As the great American sedan goes the way of the Dodo, fans of these vehicles must look to the used market for prime examples. With only 2,800 original miles on this Grand Marquis, though, this Merc is barely broken in! Up for sale is a 1982 Mercury Grand Marquis that has been stored away in a garage for the last few decades. Listed here on Craigslist, this cream puff is being offered for $23,000 and is located in Ossining, NY. Thank you so much to Zen for sending this to Barn Finds. Is this a driver, or does it belong in a museum?
There was a time when the sedan was the cornerstone of every car manufacturer’s yearly lineup, and much effort was put into the design and details to separate the latest offering from the pack because they drove sales. Favored by businessmen, retirees, and more “sensible” owners, sedans were generally passed over by the hot rod set because of the extra set of doors and general lack of performance consideration. But with the advent of the minivan and SUV in the late 80s, fewer and fewer people wanted sedans, and we are at a point in time where many car manufacturers (including Ford) are no longer producing any.
This Grand Marquis is a prime example of the quality of sedans that were getting pumped out of Detroit in the early ’80s. While this is not as nice as a Cadillac or some of the German luxury sedans of the time period, the Grand Marquis was the highest trim in Ford’s mid-tier Mercury lineup and is a stately car. This example looks handsome with navy over medium blue, and the skinny whites with faux wire wheel hubcaps. The interior is peak ’80s with faux wood grain, and the seats look more comfortable than my La-Z-Boy.
Of course, the elephant in the room has not been addressed yet, and that is the original mileage. This car has averaged 65 miles of driving per year of its existence. I know people who run more miles a week than that. So that begs the question: what do you do with this car? This is built on the famous Panther chassis with the ubiquitous 302, but it is not normally in the collector car arena. For less than a used Kia, you could have a V-8-powered cruiser that can get you around reliably, cheaply, and in great comfort. Or do you stick it in a museum as the most original 1982 Grand Marquis in America? Or maybe rent it out to a Hollywood production for a movie or show set in the 80s? Whatever you decide, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a 1983 Grand Marquis in this kind of condition!
A true cream puff it appears Dusty 👍
If this checks out as legit miles ( and it sure looks brand new to me) I’d be hard pressed to add any miles to it. Yet, I’ve driven a number of these over the years, and they’re nice, comfortable solid driving cars, where else could you drive a brand new 43 year old Grand Marquis? Heck, it’s not even due for its first oil change yet. ( I hope you all know I’m kidding here, I’m hoping someone did it by now).
I do not think value will ever go up. I think it’s only worth what some will pay who loved these years ago, maybe 10 grand? I just sold a 2007 Nissan Maxima 34k, mint for 10.500$, so anyone willing to pay, take it. I paid 1000.00 dollars for it.
That’s right, it is only worth what a buyer will pay for it. In this case, you’ll have to find someone willing to pay anything for it, because it is not a desirable car, nice though it is. We’ve all seen cars for sale where the seller thinks it is worth its weight in gold and flawless diamonds, and a complete waste of time to even contact the seller if you had any interest. The seller is either dreaming, delusional, or doesn’t want to sell, and is trying to tell his wife “see, I can’t find a buyer for what it is worth”.
way too much money.
I heartily agree with Zen. It would be worth maybe $15k simply because of all the work that must be done to make it a reliable driver. Fuel system, vacuum lines, brakes, tires; you know the drill…
These were noted for spark control module going bad- would start chugging black smoke like a locomotive and die, then start up & run like nothing ever happened after sitting a few minutes. Shake my fist, knock on wood, LOL piece o’crap found on road dead more than once.
Very sad on this one, because it probably is not worth now what it ought to be worth. My 1988 Grand Marquis has 399,000+ miles on it, and it takes me everywhere. The faux wood still gleams and screams “luxury”, and the velour seats look and feel as fresh as the day that they were born. Considering that it has seen and slogged through every northeast winter (I wash the salt off!), it has only slight surface rust at the bottom of the rear panels behind the wheels, and the spring-clips holding the emblems in the centres of the faux wire wheels finally rusted away and fell off. But, put it on a lift, and it looks fresh as a daisy! It runs fine (never re-built), and gets better than 20 miles per gallon. But it cannot entirely get out of its own way when climbing a long hill (though it never could): a 1970 muscle-sedan, this ain’t. But it runs on changing the oil and tyres and brakes, and the occasional universal joint or tie-rod end. But in all of these years and miles, it has never stuck me on the road in need of a tow. The audiocassette plays only on one channel [side] now, for some reason, though the radio still plays in stereo, and no-one can get the cruise-control to work again. But if you want to take a 900-mile trip, you can trust my car to get you there, in comfort and style. Four door sedans are all I would want to drive. And the Panther Platform Ford products are about as good as they ever got! This 1982 example lacks the faux “gills” on the ’79 (whatever were those FOR, anyway?). Too high a price on this “cream-puff”, however, and it pre-dates gas-shocks and fuel-injection. Regretfully, I’ll pass, even though I’m only about 160 miles north of where it is…
Us “oldsters” who would love and fondly remember these rides are checking out every day……
This was the era of the electronic controlled carburetors. Most had the notorious V.V. (variable venturi) carb, which was problematic. When they were right, the driveability was great. (they were seldom right…)
Yes, Harrison Reed you have a superior car to this one. You have sequencal fuel injection AND an overdrive transmission that has had the bugs worked out. This one listed here is not a bad car. But not near the car that you have.
