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Inside, the biker-jacket theme continues with black leather bucket seats - wearing the Roman god's-head emblem that Mercury abandoned decades ago - enlivened only by plastic trim that simulates carbon fiber. The Stygian bumpers, rocker panels and grille are offset by the mirror polish of the tailpipes and five-spoke wheels. Though the average Marauder buyer is expected to be 52, the color scheme will find favor with teenage Goth rockers - black on black on really black. It is aimed at those who owned, or aspired to own, the Impala SS. Marauder owners' clubs still exist, but it seems a stretch to suggest that this car satisfies pent-up demand for a drunk-with-power Mercury. Marauder was a name given to overpowered versions of Mercury Montereys, Montclairs and Park Lanes, circa 1963-66 (plus a huge fastback coupe of 1969-70). Like the Impala SS, the Marauder recalls an earlier chapter of American auto history. Pristine used models bring more than $20,000 on eBay, a price that rivals Corvettes of the same vintage. The car was a surprise hit and became an instant collectible. The Impala SS was an audacious blunderbuss of a car, huge and heavy and slung low over 17-inch performance tires. The template for the Marauder is the Chevrolet Impala SS (1994-1996, R.I.P.), a last hurrah for the whalelike rear-drive Caprice, in this case powered by a Corvette motor. Mercury marauder driver#in 6.5 seconds, but the best Car and Driver magazine could achieve was a full second slower. Mercury says the car will scoot to 60 m.p.h. Trouble is, the Cobra engine, a dual-overhead-cam V-8 displacing 4.6 liters, doesn't serve up a lot of bottom-end thrust (its peak torque is 318 pounds-feet at 4,250 r.p.m.), particularly when that force is pitted against the car's two-ton weight. This is a vain and empty display of vehicular hubris, and one that I'm not above enjoying. (The proper technique is to hold the brake down, race the engine until the car is bucking and straining, then dump the brake and floor the gas pedal.) Mercury marauder drivers#The engine is supplemented with a high-stall torque converter in the automatic transmission and a 3.55:1 rear axle ratio intended to help drivers smoke the high-performance tires. This is a peculiar car with a sinister look that recalls an old quip about the Marquis: ''What kind of belts come with the de Sade option?'' The Marauder starts as a Grand Marquis - the four-wheel equivalent of the comfy chair - fitted with a 302-horsepower engine from the Mustang Cobra. In the meantime, Mercury desperately needs to kindle a spark of excitement. But a brand overhaul is in the works under a new group brand manager, Elena Ford - a cousin of William Clay Ford Jr., the company's chairman. The brand is about as sexy as support hoisery, and sales fell 18 percent in the first half of 2002. Mercury's broader troubles will take longer to fix. (''They don't need them,'' a spokeswoman, Sara Tatchio, said of civilians. If other owners want the shields, they will have to pay. Mercury marauder install#On Friday, Ford said it would install fuel-tank shields on new Crown Victoria police cruisers, and would retrofit the 350,000 cars in police service. Officials in Arizona, New Jersey, Ohio and Texas have sued Ford, contending that the design, with the gas tank behind the rear axle, near the bumper, makes the cars more likely to catch fire when struck at the rear. Mercury marauder series#The design has come under scrutiny after a series of fatal fires involving Crown Victoria police cars. But Ford will keep building these two high-profit cars, along with their Lincoln Town Car cousin, as long as they pull in 300,000 annual sales.įord has updated the perimeter frames and front suspensions of the sedans for 2003, but time is catching up. Years ago, General Motors and the erstwhile Chrysler all but abandoned body-on-frame architecture for mainstream passenger cars. These old-schoolers are something of a captive audience. ![]()
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