into “sporty” coupes both had predictable results.
The reputation of C/D in the old days of ripping apart cars (literally and metaphorically) in their tests is rather over-stated. The Marauder is treated rather gently, despite the predictable shortcomings of its sporty pretensions. Considering that the brand new canted-valve 429 engine was still in its smog-tainted sunshine years, with high compression heads, a big four barrel carb and un-catalyzed genuine dual exhausts, performance might be expected to be…memorable. It wasn’t. Zero to sixty came in 7.8 seconds, and the quarter mile in a leisurely 16.0 secs @ 86.0 mph.
And it gets better yet: C/D’s observed fuel mileage: 10 – 13 mpg on premium fuel. Yes, the good old days. Hey, it was fun having to stop every two hundred miles to refill the 24 gallon tank – the gas jockey did it for you. The Marauder’s 4400 lbs test weight undoubtedly played a role.
But there is a pleasant surprise: the Marauder handles reasonably well, for what it is: a big fat Ford two-door sedan; not a sporty car. C/D makes that clear: “rather than being a two-ton sports car as the ad men would have you believe, the Marauder is fashionable transportation – which is not the same thing”. While sporty characteristics might at least be somewhat timeless, fashion hardly ever is, all to obviously.
But the steering comes in for heavy-handed criticism: numb and slow; requiring a full four turns lock to lock. And it loses its power assist when parking, no less. How inconvenient! C/D helpfully suggests that Ford consider buying their power steering components from GM.
And C/D and I share a similar complaint with the Marauder’s instrument panel. It looks like it should be on an Econoline or a Maverick. What a cheap, love-less, and uninspired block of plastic and vinyl-wood. A couple of tiny, pathetic instruments are lost in a smattering of randomly mis-placed knobs and buttons. The seventies were off to a good start.
It was all-too obvious where the cost-cutting was taking place compared to the 1964 Marauder’s dash (above). The ’63-’64 Marauder may not have been the muscle car extraordinaire, but at least this interior looks like a rape and pillaging sort of guy might actually be at home behind the wheel. The X-100? Grandpa heading to the Knights of Columbus.
C/D sums it up: “The Marauder just goes to show you can’t judge a car by its name. Strip away the scheming of market researchers and the babbling of ad writers and you end up with a huge, semi-lethargic, but reasonably competent Detroit cruiser…” Well, the Ford market researchers got it wrong, if they thought the market was looking for this: sales were tepid (15k) in 1969, and dropped off the cliff in 1970, before it was sent packing.
Of course, Marauders can’t be kept at bay forever, and sure enough it returned for its third plundering in 2003. Also weighing 4400 lbs, the blacked-out Grand Marquis now sported a warmed-over 302 hp 4.6, and enough other goodies to knock off seven second runs to sixty, and a fifteen second quarter mile (stock), still none too overly impressive.
I know it’s a favorite among the Panther crowd, which is well represented in these parts. But it also bombed out in the sales charts, and after a run of 11,053 of them, the Marauder was put to rest, for the third and final time. And our booties are safe at last.
Great read, Wow, that IP really is a cobbled-together, mismatched jumble of crap.
You are right – I had never noticed the different style of a/c vents used – I’m surprised that was approved for production.
Mr. Bill
Hamlet, NC
Round ones at the ends and rectangles in the middle would be one thing, but a round one right next to a rectangle does seem like a misdemeanor at least.
3rd-ed, I never understood who did the dash for these, it makes no sense, why are there switches under the steering column?
Also, what are you doing on that rear quarter panel air vent?
Go back to the front fender where you belong.
“I like big butts and cannot lie. . . “
Damn girl how d’ you get all a dat in dem jeans?
I like big cars and I cannot lie….
Nice car and a favorite of mine from the 1969-70 Mercury line-up. There was a ’69 in my hometown – fully loaded with leather seats. It wasn’t well taken care of and I recall the leather seats were shredded by the time the car was 5-6 years old.
On another topic – it appears the article on the 1963 Ford Country Sedan misidentified as a 1961 has been removed.
Mr. Bill
Hamlet, NC
What a big ol’ floaty boat. I remember seeing them around, thinking WTF, why buy one of these when you could have the Cougar XR-7. The ’64 is far more trim and svelte and sporty looking any day, and I loved that ’63-’64 dash.
