In the late 1970s, Lincoln-Mercury tried to build upon the success of the Cougar by marketing their entire Mercury brand as being from “The Sign of the Cat,” as if feline grace was a hallmark of all its cars. In reality, the best selling Mercury products emphasized smooth, quiet ride and traditional, glitzy American styling. So how well would Mercury do when they were finally forced to downsize their fattest cat, the Marquis? Would they get credit from automotive journalists for reconciling the demands for fuel efficiency with the “big car” feel so treasured by Marquis buyers?
To say the least, it was a tough challenge for Mercury. When GM had introduced its downsized full size cars for 1977, Mercury responded by promoting the benefits of the supersized American car, directly equating size with comfort and luxury. In fact, the 1977 Marquis brochure touted that the biggest Mercury had actually added 3 ½ inches—as if huge size was a virtue—though in reality the 3 ½ inches were in the form of a dashboard plaque claiming that each Marquis was “Ride-Engineered by Lincoln-Mercury.” In other words, traditional customers could be reassured that the Marquis would have an abundance of the super-soft ride and marshmallow handling found on the biggest of the big American cars.
Another part of the allure for Marquis buyers was the linkage to Lincoln. Throughout its history, the big Mercury had toggled between being a “fancy Ford” and a “lesser Lincoln.” With the introduction of the Marquis coupe in 1967, Mercury placed an emphasis on Lincoln luxury and styling cues for their flagship full size car, and then expanded the Marquis to a full range of strong selling body styles and brougham trims for 1969. That upscale tradition continued successfully into the 1970s, as many medium-priced buyers gravitated upwards, undoubtedly making the Marquis a nicely profitable line. In fact, the more Ford-like, lower-line full size Mercury Monterey vanished after 1974, leaving only the Marquis as the biggest Mercury.
With its 1975 facelift, the front of the Marquis was extremely close to the style of the Lincoln Continental, a situation that lasted two model years until the Continental switched to the pseudo-Rolls grille of the Mark series. While the Mercury’s 124 inch wheelbase was still shorter than the Lincoln Continental’s 126 inch span, it was longer than the LTD’s 121 inches, adding to the perceived “prestige” of the Marquis. Sales confirmed the logic of the strategy, as the Marquis rebounded nicely after the first Oil Embargo, and held their own even after the introduction of downsized rivals from Buick, Olds and Pontiac.
So Ford Motor Company had a lot to sort out when it came time to downsize the Marquis. Would it retain its traditional “Lincoln-lite” virtues in a smaller package? An early glimpse from the 1979 Car Preview magazine gave a rather surprising first look at the soon-to-be-released design. Rather than drawing out the Mercury as its own car, the illustrator simply combined the Ford LTD and Mercury Marquis into one split drawing. Some details they got wrong, like the grille of the LTD Landau was thought to be the front of the Marquis (which they also compared to the front of an Olds to point out the similarities in styling—see the “M” and “O” drawing in the lower right corner). Nonetheless, it was apparent from the sneak peak that the Marquis was clearly going to become a “fancy Ford”…
Consumer Guide reinforced this fact when they selected both the Ford LTD and Mercury Marquis as Top Picks for full sized cars in 1979. However, they positioned the cars as essentially interchangeable, with the reason to pick one over the other coming down to which dealer would give a better deal. So much for that carefully crafted near-luxury image for the Marquis—it went right out the window with the redesign.
That’s not to say that Consumer Guide’s editors didn’t like the Mercury—they did. What they liked, however, were the benefits that came with downsizing, not anything that was unique to the Mercury. The editors found the new Marquis to be more logical and practical than before, and a better competitor to the downsized cars from GM. It was just harder than ever to claim any substantive benefits that made the more premium brand any better than its value priced sibling. It was not a new situation for Mercury in general, but certainly was a change for the Marquis, which had successfully leveraged its “Lincoln-ness” over the preceding decade.
To evaluate the extent of the changes from the traditional big Mercury to the new downsized one, Motor Trend did a comparison test between the ’78 and ’79 Grand Marquis. The editors picked up the identically equipped cars at Ford’s St. Louis plant and then drove to California, getting extended real world experience with both the old and the new.
