1971-78 Mercury Marquis

[Guest Confused Mopar]

Hello to everyone and don't let the name confuse you. I have been an avid Mopar guy all of my life but, I've been considering buying at least one other classic potentially down the road to mark it off my bucket list hence the title of my thread.  At any rate, I'm just curious about the 1971-1978 Mercury Marquis platform. I'm curious about the good and bad about these cars. I'm also curious on how much it would cost to get a nice one and what would be the best year to buy? My apologies for all the questions but, I'm a younger gentleman with an interest in these vintage type cars. Thank you in advance.

Edited March 6, 2016 by Confused Mopar (see edit history)

[NTX5467]

I believe that if you check the specs, you'll find these Mercurys have the same wheelbase as their Ford LTD counterparts.  Personally, I like the looks of the '71-'72 LTDs better than the Mercurys, but that's just me.  In true, somewhat, Ford fashion, they had some great looking cars and fancy interiors than GM did with their full-size cars in those years.  So it becomes which body on the same chassis you might like best AND can find in a particular color/trim combination "when they are found".  None of these cars will have "true collector value", so that makes then affordable, I suspect.

 

Mechanically, many of the Ford vehicle systems were pretty much common at that time.   And had been for several model years.  I don't recall any real, glaring issues with them.  Powertrain components were generally well-proven by that point in time.  To me, one thing to put some extra attention might be the emissions control hardware.  Reason is that Ford liked to so things with "vacuum" and had lots of rubber vacuum lines under the hood to plumb all of the emissions and a/c functions.  This would be more of a maintenance item more than anything else.

 

One thing I was not aware of, until I got into helping a friend at college with a '69 Grand Marquis which tried to swim when his girlfriend missed a low water crossing at the beach, was that as GM and Chrysler use a full fuseblock to get electricity from underhood to the interior of the car, Ford used only about SIX wires to come through the firewall, then those six wires "split" into the instrument panel circuits, with inline circuit breakers, relays, and wiring junctions.  To their credit, the Ford/Mercury service manual was "full size" and would lay out from fender-to-fender, but it was a little intimidating when you're used to looking at wiring diagrams on normal-size paper.  Be that as it may.  BUT there are also vacuum lines behind the instrument panel, also.

 

I think I'd stay closer to the 1971-72 models rather than the later end of your stated model year range.  To me, the cars looked better and didn't have the "front and back porch" energy-absorbing bumpers on them.  Emission controls intensified for 1973, which impacted fuel economy somewhat.  It might be neat to find a 429 V-8 car with lots of luxury options, BUT it's not going to be a "high performance" vehicle as such, although it will move nicely.  The 390 V-8 is good, too.  The base 302 can be good for a general "drive-around" car.  To me, the variations in 351s can be confusing for many who aren't very familiar with them or can recognize them "at sight".

 

When "right", the cars are very smooth, quiet, and comfortable (in a "Ford" way, as Chrysler products and GM products all have their particular "ways" of doing things and tactile sounds and "feels").  Cornering is going to be "understeer", period, rather than what you might be used to with Chrysler products (watch the original "Hawaii Five-oo" scenes of McGarret sliding his black Marquis around slow corners).  Just something to get used to and appreciate the cars for what they are!

 

From my experiences back then, just as it was important to find a mechanic that was used to working on Chrysler products, finding a good Ford mechanic was great, also.  Somebody that KNEW when things were right, rather than "to spec", for example.  But in our current times, this might be an issue.

 

A local real estate person always drove 1968 Country Squires back then.  He drove those cars all  over the rural properties he was showing.  He broke a few things, but those cars were tougher than many others . . . and more than I suspected.  When he finally had to replace one, he'd look for another one and keep on gong.  The guy at the Exxon station who did his mechanic work was one of those "KNOWS Ford Guys", so that helped too.  This was in the early 1970s.  I don't know of much that changed, mechanically, from the 1968s to the early 1970s, of any real significance.

 

I believe there is a national club for full-size Fords.

 

Happy Hunting!

NTX5467 

[Guest Confused Mopar]

Hello and sorry, I have not posted in quite some time. I've had a lot of things happen since then and just wanted to thank you for all the helpful information. I acquired a 1975 Mercury Marquis Brougham 4 door about 3 months ago and still debating to keep it. I mainly bought it because I was looking for one but, I also saved it from being parted out and destroyed. So, I will start another thread here inquiring about some different things since my life has changed the last time I was here four months ago. Thank you again.