“Commanding. Brilliant. Power. Control. Grand.” Sadly, I have none of those traits, but the 2000 Mercury Grand Marquis line has them all, according to this brochure. I can’t imagine going wrong with a car like this Panther platform Merc as a daily driver, or a weekend road trip car. The seller has this one posted here on craigslist in Lynnwood, Washington, and they’re asking $5,880 firm. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!
What’s your guess for the last American car to have whitewall tires? And by “car,” of course, I mean an actual car, not an SUV. Most people generally say “car” when they refer to an SUV or car, mainly because there aren’t many cars being made anymore, especially American cars. Anyone? Yes, in the third row, nice work! The 2010 Lincoln Town Car, and even then, they were optional whitewall tires. After that, they were gone, dumped into the wastebasket of automotive history, along with not wearing jeans to the office, and also, actually going to an office rather than working from home. The wastebasket is getting full.
This car is from the second to the last generation of the Mercury Marquis, a third-generation car. They were made from the fall of 1997 for the 1998 model year through 2002 and were based on Ford’s Panther platform, as most of you know. I always think of a stealth, unmarked (is that redundant?) highway patrol car when I see this shape, and maybe that’s why I like these cars so much. Another reason is the amount of space inside and in the trunk. Is that some silver paint lifting on the top of the rear bumper shown in the trunk photo?
This LS has the optional Light Graphite leather to go with the Silver Frost paint. It’s showing some wrinkling on the driver’s seat, which may be why there isn’t a photo showing that seat in the photo gallery, but maybe it was just an oversight by the selling dealer. The back seat looks great. They list the mileage as being 88,250, and this car is wearing the 16″ Lacy Spoke wheels, which were part of the Handling Package. I’m not sure whether it has the handling package or just the wheels, but dual exhaust was also part of that package. I can’t tell if it has dual exhaust or not.
With the handling package, this 4.6-liter OHV V8 would have had 215 horsepower and 285 lb-ft of torque. If not, it had 200 hp. Power is sent through a 4R70W four-speed automatic to the rear wheels, and the seller says it’s in great overall condition for a 26-year-old car. That’s usually not a glowing report, but this one looks nice in the photos. Any thoughts on this Grand Marquis LS for under $6,000? It looks like it could be a good deal to me.
This used to be my favorite rental car,until they quit making them.