(first posted 7/4/2014) What says classic American more than V8 power, rear-wheel drive, and body-on-frame construction with a front bench seat, lots of chrome, and a vinyl landau roof? While this may not be everyone’s definition of “old school American”, it’s cars like this 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis that continued to offer more traditional virtues of American cars in the face of the growing number of imports from Europe and Asia.
Today, the clean exterior styling looks classical, but not gaudy. The Grand Marquis was always a big seller for Mercury up until the end. Despite dating back to 1979, this generation still sold over 70,000 units for both 1990 and 1991. There are still a fairly decent amount of pre-1992 “square” Panthers on the road, but I usually don’t see many in such a vivacious (and rather patriotic, I may add) color. I believe its official name was “Currant Red”.
Grand Marquis’ were treated to a minor dashboard redesign in 1990, relocating the climate control to the upper portion, between the center air vents. The overall straight-edged look of the dash remained, however. The Grand Marquis was no place for a driver’s-oriented “cockpit” dash. A driver’s side airbag and rear shoulder belts were also added to comply with ever-stricter safety standards. With the new “aero” Grand Marquis’ arriving for 1992, there weren’t any noticeable changes for ’91. Looking at the VIN number is really the only way to determine this one’s year, and I forgot to check this time.
The exterior of this car was quite stunning, with its bright red paint and chrome trim glistening in the morning sun. While not one-hundred percent perfect, the only significant flaw on this quarter-century year-old Mercury was some lower-body corrosion behind the rear wheels. Speaking of wheels, these elegant turbine wheels are among my favorite wheel on any car, historic or modern.
Although an officially-named “Brougham” model was last sold in 1982, the Grand Marquis continued to offer “Broughamy” attributes long after and well into the new millennium.
Among more thoughtful classical touches, included its elegant but not oversized chrome waterfall grille and a stand-up hood ornament…
And electroluminescent opera lamps.
Once inside, occupants were greeted with a fully color-keyed interior that was often matched to the exterior color. Twin-comfort lounge seats, power seats, power windows, power locks, and power mirrors were all standard across the board by 1990. Plush velour fabric was standard on the Grand Marquis, while leather with vinyl trim was optional. And if for some reason you forgot you were in a full-size American car, a column shifter, “casket handle” door pull straps, and lots of plasti-wood trim were also standard.
The lack of a trailer hitch indicates that this Grand Marquis is powered by the venerable 5.0L Windsor V8, making 150 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque. The optional trailer tow package boosted horses and torque by ten each.
As many have attested here before, the rear seat space was one of the Panthers’ many strong points. One could sit back, sink in and stretch out, encompassed in rich, pillowy velour.
The name “Marquis” first appeared on a Mercury in 1967. Eventually becoming both a “Grand Marquis” and a full-fledged model, this historic nameplate spanned almost a half-century, before its quiet end along with the Mercury brand in 2011. While it may not have achieved the same success in the public sector as its Crown Victoria and Town Car siblings, the Grand Marquis always remained a popular “civilian” choice for those wanting traditional American, big-car qualities.
Related Reading: 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis LS
You found a good one. My last ford was an 86 Town Car that had this square style. Liked it and considered looking for another the last time I bought. I think this would have been the equivalent of the SUV I bought except for the lack of 4wd.
Every car like this that I had became equipped with a trailer. Since 1981 that has been the way for me to build versatility into my vehicles.
Moments like this almost convinces me that I’m an unrepentant Commie.
I had a well used one as a short term play toy in 2003. It had ice cold A/C and drove like a dream. I paid $800 for it. Beautiful interior and faded silver exterior. These were prone to floorboard rust. Even in Florida. Nice car, I enjoyed it until i sold it.
I never thought I’d like this body styling until the restyled version of the Grand Marquis came out.
Terrific find, especially with the less than conducive Massachusetts weather that shortens the life span of everything.