Another French bulldog!I like the rear,the kicked up hips and fender skirts but not keen on the front despite being a sucker for hide away lights.There was a similair Lincoln a few weeks ago.I’d take a 67/68 Cougar or a Cyclone over this big beasty too.It’s interesting though
I test drove a Panther Marauder and found it very disappointing. The white-faced gauges didn’t make up for the cheapo Police Interceptor interior appointments. To make the 4.6 seem more potent than it was, they gave it an overly-aggressive throttle tip-in, which made it almost impossible to launch smoothly from a stop. All in all it felt like nothing more than a Grand Marquis with less chrome. Hey, maybe that’s because it was!
GM did it much better on that final B-body Impala SS.
That blacked-out behind on the ’69 model brings to mind the ’82 Supra, which was only available with a black-painted rear hatch. It didn’t work nearly as well on the Toyota.
About 15 years ago I had a 1967 Cadillac Deville convertible, a 1970 Chrysler 300 convertible with the 440 TNT , and a 1970 Mercury Marquis convertible with a 429.
My favorite was the Caddy due to how well it drove, but the Mercury was definitely the fastest.
Most people thought that the Mercury was a Lincoln, or had no clue as to what it was.
You would be surprised how many people think any big 70’s car with hidden headlights is a “Lincoln”.
Everyone used to call my 77 New Yorker the big ugly faded gray Lincoln….
And this specimen appears to be sporting the rim-blow steering wheel, discussed in another recent post.
Once again Paul saves his vitriol for Ford, Mercury in this case.
Lets take a look at the competition: “The (1970) Hurst 300s were all 2-door and shared a white and gold paint scheme similar …… All came with the 375 hp (280 kW) 440 cu in (7.2 L) 4-barrel TNT V8 engine. Road tests clocked one at 0-60 at 7.1 seconds with the 1/4 mile in 15.9 seconds. “Not bad for a 4,100 lb (1,900 kg) aircraft carrier.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_300_letter_series#1970_Hurst_300
Chrysler virtually invented the concept and it’s plug was pulled soon also, selling in similar numbers. The market for the “Gentleman’s Hot Rod” was soon coming to an end.
Remember that the X-100 wasn’t a 429 CJ, just the regular Thunder Jet. Even the quarter time is misleading as C/D was never very good at the quarter mile.They were usually the slowest. Car Life got 15.17 @ 92.3 mph for the 1969 Marauder. Perhaps it has the optional 3.00 or 3.25 gears with Traction Lock? The 2.80 would have been slower to be sure.
As a bonus, the X-100’s ride was pleasingly firm and its optional $71.30 power-assisted front disc brakes helped produce short, sure stops. Overall, said Car and Driver, “it’s extremely controllable in a wide range of situations — which is more than we can say for most of its competitors.”
Gas mileage in any of the BIG muscle cars is not worth discussing. “That the car didn’t sell in huge numbers and wouldn’t run with the supercars of the day is not really the point. As a broad-shouldered heavyweight with the biggest engine in the stable, the Marauder X-100 was typical of one branch of the muscle car family.”
http://musclecars.howstuffworks.com/classic-muscle-cars/1969-mercury-marauder-x-100.htm
You didn’t burst my bubble on the sports roof being shared. That’s pretty obvious. Exclusive tops hats are expensive.
Leather BENCH seats were standard in 1969, or vinyl bucket seats with a console and the horseshoe shifter.
The newer Marauder is collectible too. Even though it has the Cobra 4.6 it’s saddled with more weight and an automatic. It’s not unusual to see them with Superchargers 😉
For the most part, I don’t take the quarter mile times in publications of that time very seriously, especially for the Supercars. Either the times were, er, approximate or there was so much tinkering involved (“We got consistent 97.63 mph in completely showroom trim — all we did was change the plugs, disconnect the vacuum advance, remove the air filter and let half the air out of the front tires!”) that the results weren’t representative of anything but maybe youthful enthusiasm. The results for economy and luxury cars were probably a little more realistic just because nobody cared enough to do all the Superstock Eliminator tricks.
You could not be more correct. I always get a laugh when I read articles ranking the top 10 (top 20, top 50…) musclecars based on 40+ year old published ETs. Anyone who’s ever spent any time at a drag strip knows there’s way too many variables to consider to make absolute statements.
Cars like this were about cruising effortlessly at whatever speed you wished, not about putting a holeshot on the car in the next lane anyway.
I think you let the air out of the REAR tires and pump up the front.