Not surprisingly, the Motor Trend editors enjoyed all the functional benefits that came with downsizing, such as improved visibility and easier maneuverability. Much of the traditional soft ride was still there too, along with the inherent deficiencies that came with the solid rear axle mounted to soft springs and shocks. Once the mystery of why the ’79 Marquis delivered worse mileage was solved (it was due to a manufacturing glitch, undoubtedly like countless others that caused so much heartache for American car buyers in the late 1970s), the downsized car did finally achieve better mileage than the ’78.
While both Motor Trend editors clearly preferred the new car, there was a bit of longing for the oversized comfort and sheer presence of the older car. They also questioned who, exactly, was a Mercury buyer, and how would the new Marquis be meaningfully better at meeting his needs than the downsized LTD?
It was a good question. When the model year totals were tallied for 1979, the downsized Marquis actually lost ground compared to the 1978, with sales declining 3% to 140,800. Part of the challenge may have been right across the showroom floor in Lincoln-Mercury dealerships: for any customers still wanting a whopper, there was still the Lincoln Continental, which saw a sales increase of 5% over 1978 to 92,600 cars. While the Lincoln was much more expensive, it was also the last of its kind from the company that had touted road hugging weight so hard for so long.
Compared with the GM competition, the Marquis barely made a dent, trailing the LeSabre (150,784), Bonneville (179,416) and Delta 88 (254,939) in sales. In fact, one body style and trim level from Olds, the wildly successful Delta 88 Royale sedan, with 152,626 units finding homes, outsold all the Marquis models combined.
Another challenge for Mercury was pricing, especially at the top of the Marquis range. The Grand Marquis base price ($7,909) was within a few hundred dollars of the base price for an Olds Ninety-Eight Regency ($8,063) or a Buick Electra Limited ($8,156), both considered prestige cars, complete with longer wheelbases and unique styling. The new smaller Marquis just didn’t feel as Grand for the money.
Ultimately, with the downsizing of the Marquis, less fat meant more Ford. Mercury never returned to the “lesser Lincoln” strategy, and continued for the rest of its days as a “fancy Ford.” Considering this, the brand lasted a surprisingly long time before its demise. But the writing was on the wall in 1979—the Mercury magic was getting increasingly fuzzy, and would never again quite connect with buyers like it had in the late 1960s and 1970s with cars like the Marquis.
Enjoyable reviews, I’d forgotten that the mid-70’s Marquis was considerably more different from the LTD than the 1979-1991 Panther models. The 1975-1978s were certainly huge, but definitely one of the best looking full-size American sedans on the market at the time.
Here’s Motorweek’s take of the 1992 Crown Vic and Grand Marquis. I was never a fan of the pre-facelifted “Aero” models, but the Grand Marquis in the video somehow looks quite attractive. Maybe it’s just that I haven’t seen one that nice in a long time.
I remember seeing this segment of Motor Week. I found the Crown Victoria’s nose more attractive than that of the Merc Grand Marquis. I would’ve preferred the analogue gauges used on the Grand Marquis over the digital display offered on the Crown Vic.
The digital gauges were optional. The analog CV gauges are my favorite as they came with a “full” gauge package. Of course the reality is that the oil pressure gauge was fake so the only real addition was the volt meter as there was no tach. You also got a 120 mph speedo since it was the same basic cluster as used in the police cars. The Grand Marquis on the other hand only went to 85mph, rather useless if you are crossing Montana back in the days of the Reasonable and Prudent speed laws.
Agree on the nose styling. This is the Crown Vic as it’s supposed to look, rather than that horrible tacked-on grille of the ’93 to ’97 models. Yuck.
I’ve long toyed with the idea of swapping out my ’97 header panel for a ’92, if I could ever find a white one in good shape.
I find the older episodes of Motorweek with John Davis very soothing. I’m a true car enthusiast, but I have on more than one occasion queued up a bunch of retro episodes on Youtube to use as an adult lullaby. I say this as a compliment. As much as I love (well loved, until Clarkson knocked out a producer) Top Gear, I really admire the professionalism that Motorweek exuded back before the more recent, flashy, ADHD-inspired episodes began airing.
I agree. I really enjoy the treasure trove of old Motorweek episodes on YouTube. They were thorough, informative and consistent.
I had quite a bit of seat time in big Mercurys when I was growing up. Dad had, in order, a ’68 Marquis coupe, a ’72 Marquis Brougham sedan, and a ’77 Grand Marquis Brougham sedan. All three were luxurious and smooth cars that were quite reliable. Even though there was a lot of Ford DNA in these Merc cruisers, they always seemed to be built better and were more refined than the concurrent Ford LTDs.