When I hear about how durable, rugged, and all around awesome Honda’s and Toyota’s of this vintage are, I tend to agree. However, I rarely, if ever, see any Camcords of this vintage. Where did they all go? Conversely, these Panthers are still all over the place. While these cars have been the recipient of derision and condescension since new, they are still going strong despite having been passed through owners like a bong in a meth house.
Truly a great American car. Thank you, Brendan.
There are absolute scads of Camacords of this vintage on the road today in my parts and very few box Panthers, meaning the last time I saw one was ages ago.
I don’t see anyone deriding these cars. The first few years were nothing to write home about but the later ones, after the AOD was fixed and EFI was introduced made great sleds.
The great advantage of these cars is their repairability. This is the pinnacle of V-8, automatic, full frame and solid rear axles. Anybody half aware grease monkey with a room temperatrure IQ can actually successfully work on them at least part of the time.This makes a box Panther ideal for beater duty.
Yep. Same here…lots of older Camcords in NYC metro area. Box Panthers are not that common here. Lots of newer ones (post ’98). There used to be lots of 92-97s (in fact, I used to have one) but they are quickly disappearing.
Yes, and many Panthers were scooped up by taxicab operators on the used market.
It wouldn’t have been uncommon to see a ‘plush’ model like this one working through a smaller outfit in the suburbs. (The urban companies preferred the used cop cars with the barf-proof seats.)
I have a theory to answer your question, Jason. These Panthers were more likely to be bought by older folks, perhaps their last car. The kind of folks who weren’t buying Camcords, and who did garage them, and not put a lot of miles on them. And when these owners died or went into the nursing home, their cars are eagerly picked up by their relatives, or sold off.
Meanwhile, Camcords back then, especially in the Midwest, were more likely to be bought by younger folks who put lots of miles on them, including in the snow, and just wore them out honestly.
I suspect there are exceptions to my theory, but I see evidence of this all the time. In fact, I’ve confirmed it by talking to several folks driving fairly pristine older American cars here: “It was granny’s/aunt’s/uncle’s / car…..
FWIW, there are more old Camcords on the West Coast than old Panthers, but then there were so many sold here, and rust is not an issue.
In another 20 years, we may see lots of old but pristine Avalons and Accord take their place alongside Buicks and such.
I think that’s a lot of it, but to be fair, the Japanese makes didn’t really get rust prevention sorted until the early 90s. My family were loyal Mazda customers, but even their 88 626 sprouted a rust hole in the rocker panel. Though unlike the earlier cars, it took a good 12 years or so to manifest itself.
Our 2000s era Mazdas never rusted.
Agree. My first experience with a Japanese car was a 1980 Datsun 510 wagon. Rocker panels were merrily rusting away by year 2 or 3. My next attempt was a 1996 Maxima. Between me and handing it down to my kids, we put over 300k on that car before the tin worm got the radiator support and it was put out of its misery.
Now I’m firmly and happily entrenched in Toyota and Lexus land.
Paul, I agree with your theory. Perhaps I fell into the trap of not seeing the large forest due to all the local trees. 🙂
Regional differences are intriguing. Last fall, we took a car trip through Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. I had anticipating seeing a lot of older iron still being used due to the milder climate. Wrong. I was lucky to see anything over 20 years old.
Paul, retirees have lots of time to travel. You will have a difficult time finding a Grand Marquis or Town Car with less than 200,000 miles. They are highly reliable and easily repairable.
Box Panthers are certainly more common on the road in the Seattle area than Accords and Camrys from the 80’s. I agree with Paul that one of the factors in their survival rate is the fact that many of them were purchased by older buyers who were past the age of hauling kids and commuting to work which meant they tended to put fewer miles on them than average. I would be that they were also more likely to be kept in the garage and kept in better shape mechanically and cosmetically with no kids to puke in the back seat or run into with their bike.
However a large part of it is also due to the fact that they have a very durable power train, the interiors hold up very well and they are cheap to fix if something does go wrong. There were more B boxes sold in the 80’s but they are far less common that a box Panther on today’s roads. The demographics of the B buyers in the 80’s were probably pretty similar to that of the Panther buyers so many of them should have enjoyed the pampered life of being owned by a retiree too. Now some of the Chevy versions went to an early grave becoming Donks and that took a few Caddy’s too but what about all the Buicks and Olds which were very popular when new?
