1gtx
07-29-2005, 09:39 PM
Hi -
Just thought I'd introduce myself--Mark Willson from Portland Or.
What I bought...
*Just* picked up a used 2003 300a Black (of course) with 57K miles at four pm today in Houston TX. Bought it on ebay--that was a first. Took the plane down from Portland OR (I think it stopped at every major city in between :-) to pick it up.
It appears to be in really good shape and also appears to be one of the last 2003's. It has a built date of 6/29/2002 (according to carfax). (Someone want to run a Oasis(sp?) on X615408?)
It has heavily tinted windows (makes sense in houston) and the near black interior. Engine sounds great. (Always love pressing musclecars "loud" pedal.)
The only thing strange about the car is that it has run through four owners in just 2 years (I'm the fifth). I get the impression it was on lease. I'm sure it's had it's share of flogging, but it still appears and performs like it's in really good shape.
Besides, I can't complain about the price (a little over $16K).
Some background...
I'm in the strange situation of already ownering an early built (2/2 600648?), late sold 2003 Grand marquis GS in deep wedgewood metallic. I bought it new in Sept of 2003 for $17,500 and even now only has 24K miles and still has a year to run and 12K miles on the factory warranty.
I really wanted a marauder, but it was hard to justify the price when I could pickup a GS for half as much and spend subtantially less than $17k upgrading it.
(I'm a mopar guy by habit with a small herd of 440 powered road runners and GTXs. I always appreciated Chrysler's "let's spend the money on performance and not cosmetics.
Before you all tear into me for not being a ford guy, I was born in Flint MI. My parents were both born in detroit. In my extended family almost everyone worked for ford's at one time or another. My uncle and I both choose chrysler's just to be different from the rest of the family--I like driving performance cars that aren't that common.--the marauder qualifys--the mustang doesn't.)
In fact the reason why a purchased the marquis in the first place was it was the closest in specs to a early 70 road runner that I could find--around 4000#, available hipo block, rear wheel drive, solid axle, decent suspension parts (from the P71s etc), seat 5-6 full sized adults (my 15 year old son is 6'6", my 14 year old daughter is 5'11", my wife is 6'0", and I'm 6'1", plus one more daughter that isn't so large), wide variety of performance parts (from mustangs, etc.), and that the marquis cost less than a mini-cooper, pt cruiser, or almost anything else made--even the econo boxes!
The marquis already looks the part with the marauder wheels, headlights, front turn signals, blacked out tail lights and chrome trim.
A change in approach is required...
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I've had to change tactics.
My wife, very unfortunately, is in desperate need of a fast liver transplant. The mayo clinic in Jacksonville florida is going to evaluate her starting in 4 days.(Livers are in very short supply on the west coast--average wait time is 6.5 years and the average survival time is 5. National the average is 54 months--at the mayo in jacksonville the average wait is an amazing 1.7 months!).
So anyway she and I are going to probably be staying there (near mayo) for the next several months--maybe until even the end of the year. Being west coast types we can't survive without wheels and renting some for that amount of time is pretty obscene in cost.
So presto-chango by buying a southern marauder I get to dodge driving 2200 miles of the trip to get there, get the car I really wanted in the first place, and give ourselves some entertainment other than zoning out in front of the TV.
What's happening now...
That gets me to this instant. I'm on the road going east on I-10 and I'll stop when I hit the atlantic. (I'm late, I'm late for a very important date :-) Then on Monday my wife will fly in and the process at mayo will begin.
If you happen to spot a fast moving black car with oregon plates (now getting those plates this fast was a really good trick) along I-10 heading east now you'll know who it was :-)
For those in the jacksonville area...
Any suggestions on reasonable distance meets, get-togethers, good mercury dealer, vendors (I'm not beyond putting an s/c on while we wait), good mechanics, etc. I'm all ears.
See you out on the road!
- Mark
Just thought I'd introduce myself--Mark Willson from Portland Or.
What I bought...
*Just* picked up a used 2003 300a Black (of course) with 57K miles at four pm today in Houston TX. Bought it on ebay--that was a first. Took the plane down from Portland OR (I think it stopped at every major city in between :-) to pick it up.
It appears to be in really good shape and also appears to be one of the last 2003's. It has a built date of 6/29/2002 (according to carfax). (Someone want to run a Oasis(sp?) on X615408?)
It has heavily tinted windows (makes sense in houston) and the near black interior. Engine sounds great. (Always love pressing musclecars "loud" pedal.)
The only thing strange about the car is that it has run through four owners in just 2 years (I'm the fifth). I get the impression it was on lease. I'm sure it's had it's share of flogging, but it still appears and performs like it's in really good shape.
Besides, I can't complain about the price (a little over $16K).
Some background...
I'm in the strange situation of already ownering an early built (2/2 600648?), late sold 2003 Grand marquis GS in deep wedgewood metallic. I bought it new in Sept of 2003 for $17,500 and even now only has 24K miles and still has a year to run and 12K miles on the factory warranty.
I really wanted a marauder, but it was hard to justify the price when I could pickup a GS for half as much and spend subtantially less than $17k upgrading it.
(I'm a mopar guy by habit with a small herd of 440 powered road runners and GTXs. I always appreciated Chrysler's "let's spend the money on performance and not cosmetics.
Before you all tear into me for not being a ford guy, I was born in Flint MI. My parents were both born in detroit. In my extended family almost everyone worked for ford's at one time or another. My uncle and I both choose chrysler's just to be different from the rest of the family--I like driving performance cars that aren't that common.--the marauder qualifys--the mustang doesn't.)
In fact the reason why a purchased the marquis in the first place was it was the closest in specs to a early 70 road runner that I could find--around 4000#, available hipo block, rear wheel drive, solid axle, decent suspension parts (from the P71s etc), seat 5-6 full sized adults (my 15 year old son is 6'6", my 14 year old daughter is 5'11", my wife is 6'0", and I'm 6'1", plus one more daughter that isn't so large), wide variety of performance parts (from mustangs, etc.), and that the marquis cost less than a mini-cooper, pt cruiser, or almost anything else made--even the econo boxes!
The marquis already looks the part with the marauder wheels, headlights, front turn signals, blacked out tail lights and chrome trim.
A change in approach is required...
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I've had to change tactics.
My wife, very unfortunately, is in desperate need of a fast liver transplant. The mayo clinic in Jacksonville florida is going to evaluate her starting in 4 days.(Livers are in very short supply on the west coast--average wait time is 6.5 years and the average survival time is 5. National the average is 54 months--at the mayo in jacksonville the average wait is an amazing 1.7 months!).
So anyway she and I are going to probably be staying there (near mayo) for the next several months--maybe until even the end of the year. Being west coast types we can't survive without wheels and renting some for that amount of time is pretty obscene in cost.
So presto-chango by buying a southern marauder I get to dodge driving 2200 miles of the trip to get there, get the car I really wanted in the first place, and give ourselves some entertainment other than zoning out in front of the TV.
What's happening now...
That gets me to this instant. I'm on the road going east on I-10 and I'll stop when I hit the atlantic. (I'm late, I'm late for a very important date :-) Then on Monday my wife will fly in and the process at mayo will begin.
If you happen to spot a fast moving black car with oregon plates (now getting those plates this fast was a really good trick) along I-10 heading east now you'll know who it was :-)
For those in the jacksonville area...
Any suggestions on reasonable distance meets, get-togethers, good mercury dealer, vendors (I'm not beyond putting an s/c on while we wait), good mechanics, etc. I'm all ears.
See you out on the road!
- Mark