The ’77 was my least favorite, as it was fairly gutless even with a 460 under the hood and the handling (if you could call it as such) was of the scrape-the-doorhandles-off school. The car would barely fit in my parents’ condo garage, so Dad and I spent a weekend removing the rear bumper, cutting and collapsing the rubber mounting blocks, and replacing the bumper. The bumper was tucked up against the rear bodywork, which dramatically improved the looks, and now the car could be parked in the garage without worrying that the electric garage door would hang up on the bumper.
Fantastic reading!
The manufacturing defect-the flawed EEC-II controller-speaks to the beginnings of a hugely tumultuous time for the entire industry. I wonder in the end how many people bought big cars, had an electronic gizmo go bad unbeknownst to them or mechanics not used to dealing with electronics in a car, and felt like they got burned. Suppose a regular buyer got that ’79 instead of a magazine. Dealership mechanic can’t figure out the control module’s gone bad. Ford’s far less likely to be supportive of the customer or the dealer’s efforts to figure it out.
Customer in the end feels like less is, in fact, actually less. Customer, next time around, decides to do something completely different, buys a Honda. Customer has no preconceived notions of what a Honda’s “supposed to be.” The Honda’s so different from what they’ve known before that they accept the quirks, the more stringent maintenance schedule, and the rest of it as what a Honda is. They don’t know if they got rooked, but the car seems to mostly work, and since they don’t have a prior notion of what a Honda is or was before, they don’t feel like they’ve given up anything.
I think their thoughts on losing the big cars speaks to that and to the auto industry at large in that time. We had new CAFE regulations that intrinsically favored the imports (OEMs had to count imported and domestic production separately for CAFE, which led to the Big 3 being forced into making new small cars instead of just importing their European ones. The Big 3 also sold big cars, which meant they had to do a lot more inventive engineering in that era to conform their much broader product range to CAFE in the first place.)
So in the end, people “knew” what a Ford or a Chevy or any other American car were supposed to be. When the American cars could no longer continue being what they were “supposed to be,” people looked at other options. The smaller cars were markedly improved over their colossal forebearers, but all it took was one slip-up to convince already skeptical buyers in an era in which cynicism about everything ruled the day that “this new thing you’re trying to tell me is a big Mercury ain’t a big Mercury. It’s a piece of shit.”
It’s hard for me to imagine what that time must have been like, where it must have felt like the whole world was undergoing one big undulation or tremor after the next, only to then have even the chosen symbols of freedom and personal identity finally fall victim to the same forces.
I had an opportunity to drive a new 79 Marquis. Taking the 78 Zephyr into the shop, again, I demanded a loaner. They handed me the keys to a salesman’s Marquis demonstrator.
Utterly horrid. Beyond the typical big Ford weak shocks and attendant mushy cornering and constant bobbing, was the shaking and shuddering of the car’s structure. Even the POS Zephyr felt more solid. Only thing I have ridden in over the 35 years since that shook over every bump as badly as that Marquis was a Ford Windstar.
I’ve always wondered if that little plaque was in response to the one that appeared in/on Pontiacs in the early 70s. The Pontiac plaque said something about “radial-tuned suspension” and was used for that period when the majority of cars still arrived at dealerships with bias-ply tires.
As the Mercury division’s “halo car”, there were worse choices than the Cougar, even the leviathan that the Cougar had become by the mid/late 70s.
I didn’t realize the Ford-Mercury had spanned such a large market span. An Olds 98 or a Marquis? Must have been a no brainer for potential customers.
The 1979 Marquis left a lot of people scratching their heads at the time.
From 1969 through 1978, the Marquis was luxurious (or excessive) enough to be considered a viable alternative to an Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight. The Colony Park wagons were viewed as a definite step above wagons from Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, Plymouth and Pontiac.
It seemed as though Ford carelessly threw all of that away with this downsized model.
But, the Grand Marquis ended up outlasting the 98 and Olds Division itself.
The Grand Marquis was last RWD big car standing [retail] for a few years, until 2011 model year.
But also, Mercury was aiming the plain Marquis, [Monterey replacement] for LeSabre/88, and left the plusher Grand Marquis was a true competitor to 98/Electra?