My guess is similar to what others have said about elderly owners.
There are plenty of 87-91 Camrys in various states(from decrepitude to pristine) around my way and Maryland is ground zero for the rock salt brigade. I hardly ever see Box Panthers roaming around. They don’t seem to be as popular as the Caprices of the same era(which is a good and bad thing(bad because there are not many around but good because those still around don’t get subjected to those silly big assed tire conversions) )
Though if I could choose between a 1977-1990 B body or a 79-91 Panther, I would choose the Panther as most versions of them got fuel injection by 1986.
I did see a couple of mid 1980’s Panthers sitting side by side in handicap spaces at a local Burger King about a month ago. I took pics but I need to locate them.
Good commentary, Jason. I just bought by second F41 Caprice (and still have a ‘cherry’ one), here in New England, I prefer my ’88 Town Car. While the Caprices are better on gas, and maybe handle better, their ‘structure’ still shakes upon hitting the zillion potholes here in Liberal-land. The front seats in the Panther platforms are FAR superior to anything GM, also. I have found, however, that decent Panther-platform Ford have suddenly become quite scarce in New England.
And.. what it is with GM and Ford… pushing that DREADFUL velour upholstery on so many production units?? I found a really nice ’87 Crown Victoria with really NICE cloth upholstery that was NOT velour. VELOUR just plain SUCKS!!!
Like these.
Excluding taxicabs Panthers are somewhat common in Portland, OR from clapped out former Radio Cabs to a Town Car made into a Batmobile, but Grand Marquis are just as rare as Town Cars.
I’m still a fan of the square panthers. If you excuse the vinyl roof and coach lamps, these are actually cleanly styled; while I preferred the nose of the Ford version, I do like the full-width tails of these Mercuries. And for some reason I see more of the Mercury versions. Don’t know if they sold better, or were just more likely to have an older first owner who took better care of the car and put less miles on it.
(Sidenote: that does look like Currant red. On the Lincoln Mark VII LSC-SE they offered a brighter, more metallic version of the same color called Electric Currant Red. Always found that a nice play on words.)
I had this car’s Ford variant, a ’91 Crown Victoria LX, for about half a year and quite liked it. Would have kept it had not a flaming alternator led to its untimely demise.
The GM’s share of Panther sales did increase as the box years went on. A fair number of the CVs were rubber matted police or gov’t fleet vehicles and they just aren’t as likely to be kept around as a nicer version. Plus the demographics among the Panther buyers were likely somewhat different with the GM and TC buyers possibly being more likely to be retired so they don’t drive as much, more likely to make sure that the maintenance is kept up on and generally keep them in better condition.
Around here the TC is the most commonly seen Box and the CV the least.
Is that the original paint? it’s retina searing.
Yeah it appeared to be. I applied a saturation effect to the pictures when I uploaded them. That could be why it looks brighter.
I love the look of these, even over my current ’92 model. This one looks stunning, except for the roof. I’ve always hated cloth roofs as opposed to vinyl.
I believe that is a vinyl roof, it’s just been a bit sun-baked, so it’s not shiny any more.
It’s sad there isn’t a V8 RWD Ford sedan(or any sort of Mercury) made in America anymore.The traditional American car,soon the Australian Ford and Holden sedans bite the dust.
The most American car ever, really, even if made in Canada at the end.
Happy 4th!
It’s “independence day” not “happy 4th”. I correct anyone who I hear saying “happy 4th” (which sounds Moronic BTW worse than “happy holidays” – but most people now in the USA are just really interchangeable consumerist drones
I bought one of these new in 1990 and drove it until 2000 putting 148,000 miles on it. I gave it to my daughter to drive in college. She’s still driving it with 232,000 on it.
