Mercury Marquis
Encyclopedia
These were known as the "Continental Styling" years, as Mercury was trying to market itself as an affordable Lincoln
Lincoln (automobile)
Lincoln is an American luxury vehicle brand of the Ford Motor Company. Lincoln vehicles are sold mostly in North America.-History:The company was founded in August 1915 by Henry M. Leland, one of the founders of Cadillac . During World War I, he left Cadillac which was sold to General Motors...

, rather than a more expensive Ford. A 1969 advertisement for the Colony Park wagon bills the car as "If Lincoln Continental made a station wagon, this would be it." All full-sized Mercury sedans and coupes were built on a wheelbase that was 124 inches long, but the station wagons were on the same 122 inch wheelbase as their Ford counterparts. While built on a Ford chassis, wagons wore the same front clip as sedans along with the same interior trim.

This generation of Marquis was available as a full line of cars, with two- and four-door hardtop
Hardtop
A hardtop is a term for a rigid, rather than canvas, automobile roof. It has been used in several contexts: detachable hardtops, retractable hardtop roofs, and the so-called pillarless hardtop body style....

s, a four-door pillared sedan, a convertible
Convertible
A convertible is a type of automobile in which the roof can retract and fold away having windows which wind-down inside the doors, converting it from an enclosed to an open-air vehicle...

, and a station wagon
Station wagon
A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...

. The new 1969 Mercury Marauder
Mercury Marauder
The Marauder name first appeared as a 1963½ model in the full-size Mercury lineup. It was available as a 2-door hardtop with a forward-slanted "fastback" roofline; this was the reverse of the Breezeway roof introduced on other full-size Mercurys...

 shared its 122-inch wheelbase with Ford; however, its front clip was shared with Marquis. The standard engine was a 429 cubic-inch
Ford 385 engine
The Ford 385 engine family was the Ford Motor Company's final big block V8 engine design, replacing the Ford MEL engine and gradually superseding the Ford FE engine family...

 V8 equipped with a two-barrel carburetor. The four-barrel 429 from the Marauder was optional. The sole transmission for the Marquis (and all full-size Lincolns and Mercurys) was the Ford C6
Ford C6 transmission
The Ford C6 transmission was a heavy-duty automatic transmission built by the Ford Motor Company between 1966 and 1996. It featured three forward speeds and reverse, and was built around a Simpson planetary gearset....

 3-speed automatic. Power front disc brakes were optional.

This generation introduced the hidden headlights that were a Lincoln-Mercury trademark in the 1970s. Metallic gold examples of the 1969 and 1970 model Marquis convertibles (very low production) were used for the final two seasons of the Green Acres
Green Acres
Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...

 TV series. These replaced the 1965-1967 Continental convertibles that were used earlier in the run of the CBS comedy series.

1971 brought a major restyling for the full-size Mercurys: More rounded and flowing styling, wider C-Pillars, rear fender skirts
Fender skirts
Fender skirts, known in Australia and the United Kingdom as spats, are pieces of bodywork on the fender that cover the upper portions of the rear tires of an automobile.-Functions:...

, the elimination of vent-windows for all models, frameless windows and wraparound taillamps on all sedans. Both the Marauder and convertibles were discontinued for 1971; the rare and costly sunroof option became available on all full-size Mercurys (as long as the vinyl roof option was selected).

1972 brought minor changes such as egg-crate grilles, revised taillamps and seatbelt warning buzzers.

1973–1978

For 1973, the Marquis received a redesign with a boxier look, giving it new protruding energy-absorbing "5-mph" bumpers and a new roofline. Two- and four-door hardtops (the four-doors had frameless door glass and slim fixed center pillars) were available as the Marquis or Marquis Brougham. The 1975 models were slightly revised to look longer than the boxier 1973-1974 range. The Grand Marquis
Mercury Grand Marquis
The Mercury Grand Marquis was a full-size rear-wheel drive sedan sold by the Lincoln-Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company; the Grand Marquis was the flagship of the Mercury lineup. The nameplate itself had been in use since 1975 as the premium trim level of the Mercury Marquis; the Grand...

was introduced as a luxury trim line in 1975 when the Monterey
Mercury Monterey
The Monterey was introduced in 1950 as a high-end two-door coupe in the same vein as the Ford Crestliner, the Lincoln Lido coupe and the Lincoln Cosmopolitan Capri coupe. The reason was to offer a more luxurious coupe as the FoMoCo still not had any hard top. The Mercury line got a styling redesign...

 series was dropped and all full-size Mercurys took the Marquis name. Unlike the related Crown Victoria, which was an option package on the LTD Landau
Ford LTD
The Ford LTD was a car produced by the Ford Motor Company in North America. A range of full-size cars wore various forms of the LTD nameplate from 1965 to 1991 in the United States...

, the Grand Marquis was a trim level in its own right. Base-trim and upscale Colony Park station wagons were available.

The 360 hp 460 big-block V8 became available on this generation, and the 400 Cleveland replaced the 429 as the base engine in 1974. The 460 was standard on the Brougham and Grand Marquis through 1977. The 351M small-block V8 entered the lineup in 1978 to increase the fuel economy of the Marquis; for that year, the 460 was reserved only for the Grand Marquis and Colony Park wagon. Emissions regulations had taken their toll and by 1978, the 460 generated a mundane 202 hp.