Mercury had to cover the 88/LeSabre 98/Electra gulf with one body, There was enough difference between GMs B&C bodies to give the 98/Electra closer “kinship” to Cadillac than the 88/LeSabre at the same time Ford diminished the Marquis/Continental’s kinship. It seems like FoMoCo tried to “bump off” poor Mercury since 1960!
I suppose it’s also worth pointing out that this car debuted right as FoMoCo was figuring out that the Versailles’ body was too similar to its lesser brethren to attract any market interest. I can imagine that they engineered the LTD and the Marquis together and genuinely believed that the minor fascia differences and differences in driving dynamics would be enough to maintain the Mercury role of lesser Lincoln. Only as the car was actually coming to market was FoMoCo beginning to grapple with the fact that Versailles was too close to Monarch and Granada in the public’s opinion, far too late to do the needed work to differentiate the Mercury.
I have nothing to support this, but I wonder if part of the decision to release the Panther Continental a year later was in fact delays due to doing some emergency tweakery to better distinguish it in the face of the Versailles lessons.
I would almost wonder if Ford may have pulled a “Dieselgate” on the ’79. I don’t care what you have to do, make damn sure this thing gets better mileage and come up with a convincing explanation! Also interesting that HP went from 145 in the ’78 to a even more feeble 132 in the ’79 with the same 351 engine. In any case, it was an interesting test.
The reason for the HP change actually has to do with the fact that the 78 used the 351M and the 79 used the 351W. Since the “M” engines ( 400 and 351) were slightly better breathers than the more restricted ports on the 302/351w engines (which had their intake port cross section reduced in 78 by the way) that is why the HP difference.
Certainly the driving dynamics and visibility were greatly improved in the ’79 models. But the cars lost a lot of distinctiveness and were considerably downgraded from being junior Lincolns. Perhaps more rounded wheel openings and rear fenders skirts would have helped. Pontiac had showed that a smaller full-size car could still look good with skirts. I believe several years later for 1982 Mercury upgraded the roofline of the Grand Marquis to be more upright and Versailles-like, and it did somewhat help to make the car look more upscale than lesser Fords.
That roofline became standard as part of the LS trim level. It was just a fiberglass extension shell on the standard roofline, covered in vinyl. That extension was also offered on the LTD. Except that mine was grey, my ’87 LS was very similar to the picture you posted.
It does seem surprising that Ford couldn’t come up with more unique sheet metal for the Marquis, GM was expert at hanging unique metal on a common chassis. Seeing as the Mercury was intended to sell at premium prices, the opportunity to make back the additional investment was there.
The plusher, higher, roof was an extra cost option package, was not on all the Grand’s. It had a plastic filler panel on the steel roof, with vinyl trim over it.
Nice review, I thought the 75-78 Grand Marquis were always nice looking cars for the full-size buyer. Those were the kind of cars that showed why Mercury existed, if you wanted an upscale car but either couldn’t afford, or didn’t want to be seen driving a Lincoln, than these were easily options.
When it comes to 79 models however, you can definitely tell that Mercury struggled a little bit to come up with an identity and still be relevant in the car market, this was the beginning into irrelevance and sadly, the company never recovered.
Although, I will admit, with the exception of the last products they made between 1998-2009 (second and final gen Mountaineers excluded) I always liked the Mercuries that were being sold over the comparable Fords, and that was true for most of the time Mercury was in the market. I always felt like the Fords had three different styles, too plain Jane and ordinary, too ugly, or nice looking but not nice enough compared to its upmarket stablemates/competition. I think that the Mercuries may have shown a lot of familial similarity, but it was always in the details and the subtleties that made the Mercuries so much nicer. I think that the 1992-1994 Grand Marquis is a perfect example, it may look like a normal Crown Vic at a glance, but there’s a lot of touches to the design that make the Grand Marquis still relatively upscale and distinct compared to the more ordinary Ford counterpart. Even today I like the Lincoln versions of the Fords they’re based on much more than the Fords themselves (The big examples would be the MKZ over the pretentious faux-Aston Martin Fusion and the Navigator over the rather chunky and boring Expedition.)
Funnily enough, I think of today’s Lincoln offerings as modern day Mercurys. I agree that they offer much nicer detailing and trim than their Ford platform mates. I just wish that Lincoln was offering true, world class luxury cars instead of warmed-over Fords. But it is proof that the market for fancier Fords never vanished entirely.