In MUSCLE CAR REVIEW, a current publication of old muscle cars, they cover the “Pure Stock” Drags. Even there, with inspections, there is a whole lot of cheating going on! Most of it internally…..match porting, stronger innards, but with stock carb, exhaust manifolds, etc. everything is tuned to the max.
The point I should also make is that a 69 GTO (or any other vaunted Muscle Car with “normal” options) with a base 400/automatic, P/S P/B P/W, air and economy gears isn’t all that fast either. 14.9 sec @ 98.3 mph by one account, a 68 1/4 Mile ET:15.660 here http://www.dragtimes.com/Pontiac-GTO-Timeslip-7228.html
So if a X-100 did it in 15.12 or 16.0 it puts it in good company of a 375 TNT Chrysler 300 or a well equipped GTO of the era.
New stock Mustang GTs are in the low 13, mid 12s! And get 26 MPGs. With an automatic. http://www.dragtimes.com/Ford-Mustang-Timeslip-23992.html
Screw the 60s LOL……THIS is the new Golden Age!
Er, yes, you’re right: pump up the front tires, let air out of the back tires. But you see my point.
Modern tests don’t impress me either – eg 0-60 times “with roll-out”… um, what?
ps I know what roll-out is, but zero means zero!
An older woman at a former place of employment had one just like today’s CC. It was her husband’s car, and when he passed away she occasionally drove it to work.
There are not a lot of cars of this era that I haven’t at least seen or have some knowledge of, but this one totally threw me off. Had to do a Google search to get up to speed on it.
This is, especially in person, a HUGE car.
I saw another non-X-100 Mercury of the same vintage recently and I concur.
I think one of the (various) commercial problems for the full-size sporty models was that by the late ’60s, the big cars looked colossal. The ’69 Marauder was indeed bigger than the 63½ car — by about 4 inches in overall length and maybe 140 lb shipping weight — but looking at them, it’s like Jonah vs. the whale. An early-sixties Impala SS, for example, didn’t look nearly as Rubeneseque as it actually was, whereas these cars seem about twice their real mass. The Baby Boomers didn’t go in for that until they got into SUVs later in life, so it’s hard to see many people under 30 going for this kind of thing when it was new even if they could have afforded it.
No simple up arrow here, so “yes”.
Save this, and use as needed.
“one who raids for booty”‘. I thought that was a rapist! 😉
The Marauder, like so many easily remembered Mercuries was just another Ford with heavy makeup. Very heavy, in the case of the X-100.
Like I wrote back when this was originally posted on TTAC: makeup is what turned Robert Englund into Freddy Krueger,
The X100 is still one of my favorite cars ever. The name and the styling touches just do it for me.
I’ve always thought this X100 looks great. Way better than the Ford (photo below), an unusually effective make-over.
Ford called this the “SportsRoof” (one of the earliest CamelCase trademarks). Mercury dropped Ford’s mundane mid-side trim strip and trimmed out the edges, emphasizing the slab-sided shape. The fake scoop emphasizes that hippy shape nicely. Don’t you think it resembles the MoPar fuselage cars of the same era?
We’d had a ’68 XL fastback, basically the same car, for several years when I went off to college, so I’m familiar with its hugeness. It was metallic gold with black vinyl roof, racing stripes, fake mags and the 428. Drank Sunoco 260 at worse than 10 mpg. I called it their “sports aircraft carrier”. My little 5′ 2″ mom loved it. It was a great car for them, lasted 15 years in the heart of the rustbelt.
Wow! That is like my 1972 Dodge Dart HT, but in a bigger shape! I’d love to have a land yacht like this!
Those Mercury Marauder are very rare. The Canadian counterpart known as Meteor Moncalm S33 is more rarer. http://oldcarbrochures.org/index.php/Canada/1970-Mercury-Meteor-Brochure/1970-Mercury-Meteor-02
The “Panther” Marauder could had done better if Ford had fitted the 5.4L under the hood supercharged or going closer to the concept-car idea they showed with the convertible. http://www.supercars.net/cars/1310.html
FWIW I’m the one who posted that brochure.
its either “more rare” or “rarer” but not “more rarer”, dumas…….
The roof design works better on the Ford than it does on the Mercury for some reason.
The feature car would look a better with skirts, too. Also, the matte black rear trim looked sharp on these, doesn’t look right without it.
This car is strangely optioned. The original owner ordered AC, but no FM. (evidenced by the non-factory grills in the doors). he got tilt, but no cruise. He got power locks (the little chrome rocker switch in the middle of the dash) but no power windows.