With apologies to the Editors at “Car & Driver” magazine, there’s still no “DeSade” edition, LOL!
They sure got alot of play from that model Robert lol
Back in the early 1980’s my parents had to replace on of there Chrysler New Yorkers because it got totaled out and bought a new Mercury Grand Marquis about this vintage. My father asked me what I thought about it and I told him he could put it in the glove box of our 1973 New Yorker and use it for a spare car because it was not nearly as big. My parents bought three 1980’s Mercury Grand Marquis and to me while they would never take the place of their New Yorkers they were very dependable cars that were very comfortable and got good gas mileage. Some years latter they wanted to buy a 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis and gave me wife and I their 1987 we drove it to about 200,000 miles and gave it to some friends who didn’t have a car and were grateful to get one. Several years latter our friends got back on their feet and bought a used Cadillac. Some time latter I saw them driving the Grand Marquis we gave them.. I asked them what happened to the Caddy. They told me it kept breaking down so they went back to the old reliable 1987 Grand Marquis we gave them. These were wonderful cars in the day. I hope the seller finds some one who will treasure this car as much as he has.
To Wayne: thank you for the careful information. So, I should seek Panther Platform cars of 1986 and newer, then; no? As mine turns-over yet again to 400,000 miles, I don’t know how much longer I can keep it on the road, before it begins to need SERIOUS [expensive] overhauls.
Harrison Reed, yes, 1986 or newer to get the 5.0 SFI engine. The only time we saw the ’86 or newer cars back at the dealership was for scheduled maintenance. I was not thrilled with the ’91 and newer cars. As to the changesin the front suspension. (I left the Ford store in 1992) But from what I have seen and heard. They are just as good and reliable. Be careful with any Coyote engine when it comes to changing spark plugs. And have a few days set aside to have the car parked. If a spark plug is tough to turn, STOP! Spray/pour some kind of low viscosity lubricant around the plug and lit sit overnight. (Motor oil, penetrating oil like rust buster, ATF, Marvel Mystery oil. anything low viscosity.)Try again, still if tough, give it a quarter turn and lube again. If needed repeat several times. By using this method, my shop never had to repair stripped spark plug threads. Many shops were quoting many hundreds of dollars to change spark plugs. We just quoted several days. Carbon builds up on the extended reach plugs that are required on the aluminum heads. You have to try and desolve the carbon as it will fight you and tear the threads out of the head. They make a kit to repair the threads which involves installing a thread insert. My experience is that it only holds about 30,000 miles before blowing out. This is also true for some of the V10 engines.
Good advice re: plugs. I have a 94 TC 4.6 and always do the plugs on a stone cold engine and always use aluminum anti seize on the plug threads themselves. After 206k, I’ve never had any plug issues.
Thank you again, Wayne! I assume that the same essential advice applies to Lincoln Town Cars also — stay in the 1986-1989 range (I don’t want air-bags). I had a friend (who since has passed) who had a 1991 Mercury Grand Marquis GS, and at just past 76,000 miles, his timing-chain broke! The engine mis-fired, and the mechanic he had told him that there likely was serious internal damage to the engine. Also, his power-antenna no longer worked. He parked the car, and when he died, some one of his heirs had it towed to a salvage yard. Outwardly (except for black accents in the grille), it looked the same as mine. Mine turned 400,000 miles this afternoon. At 399,997, the “check engine” light came on for the first time ever, and the car began running rough and acting as though it wanted to stall-out. I made it to the Valvoline Oil Change place, just as it was turning 400,001 (the oil-change was due at 400,000), and it stalled-out just as I was pulling in. The young man said “It sounds like this old girl is gasping for air: let’s see about your air-filter”. It was black like charcoal and totally impacted (thank the Canadians!). Changed the oil and air-cleaner, and she runs fine as wine, with no “check engine” light. The AIR here is terrible — thick with smoke-soot, and we have warnings all over about not doing strenuous work, especially out-of-doors. It IS a bit tough to breathe, here, and the sky looks milky. The sun and moon are red, and dimmed. THANK YOU, CANADA!!!