Very interesting read. I drove and / or owned representatives of both of these cars. My thoughts are very in sync with what the authors wrote.
My folks had the ’76 LTD with the same engine as the ’78 Marquis. While it was among the slowest cars I’ve ever driven, we also found the gas mileage to be fairly acceptable. Being a low trim / low option car, we likely had a 200 lb. weight advantage over the test ’78 Marquis. These cars were very quiet and smooth riding, but handling was as mushy as anything I’ve driven.
I eventually owned the ’87 Marquis, a loaded LS with the 302. The driving experience was quite comparable with the GM RWD cars of the time. I found it to be a bit more responsive to throttle inputs than the ’82 Olds 88 307 I had been previously driving. And certainly less ponderous than our ’76 LTD.
The ’79 Marquis did eliminate the few practical difference the earlier car had with the LTD – mainly sheet metal and some interior bits. Ford was down to just two unique full-size cars, while GM was arguably fielding seven. That’s a pretty tough way to get market share in the high margin large car market.
My parents had a 1976 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Holiday sedan with the 350 Rocket V-8. It was pretty slow, too. Gas mileage was about 14-16 mpg, if you kept it below 65 mph and drove conservatively.
To keep things in perspective, our 1973 AMC Gremlin with the 258 I-6 and automatic didn’t get any better mileage, although it felt quicker off the line.
I sometimes wonder if the perception of these large cars as slow was a product of changing expectations. My dad had a ’68 Impala 327 with Powerglide and it couldn’t have been any sort of rocket. A college buddy had a ’67 Impala 327 and my ’82 307 Olds could beat it easily – don’t ask how I know. Certainly, the late ’60s car was a lot more sensitive to its state of tune.
“GM was arguably fielding seven…”
This didn’t last. Just a few years later, GM had cookie cutter boxy full size FWD cars, and the Panther soldiered on years afterwards
The GM RWD cars generally had another 5 years after 1979. Even the FWD cars were better differentiated than the Fords, with some unique metal, but it was getting harder to tell. Combined with the remaining RWD big cars, there were several styles of GM large cars to choose from, even if the model range was rather incoherent in terms of marketing and what had been the “Sloan Ladder.”
“In the late 1970s, Lincoln-Mercury tried to build upon the success of the Cougar by marketing their entire Mercury brand as being from “The Sign of the Cat”… ”
This actually started from Cougar Job 1 in 1967.
“The Sign of the Cat” ads had to be one of the better marketing slogans of the day.
It seems to be “Panther Week” here at Curbside Classic!
I disagree with article, it suggests that the Panther Merc was a flop. But, it had a huge comeback when gas prices eased, and when they all were trimmed as Grand Marquis starting in ’83. Buyers had no issues with the size or look anymore.
Same with the Town Car. In long run, the Grand Marqs outlived their competition. Olds 98 went FWD and then died in ’96. Grand Marq lasted another 15 model years.
Buick LeSabre lived sort of the same with later Lucerne discontinued in 2011 on G-Body.
For 1979, the Panther Marquis was not a resounding success. I agree that Ford committed to continually improving the car through the 1980s, and there’s no question that it enjoyed a healthy resurgence. In addition, I think that the lack of viable competitive RWD offerings from GM’s medium priced brands was beneficial to the big Mercury in the mid- and late-1980s.
But Ford had to have been disappointed with the initial sales results for the downsized Marquis, and things got even worse for 1980, when sales plunged to 54,328, a 62% drop. While all big cars suffered badly that year, the Marquis only beat the full size Chrysler products, which wasn’t a great showing…
These reviews are interesting but the enthusiast press for the most part just does not like this type of car and that shows throughout the commentary. The really valueable part of the tests is the specs page. Notice how the 351 lost 9% of it’s already low horsepower between 78 and 79. Ford was really doing a lousy job coping with emissions. Several GM engines gained horsepower between 78 and 79, including the iron duke, the 3.8 V6 and the 4.1. They gave Motor Trend a pretty aggressive axle ratio on the 79 just to make sure it beat the 78, only to have the mileage disappoint. It makes the point that it may have been better to improve the tuning on the 302 and 351, add the 4sp auto and let their customers keep the full size body. This would have given full size buyers a real choice like they had in 77-78.