Advertising billed these cars the best full-size cars in America. A 1976 consumer survey showed the Marquis Brougham far superior to the competing Olds 98 LS
Oldsmobile 98
The Oldsmobile 98 was a full-size automobile and the flagship model of the Oldsmobile division of General Motors. The name first appeared in 1941 and was used again after American consumer automobile production resumed post-World War II...

 and Buick Electra 225. The next year, the Grand Marquis went up against Cadillac's Sedan de Ville and was again the preferred choice.

1979–1982

After trailing General Motors by two years and Chrysler by one, the Marquis was downsized to the all-new Panther
Ford Panther platform
The Ford Panther platform is an automobile platform that was used by Ford Motor Company for full-size, rear-wheel drive sedans. Introduced in late 1978 for the 1979 model year, it was progressively updated over 33 years of production. In September 2011, the last car produced on the platform was...

 platform in 1979. After losing some 800 pounds and over a foot in length, for 1979, the Marquis was left shorter and lighter than the "mid-size" Cougar. Broader expanses of glass and a lower hood line provided more visibility. Interior space increased with redesigned seats and door panels. The new styling also produced better aerodynamics. Gone were the hidden headlights and fender skirts that had graced earlier models, leaving a more contemporary look. The interior gained Lincolnesque white-face instruments with square gauges. Pillared hardtop styling was replaced with two- and four-door post models. The 400 and 460 cid V8s were discontinued; the standard engine was now the 302 cubic inch Windsor V8. The 351 Windsor engine was a rare option and is highly desirable today.

The switch to the Panther platform marked the first time that the entire full-size Mercury lineup shared its wheelbase and bodyshell with Ford models. As before, wagons were available in standard trim and woodgrained Colony Park trim. The Marquis received a minor update for 1982, losing the vents in the front fenders and the small grilles in the front bumper.

1983–1986

In 1983, Ford updated the styling of mid-size Fox platform
Ford Fox platform
The Ford Fox platform is a rear wheel drive, unitized-chassis, automobile architecture used by Ford Motor Company in North America. Introduced for the 1978 model year, it would go on to be produced until 1993 in its original version; a substantial redesign of the Ford Mustang in 1994 extended its...

 sedans and station wagons; additionally, a number of product lines were shifted. Mercury reverted the Cougar back to its traditional role of a two-door personal-luxury coupe, discontinuing its unpopular 4-door and wagon models. To fill the gap, the Marquis name was taken from the full-size Mercury line; Ford had done the same thing as the LTD had replaced the Granada.

After 1983, the Panther-based Grand Marquis
Mercury Grand Marquis
The Mercury Grand Marquis was a full-size rear-wheel drive sedan sold by the Lincoln-Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company; the Grand Marquis was the flagship of the Mercury lineup. The nameplate itself had been in use since 1975 as the premium trim level of the Mercury Marquis; the Grand...

 continued in production. The 1979-1982 version was produced nearly unchanged until the end of 1991, when it was redesigned for the 1992 model year. With minor evolutionary changes, the design of the 1992 Grand Marquis remained in production for 19 model years, when Mercury ceased all production in January 2011.

The midsize Marquis was produced in Hapeville, Georgia
Atlanta Assembly
Atlanta Assembly was an automobile factory owned by Ford Motor Company in Hapeville, Georgia. Harbour Consulting rated it as the most efficient auto plant in North America in 2006...

 until 1985 and Chicago, Illinois
Chicago Assembly
Chicago Assembly is Ford Motor Company's oldest continually-operated automobile manufacturing plant. It is located at E. 130th Street and Torrence Avenue in the Hegewisch community area of Chicago, Illinois...

 until 1986, when it was replaced by the front-wheel drive Mercury Sable
Mercury Sable
The Sable was a very important sedan for both Mercury and the American auto industry.Ford had lagged in introducing mid-size front wheel drive cars to compete against General Motors' Chevrolet Citation and its best-selling Chevrolet Celebrity/Pontiac 6000/Oldsmobile Cutlass/Buick Century quartet as...

.

Mechanical Details
The mid-size Marquis sedans had the 2.3 L SOHC four-cylinder as the base engine. Wagons came with a six-cylinder standard. 1983 models could have the 3.3 L "Mileage Maker" inline six, otherwise, the 3.8 L Essex V6 was available in all models and was the most common. After 1984, the inline-6 engine (dating to 1963) was discontinued. The high-output 4.9 L 5.0L Windsor V8 was available in the rare Marquis LTS, sold only in Canada. Four-cylinder engines were paired with the C3
Ford C3 transmission
The Ford C3 transmission and its descendants are a family of light-duty longitudinal automatic transmissions built by the Ford Motor Company.The Bordeaux Automatic Transmission Plant, in Blanquefort, France produces automatic transmissions for a variety of rear-wheel drive vehicles...

 3-speed automatic along with the 3.8 L V6 models; the rare V8 models received the AOD
Ford AOD transmission
The AOD is a four-speed automatic transmission with overdrive. Introduced in 1980, it was Ford's first four-speed automatic overdrive transmission. The design is based on the same gearset as the 1960s and 1970s...

4-speed automatic overdrive from the Grand Marquis.

External links

  • Four Eyed Pride - A resource for all early Foxes, including 1983-1986 Marquis
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