Should you ever buy a car just to take a fantastic road trip on the return leg? This is a personal fantasy of mine, especially for the right sports car or grand tourer. Looking at the location of this 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis Colony Park station wagon, which happens to be Wenatchee, WA, I see some lovely mountain vistas and an excuse to tour the delightful backroads of the Pacific Northwest. Would I choose the Grand Marquis as my road trip weapon of choice? Probably not, but as gearheads, we’re usually not too picky about an excuse for a road trip. Though this car is listed as a 1989, I believe it’s an ’87 – check it out here on craigslist for $1,800.
The dead giveaway about the model year potentially being incorrect are the headlights. In 1988, the front end was refreshed across the lineup, and the nose got a bit softer with the headlight assemblies sitting flush with the hood and nose section. This not a big deal, but it’s the reason why I wrote this up as a different model year than what the seller has in the ad. Regardless, there’s a lot of underselling going on with this listing, The seller says the “…interior and exterior are in rough shape,” and while it’s far from perfect, if it’s rust-free – well, I’d call that better than most. The wood paneling is still intact, and the Mercury retains its factory turbine-style wheels.
Now, as far as focusing too much on the flaws, I understand that the seller wants to be honest; it’s just that if you found one of these cars in the rust belt, it’d already be flattened and in the junkyard. The good news is there are lots of good driving roads around Wenatchee, including Badger Mountain Road, the Cascade Loop Scenic Byway, and the Old Stevens Pass Byway, so even if this Grand Marquis only has one more ride left in it, it will go out on some truly fantastic roadways with mountain views. The interior, despite the damage to the driver’s seat, looks decent, and blue leather is a significant upgrade over the cloth surfaces most came with.
The seller doesn’t highlight this, nor does he mention if it has the third-row jump seats in the cargo bay that transform this wagon into a 10 passenger road trip machine. With just 132,000 miles on the clock, the 5.0L V8 engine has plenty of life left in it, so to my mind, the negotiable asking price makes this one a home run for any potential buyer with the ability to spend some time in the PNW. The Grand Marquis is an American classic in every way possible, and I’ll bet this one will clean up enough to make you glad you bought it. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Curvette for the tip.
She’s been sitting in that exact spot for many moons. Wagons are still hot, and this ones cheap enough. If it was east of the Mississippi? I’d at least inquire.
Good write up Jeff.
Nice write-up, Jeff; but there are LOTS of these surviving very nicely here in the snow-belt. They seem quite impervious to rust, actually. I live in a small city of about 12,000 people north of the Mohawk Valley and at the southern edge of the Adirondacks, and there are at least four of these daily on the road, here. One is a 1984 station wagon just like this one (and just about as faded with time and exposure), and sagging in the rear; two are 1986 LS four door sedans. And mine is a 1988 four door GS sedan with 406,000 miles. Incidentally, I much prefer my velour seats, and they wear like iron. I see far more four door sedan Gramd Marquis cars on the road, than I do wagons.
I agree with Harrison Read. I prefer velour seats. Leather has been very cheap for many years in cars and pulled so tight over the foam it tears. It tears because you have taken something alive, an animal, stripped off its skin and it dries out. Even the most routine treatment of something good like Lexol just slows down the eventual breakdown of the leather. The stitching dries out and the leather splits. Nice wagon, but there are far better ones. At least the price is cheap for something a person with average mechanical skills can repair. The auto industry is upside down and is building over complicated junk they DO NOT want anyone fixing except dealer.
I drive a 2005 Ford Freestyle and the driver leather seat just showed a small tear a couple of weeks back. I used Shoe Goo, available at Walmart. I have used this for years on my old shoes or sneakers that are past their prime. It is also good, I discovered, in patching car covers. It remains flexible.
This car looks like it could be a deal, especially as a wagon, but as said above, we can see it has sat in same spot for awhile.
I am not that far from WENATCHEE and would love to check it out further. Right now, I have a 2001 sable which is ok but the big MERC IS WHAT I want. Unfortunately, due to some medical issues i can’t get up for a look for a couple of months down the road and I WILL BE ready, and the car gone