My first new car after 1 year out of college was a 79 Marquis Brougham Coupe. Identical to the one in the Brochure that year, Red Metallic Glamour Paint with Half White Vinyl Top pretty well loaded but with the 302. Bought it in May of 1980 for close to 3000.00 off of sticker. Around 6200.00. Cheaper than a slightly used 80 Skylark I was cross shopping or a less equipped Dodge Mirada. However the interest rate on a 3 year loan was 17 percent. Oh the good old days! Car drove great, was always smooth and whisper quiet, but left a lot to be desired as far as durability. Funky Variable Venturi Carburator, Solinoid would act up in moist or cold weather, Transmission went out twice, timing chain at about 80000 miles, heater core, Used to say quality on that car was job 70 after a couple of employees were done 69ing each other on the back seat.Think it would get 19-22 on the highway so much better than the 73 Impala it replaced. One thing always weird about that car, besides the Horn Button on the turn stalk was though the back seat for a 2 door car looked and was comfortable there were no armrests, but did have ashtrays and lighters on the aft end of the long front doors.
I wonder if there would have been more differences between the Grand and LTD, except money was getting too tight during the development time. Then, as they were selling in sufficient numbers, Ford decided not to “waste” money making the Grand more unique.
Considering the basic car survived so long, it seems to have been a good business decision.
I’ve had quite a bit of experience with these cars, having owned/driven a ’76 LTD Landau sedan with the trailer package and 460 (great handling for such a big car, lots of power and 18 MPG all day long as long as you kept it at 55 mph), a ’76 Grand Marquis (also a 460 — handling was not that great — but the ride was, performance not as good, beautiful interior), and two of my grandmothers each had a Grand Marquis LS — an ’86 and an ’87. The latter two were very well made and reliable cars, though the paint was a bit thin on them. They were such a revelation over the older cars — better mileage, easier to drive, handled so much better, and still had very nice interiors. They could knock down 24 MPG on the highway all day long. If you look at the sales figures for the Panther version, they increased pretty steadily over the ’79-’90 lifespan (US economy notwithstanding). Mercury did a good job of keeping them competitive by raising standard equipment levels steadily over the years, especially as compared to the LTD Landau/Crown Victoria.
And…my first brand new car was a black/white leather ’99 Grand Marquis LS that I special ordered. To compare and contrast it against the older Panther cars, I’d say that the ’99 was better built (though still with thin paint!), very comfortable and handled very well with the optional handling suspension, but the older Panther cars somehow seemed a bit more lithe overall.
Lastly…I’ve had an all-black ’73 Marquis Brougham 4-door pillared hardtop for about a dozen years now. One of the main reasons that I drive it is because it is such a definite reminder, as was pointed out in the Motor Trend article, of the type of car that we just can’t buy anymore.
I’ve also have a 76 Grand Marquis I’ve owned since 2001. I love it. They do have nice interiors. Mines leather and cloth. Real leather! And still in great shape. I paid $700 for it.
I remember this test and felt it was fundamentally flawed. They should have tested a 460 powered ’78 against a 351 ’79, or even a 400 CID old version to a 302 Panther.
The 460 and 351 were respectively the largest and most powerful options, and would have made a more meaningful comparison. The only reason the 351’s were installed in ’78 was for CAFE, no buyers at the time wanted this engine, and I’m sure that every last one of them was still on the lot at the end of the model year, needing heavy discounts to move.
Pretty depressing reading this one. All that’s left of the Ford plant in Hazelwood is the vacant UAW hall. The upfitting company around the corner from the plant is still alive and well, but today they’re putting cages and toolboxes in Express vans from GM Wentzville instead of Aerostars and fleet-spec Explorers.
St. Louis Assembly was for much of its history (1948-2006) a Mercury-centered plant. Prior to Ford consolidating its manufacturing operations in the late ’50s/early ’60s, Hazelwood built nothing but Mercs. Even after the Galaxies and Country Squires started rolling down the line they were vastly outnumbered by Montereys and Park Lanes.
Of course, Hazelwood was best known as the plant that built the vast majority of Explorers during the SUV boom.
I remember sitting in a restaurant up the street from the plant, and seeing right hand drive export-model Explorers pulling in behind us…didn’t know they even built RHD Explorers until I saw that…
did not realize the 1975-78 boats came with the 351 V8 – thought the 400 was standard….was the 460 still around or just a Lincoln thing?