I’ve been told many of the early Camrys and Accords have been shipped overseas, that is why you don’t see many anymore. My 1993 Accord EX wagon was one of them. A close friend of mine works for a huge auto auction here in New England and told me buyers from all over will load up trucks to send these to the ports to be shipped out. He followed my Accord wagon after I traded it in 2010 and saw it end up with a bunch of other older Accords and Camrys to be sent overseas. He said they buy them in any condition too – running or not, good shape and bad.
As far as the Grand Marquis is concerned, I feel they were more popular here in Southeastern New England than the Crown Vics were. I would see them everywhere, in all colors and usually loaded to the max. Very rarely did you see a Grand Marquis with the base interior or standard hubcaps. The stripped down ones were out there but not very common. I imagine the dealers kept a few price leaders on their lots equipped like that to lure the buyers in, but most ended up buying a more loaded model by the time they left the dealership. The red featured car is a stunner. I love those alloy wheels too. They always made me think “Lincoln”!
That’s interesting… in the UK you tend not to see BMWs and Mercedes over a certain age, and I’m told it’s because they’re bought up and shipped to West African countries where they also drive on the left.
Excellent find Brendan! Too bad about the rear quarter rust, but this is really solid for an MA car. I love the colors too! Most surviving 1988-91 GMs around here are much blander in the color department–silver, beige, etc.
And I agree on the Turbines–one of Ford’s best looking wheels!
Looks like the typical elderly driven example
A question about opera lamps- what were they for? Were they side marker lights or auxiliary indicators?
I’m not 100% certain, but I believe on this car they illuminated when the doors opened to provide some light upon entering (or exiting) at night.
Actually, I believe they were illuminated all the time (at least when the parking/running lamps were on), as a mark of distinction at night. “Ooh, they got the Grand Marquis–see the coach lamps?”
Kind of a nighttime “I kept up with the Joneses” identifier. 🙂
Strictly decorative. As Tom said, they operate with the running lights and probably the parking. The 1971 Fleetwood was probably the first, and the 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis may have been the last. A major component of the ’80s Brougham scene.
Makes sense, kind of like the illuminated Chief Pontiac on the 1950s models.
They had no actual purpose—not bright enough to light anything up, and not synced to the turn signals. They were just a throwback to the days of opulence in the coachbuilding trade, on to the extravagance of the 50’s-70’s American luxoboats. I kind of dig ‘em.
Nice car. I had an ’85, which lacked the EFI, thus got poorer mileage by a few miles per gallon, but a striking car, and very comfortable and quiet.
As for the opera lamps, they were like side marker lights and were lit with the park/headlights, although they were not very bright. At least in the early years they used regular bulbs behind those frosted panels.
The ’88 was my grandfather’s last car. I always preferred its predecessor in the previous, more Lincoln-esque, design; think it was an ’86. And my first car was an ’87 CV.
These, I found, were quieter cars than the B-Bodies but to me did not seem put together as well. Though silent, the hood jiggled at highway speeds. And the rear legroom wasn’t so hot; much better in the RWD C Body though comparable for certain to the Bs.
Liked the vent windows. Definitely preferred the EFI to the eQJet 307 set up, but now from experience like the GM 350/350 cars better. These seemed like lighter cars then the GM but did not behave with the same agility and appeared to have a worse turning radius.
Still, a nice classic design.
As to he hood jiggling at highway speed, there were adjustable rubber supports mounted to the radiator support. When they were adjusted correctly the hood sat on them at each front corner and was latched in the middle. Over time, the rubber hood supports sometimes would need a simple readjustment. When they went out of adjustment they left the hood to jiggle on just the hood latch.
Aaaaaaaactualy…I recall seeing that hood-jiggle on enough new Panther rental cars in the late ’80s and early ’90s to conclude that while Quality might have been Job 1, adjusting the hood correctly must have been Job 2 that nobody got around to.
The hood jiggles on my ’05 P71 despite all of my attempts to fix it 😀 !
These cars and I are well acquainted. I always liked the dash in the later box cars – the redesign from the 1979 version was well appreciated, even if required by the airbag installation.