I agree re: the skirts. Pretty sure these cars were factory equipped with them, and that character line in the lower rear quarter is carried through the skirt. One of the least “tacked-on” looking skirts ever.
I normally despise skirts on any vehicle, but the X-100 is one of a few special exceptions.
The interior and paint on this CC are hideous, but I’ll take a black-on-black X-100 any day. Red with the matte black trunk would work too!
Skirts on a sporty car sounds ridiculous, but somehow on this car it works.
I totally disagree! I’d almost bet it was a Mercury idea. Why? Look at the 71 Cougar roof……Mustang’s was the flat back……Cougar had the buttresses.
The sporty full-sized GM and Chrysler products from that era had and still have an undeniable cool factor that persists to this day. The 63-70 Chevy Impalas are the darlings of hot rodders, drag racers, rockabillies, lowriders, and donkers everywhere. The big engine / tri-power Pontiacs have their own dedicated fan base, and even the big Buick Wildcats and LeSabres got some love.
Across the road, the big Mopars, namely the 426 / 440 / Hemi-powered Plymouth Belvederes, Satellites, and Sport Furys, along with the Dodge Coronets and luxurious Chrysler 300s, were the scourge of drag strips and back streets everywhere.
The cars above are of true historical signifcance and are highly coveted even today. The 68-70 dig “sporty” Fords are nothing more than an interesting footnote, remembered and desired by only a devoted handful of enthusiasts.
Didn’t Mercury continue to use the Marauder name for the FE-series engines into at least the mid-60s? I don’t recall how long that went on and don’t have the patience to dig through brochures, but I seem to remember that L-M advertised the “Marauder 390,” “Marauder 410” and so forth.
Yes, Mercury did continue the “Marauder” moniker on their big-block engines in the late 60’s. One tidbit fact about these Marauders is that they did share the wheelbase with the Ford fastback, whereas the Monterey and Marquis were I believe 3 inches longer than their Ford counterparts. If you squint you can see how the Marquis front end just doesn’t do it with the Ford body (Maybe its just me…)
I have a nice 69 Monterey Custom 2 dr HT and people constantly think it’s a Chrysler. Same goes with my ’65 Merc…
As for the Panther Marauder, Ford pulled a boner by not making it an SVT and not dropping the supercharged 4.6 in it…as there’s plenty of room.
Wow, your Monterey looks great. Rare bird…
Yes, I agree. The Monterey is so clean and tastefully styled. It is hard to believe that it was in the same showroom (and was the same basic car) as this Marauder.
Thanks guys for the kind words about my ’69. It’s all original except the paint, which was serviceable but I elected to respray it. People are amazed when I tell them it spent the first 32 years of its life in Pennsylvania before coming to New Mexico.
Still love these–even though the Car Life road test I dug up (my favourite source for period muscle car reviews) wasn’t much more complimentary than the Car & Driver review Paul mentions. Like C&D, CL cited excessive understeer and slow, heavy steering in the turns, though they did give the brakes kudos, and the acceleration some (heavily) qualified praise.
Don’t care though. Make mine red, and don’t you dare delete the matte black booty finish.
I hoping one of you can tell me how many cubic ft of trunks space that monster has. I bet you could get more golf-bags in there than golfers in the car to carry to the country club!
I have to chime in, here. I believe that the very first new car sales brochure I ever owned was for the 1970 Mercury line. I got it from my father when he was car shopping in late 1969. I became intimately familiar with the 1970 Mercuries by reading that booklet over and over again. The Marauder X100 was my very favorite car in the book. I was 10 years old at the time, if that helps. This car instantly transports me back to life as a 10 year old kid with not a single care in the world except for what kind of car I could talk my parents into next.
I hear all of the scorn heaped on this big old Mercury, and I understand it, but I still have a largely irrational love for this thing. It is one of the very few really over-the-top cars of the 1969-70 period. It is just gnarly and aggressive and I love it. The Ford Sportsroof looks so much more tame.
I do agree with the consensus on the modern-day Marauder. When it came out, I thought Ford missed the target. The car had almost everything BUT the kind of power that made the Impala SS a cult classic.
I can’t recall ever seeing one of these new – perhaps I may have during one of my youthful summer visits to Missouri. Anyway, when these were new I was a 9-10 year old and Post cereals had new little Mercuries in each box of one of their cereals (Alpha-Bits, Honeycomb). I’d pour the WHOLE box out into a large Pyrex bowl so I could retrieve the car (which was at the bottom) and then dump the whole mess of it back into the box. I remember they had Cougars and Maurauder X-100s.