The 351 wasn’t standard until the 1978 model year.
Due to nascent CAFE, they had to build a certain amount with the 351. How they unloaded them, I’ll never know. Steep discounting I’d imagine. This would have made a 318 R-body look like a Super Bee.
I can appreciate the smaller car for both its looks and virtues. My grandfather’s powder blue ’86 LS made a lasting impression. I now love anything that is powder blue and gigantic.
That said, while its hard to dispute the downsized virtues…I…fine: size IS a virtue to me. In my book it’s the ultimate one up. Yes, that’s a lovely well engineered S class you have there, by the way my car is 2 feet longer and you can’t see yours behind it how’dya like them apples?? Bigness for bigness’ sake, I find to be just super. I know that it’s sheer gluttony, but one thing I enjoyed about these cars as well as their late 90s SUV successors…size for sheer size. Sure, it’s kind of brash, but, where but America? It’s what makes us not Europe. I like it. I’ve always wanted one of these last huge FoMoCo cars. Yes, I have a gigantic powder blue Ninety Eight, but the squareness, the fender blades. It’s not even remotely designed to have a flowing appearance like the big Buicks or Oldses. It’s just massive and steel.
I remember the time I attended a deposition with a former boss. He had a German coupe and I was driving the ’77 Buick. I rolled up next to him in the parking lot. My car completely obscured the view of his. You couldn’t see it behind my car coming from my side. Although I knew I wasn’t, for I few seconds I felt like I was the partner and he was the associate. If he was so important, why was I able to block the view of his little go-cart? Now, I’m not completely serious here, but still. There’s no replacement for displacement…or bumper to bumper length, in my book.
Still getting it around my head that a 1979 full size car weighed what a 2015 Mustang GT does now.
1979? Flip the last two digits to 1997 and a full-size car *still* weighed less than a 2015 Mustang GT. (’97 Crown Vic ~3800, ’15 Mustang GT ~3900).
A bit of interesting trivia about the Mercury Marquis (later Grand Marquis) is that it was assembled and sold in Venezuela as the Ford Conquistador. Due to a silly government decree that prohibited the sale of cars powered by engines of 8 or more cylinders, the Conquistador was only offered with the 90deg 3.8 V6, which even in non-catalyst form (Venezuela didn’t adopt emissions controls until the late 90s) resulted in a very slow car. On top of that, for some technical reason that I ignore, the 3.8 V6 gained a reputation as a weak engine that needed early overhauls because of excessive oil consumption. This was trouble for Ford of Venezuela as its entire lineup of passenger cars was powered by the unfortunate V6, except for the small, Brazilian-sourced Corcel/Del Rey. This included the Mustang (only V6, even in “GT” form), the Fox-based LTD, which was called Granada there, and its broughamized sibling, the Ford Cougar (Mercury Marquis in the US). Coming back to the Conquistador, its local assembly has a rather interesting story as well. It was sold through Ford dealers, and was part of the Ford lineup, but was not assembled in the local Ford of Venezuela plant, but rather in a small operation called CIF DIASA, which, if I’m not mistaken was used in the 70s to assemble the W116 Mercedes S-Class for local consumption. The Conquistador was offered in two versions, the mid-level model (I think it was called “ES”) with vinyl roof and velour seats, and the “Executive Sedan” which had padded vinyl roof and very sumptuous looking leather seats. It was a favorite of high-position politicians and members of the Venezuelan bourgeois in the 80s. This was a time when the import of cars was banned, so the Conquistador was the fanciest offering inVenezuela, since GM of Venezuela dropped the Caprice for the FWD Buick Century (sold as a Chevy), both locally assembled as well. The Conquistador only had the slight restyling introduced for the Grand Marquis when the “Grand” was added to its name, before it bid farewell at the end of 1988. In the following years, many owners of Conquistadors (and Mustangs) swapped the troublesome V6 for a 302 V8, or even a 351. There is more to the Conquistador story, as there were two very different previous models before the 4-door Marquis-based one, but that’s a story for another day 🙂
Found this really clean base 79 Marquis in Ft. Worth 2 days ago.
Rear.
Other side.
Inside driver
Front passenger.
Rear driver
Rear passenger