These red ones always seemed fairly well represented – as though Uncle Mort and Aunt Ida were ready to cut loose and do something wild and crazy for their next new car. But not too wild and crazy.
These things’ biggest enemy was rust, and this car is amazingly clean for a northeast car. I have been working on an update on my son’s 89, but stalled. So thanks, Brendan, for the reminder. Stay tuned.
I find it interesting that they carried this dash over to the aero-panthers.
Wow, and here I was thinking the dash might have been unchanged from 1979! (was there much difference?)
Given how popular these cars seem to have been it is surprising they weren’t updated better.
I would guess it was the same story as over on GM. Everyone just assumed that the big V8 RWD sedan was going to go away soon and there was no reason to do any major updates to a model that was going to be gone after the next model year. Of course, the sales never dropped off so the car kept getting a “well… okay… one more year” all the way up to the 90’s.
One thing that I always found curious is that the Ford/Mercury Panthers retained their sealed-bean headlights with the minor 1988 refresh. One of the very few cars in the late 80’s to not go composite.
Sometimes, the manufactures just stuck with what sold. The Fox-body Mustang was virtually unchanged from 1987-93…practically an eternity in the automotive world. Well, until you include the Model T or vw beetle…now it’s unusual to see things stick around more than two or three years.
It seemed that every year, Car & Driver lamented the lack of a “De Sade” option, LOL! 🙂
I owned a Grand Marquis, just like this but in black. It was a decent car, but the velour interior didn’t hold up well and was hard to keep clean (I am very picky). I had rust in the same spot in the lower quarter panels. I sold it with 200K miles, but the headgasket was starting to leak and the transmission was on it’s last legs. It stayed on the road for a few more years. I liked the EFI 5.0L, but I still preferred the GM B-body as a better overall car for long trips.
Great find, really looks handsome in that red.
However, that’s the first time I’ve heard praise for the rear seat space – as I recall, the proportions made for much less rear seat room than you would expect given the massive exterior.
That’s a beauty – first time I’ve seen one in that color.
A famous road racer (was it Dan Gurney? I can’t recall), with his own instructional raceway, was asked in a car magazine (C&D?) why he used a GM similar to this one for his driver trainee transportation car.
His reply was: “It seats six, it’s comfortable and reliable with a freezing cold air conditioner and it never over-heats.”
(Mah cawfee hasn’t kicked in yet this morning; my memory is quite fuzzy.)
His reply was: “It seats six, it’s comfortable and reliable with a freezing cold air conditioner and it never overheats.”
Andy Granatelli said something similar about modding out the broughamy Chevrolet Caprice for his Bonnesville speed record attempt in 1985. He intended for his Chevy to be just transportation between two points in a hurry and ended up breaking the speed record for four-door saloon with four passengers.
As noted in the article, the Marquis was introduced in 1967 and eventually became the Grand Marquis. Not noted, perhaps due to the lack of a definitive date was when it eventually became the Grandma Quis. Very popular with the geriatric set. Happy 4th to all!
In the mid 1980’s I worked for an on-site inventory verification company. They had 8 cars for transportation.
Seven were mid 1980’s Chevy Caprice Classics, 4 doors and station wagons. All were leased cars, turned in at the lease time limit.
One car was a higher mileage Mercury Grand marquis, identical to this article’s car, expect for “Graphite Gray” paint and interior, owned by the company.
Alert employees would plot and argue to grab that MGM! Car keys hidden, tires deflated, ignition disabled (don’t ask me how I know this) happened to secure this one GM for their usage. An excellent road car it was.
“Don’t gimmie that GD ‘Shuffin’ Chebby’ ! Gimmie the Merc!” was heard from several of the employees.
You can almost smell the old people scent…
He who smelt it dealt it.
Whoahoahhoahhoahh, pard, hold yer horses! That kind of futuristic technology would’ve been way, far, much too radical for the Grand Marquis buyer—it’d’ve scared them off, sure! The opera lights (“pillar lamps”, Ford called them) used a simple, safe, reliable incandescent bulb—in accord with Scripture, right after the passage that says By night shalt thou drive by none but sealed-beam headlamps, for other types are an abomination before the LORD.