Yes Billy you are correct, and they also had a 69 Marquis sedan and a Cyclone fastback in those cereal boxes too!
GM gave up on full sized sporty cars by 1970.
Grand Prix was mid sized by 1969, Impala SS dropped for ’70, Wildcat was just a trimmed LeSabre, and no Olds Starfire. Luxo was the rule for the biggies.
However, the ’70 Impala was the last year that hot rodders/teens/Chevy fans liked to tinker with back in the 70’s. The 71-76 were just too big.
This is such a mis-match of a car. But I wonder – in 1970 – would this be a car that you wouldn’t have mind owning?
These are just gorgeous cars… although that awful brown interior is a major turn-off. When I was seventeen, I begged my dad to buy a white X100 from the lady worked next door to where we lived. Her car had the white bucket seat interior, console with awesome stirrup shifter(!), black cove, excellent condition…but he wouldn’t bite and said it wasn’t worth anything. I lusted after that car and thought there was no better looking rear end ever (besides the ’69-’70 Cougar of course).
I got angry and told him he was crazy for not buying it for $700 and got in quite a bit of trouble for saying that but didn’t care. This was rural Alabama and I figured “I” was this only car’s chance of saving this thing from a terrible but common fate.
Sure enough, several months later, this car was in a junkyard minus its drivetrain. Some redneck pulled the 429/C-6 for his POS PICKUP. Makes me ill just thinking about it.
Clicked over after reading the post on the Ford XL. I remember when these were released and read the reviews in the car mags. I liked the car because it looked like someone’s custom job. I liked, (still do) big luxury cruisers and this was a typical big Ford floaty road burner. I could imagine that it was bought by someone who might have wanted a Mark III but didn’t like the neoclassical image or wanted to pay less for an equally distinctive car. It was also on that slightly shorter wheelbase. I don’t think that Mercury ever thought it would sell very many, but it was probably a halo car that would draw the curious into the dealership. If it was successful they could have easily ramped up production. This car really reminds me of the later 1970 Buick Riviera which also resurrected earlier styling cues like the water fall grill, sweep spear sides and fender skirts. That only lasted one year then gave way to the boat tails. I originally thought these were ugly but after years started to appreciate their retro styling. Again the Marauder was the last gasp of the “popularly priced” full size specialty coupes before the newer midsize model broughams took over the market. I imagine the buyers of these cars were reliving in their minds, the glory days of the fifties, Pan American road race Chrysler 300s, Lincolns, and the Le mans racing Cadillac Coupe de Villes. Those were the days when the big cars were the hottest machines on the road.
My maternal grandfather’s ONLY new car in his whole life was a Ford XL. Chocolate brown. I always thought that it said something that for a guy who thought a Lincoln was too flashy (and had been born into the Great Depression) a Ford XL was what he wanted to spend his hard earned dollars on.
I have admired the 69-70 Marauders since I was a kid; I finally bought this 69 X-100 from Nevada a few years ago.
I have a dozen collector cars (mostly Mopar convertibles), and I believe these Marauders are elegant, well-engineered cars that have been overlooked for years. This car has tremendous presence on the road and gets lots of positive reactions from fellow drivers, bikers, and pedestrians.
Oh, you lucky dog!!! BEAUTIFUL car!!! I’m SOOO jealous 🙂 !
Looked at a 92k barn find ’70 X-100 last night, sadly it needs more attention than I can give it. Not a bad car, it’s just been sitting in the same spot (in a well-sealed garage, happily) since ’82. I was all of 6 when these debuted and have had a thing for them ever since, someday I hope to have one.
What a difference a year makes. I learned how to drive in a ’68 Mercury Marquis two-door. I consider the ’68 to be a far better looking car, even though it wasn’t a bit “sporty”. The front end of the ’68 was particularly Lincoln-esque. The non-tunneled semi-fastback was shared with the ’67 Ford LTD coupe, though it was used by Ford only for that year.
Am I reading this right—the matte patch on the deck lid was available in colors other than black? I have no memory of this at all:
That is very interesting George. My Dad had a 69 x-100 and I had one myself in later years so they have been a lifelong obsession.
I know there were some tricks on which cars had it ( only on x-100, not available with vinyl roof etc.) but everyone I’ve ever seen regardless of colour was black.
Now I’m curious!?