(Electroluminescent opera lights were felt by Midland-Ross and General Motors to be a big enough novelty deal in 1980 that they co-wrote an SAE paper on the subject)
I actually kind of wonder if there was any intent to use composite headlights with the 88 Grand Marquis facelift, since the wraparound turn signal is very much in the vein of most other Ford flush headlight setups of the era. It would pretty much look like a boxier 88 Continental
I have often wondered the same thing, for the same reason. I think it would’ve wound up looking better with composite lamps, though nighttime seeing would’ve been impossible—Ford’s composite lamps of that time were severely lousy.
Yep, just a plain old 194 bulb 🙂 .
Not even a 194, but a same-size, same-shape, much dimmer 161!
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/calgary/1982-ford-ltd-crown-victoria-low-km-inspected-stock-sale/1367452890?utm_source=com.google.android.apps.docs&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialbuttons&utm_content=app_android
$1,500 US!? What does it take to register a Canadian car in the US?!
Canada to USA is easy with a car of that age. You’ll need the bill of sale and whatever document serves as the proof of ownership in the province you buy the car from (like a US title — in Ontario it’s called the “Ownership” and other provinces have documents of their own).
You need two US Government forms: a DOT HS-7 and an EPA 3520-1. You tick box E on your 3520-1 (vehicle more than 21 years old, therefore exempt from EPA requirements), and on your HS7 you tick box 1 (vehicle is 25 or more years old) and fill in the date of manufacture which you can get off the Vehicle Safety Certification Label in the driver’s door jamb/frame area.
Have the paperwork all filled out and assembled before you get to the border. Declare the car at the booth; you’ll be directed to the processing and inspection area. Park where directed and bring the paperwork into the office where it’ll be processed. Any taxes or duties due will be assessed; you pay them, then you’ll be given import clearance papers that will allow any US state to register the car for you.
Note, though, that states are still free to impose and enforce requirements such as safety and emissions tests. Emission tests can get interesting when we’re dealing with a Canadian car made before 1988. That was the year Canadian emission standards were brought inline with the US standards. Before 1988 some Canadian cars had US emissions systems, and others did not. So in a state with especially strict emissions regulations (California comes to mind) you can run into a situation where the state says your particular year, make, and model is supposed to have particular items of emissions-related equipment that a Canadian-spec car might not have—fewer catalytic converters or none at all, etc. You can try pleading your case (“It’s a Canadian car”, etc), and either you’ll get a waiver or you’ll get a “come back when the car has the required equipment”. In the case of the linked ’82, it likely has US or near-US emisssions equipment, and even if it doesn’t (or doesn’t any more), it would not be difficult or expensive to add (or add back) whatever is missing.
Thank you Daniel!! Now if I could just shorten the drive back to Maryland to a little less than 35 hours!!!!
Prefer the earlier models with the better bumpers and styling. This restyle gave the Mercury a pre 86 Buick LeSabre look and the crowv Vic got the pree 86 Oldsmobile Oldsmobile Delta 88 look.
I agree with you. In fact, I go a step further; I think the base-level early LTD (’79-’81, I think?) with the single large rectangular headlamps looks best from the front, though I do prefer the horizontal Mercury taillamps.
Mercury shod have kept the shark gills fenders
I’ve had several of these Mercurys: they were all good cars. Now I have an ’88 Town Car: I really appreciate the slightly-longer wheelbase…. more legroom in back.
Of all the cars I’ve owned over the years (and believe me, I’ve owned a LOT!) one of the ones I miss the most is my trusty ’91 Grand Marquis. I absolutely LOVED that car, bout it with 78K miles and sold it, running great but rusty, with 277K miles. So comfy, so dependable, so durable, just a great car.
I used to have a 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis almost identical to this one except mine was a deep maroon color. Gawd I miss that car!!! Always started, always dependable, got decent milage, EXTREMELY comfortable riding & driving!! I should have NEVER gotten rid of that car coz I sure coukd use it now!!!