New owner checking in from Europe

[MGDriver]

Hello everbody, I have briefly introduced myself in the welcome thread already but now it's time to do it properly in the seperate thread. A few people might already know me from CrownVic.net but for those who don't, I'm Marvin from Germany. I have been dreaming of driving a Panther ever since my first vacation to the US when I was 12 years old and have been part of the Panther community over at CVN since 2008. When I got my license I started out driving my Dads 2003 Audi A6 Avant, 2.5 Litre Turbodiesel V6 with a 6 speed manual that I still own. A few years later I briefly had a 2004 Mustang GT which belonged to friend of mine who was going through a tough time, I took the car off his hands whilst he was struggeling financially otherwise he would have had to sell it and I couldn't see him lose his dream that he had imported from California all by himself. After he managed to sort his problems out I gave it back to him so I only had this car for a couple of months but it was enough to make a big influence on me when the time came to look out for my own dream car which was naturally a Crown Vic. However after having test driven a couple of them I had to realise, these things are slow. I honestly went into the whole thing expecting them to be more or less like four door Mustangs which we all know they aren't. I still loved the way they look and drive but they were simply too slow for my liking so I was disappointed and walked away from them. I already knew there is higher performance Marauder variant out there but to my knowledge only 5 of those ever made it across the pond and since I simply don't have the time to import one myself and also not the sort of money that a professional importer would take so the chances to get my hands on one were very slim. Instead I went off to experiment with other cars, most notably an Australian Ford Fairlane (which is basically the Town Car variant of the Ford Falcon) which in the end turned into a long term project since I bought the car over from England and the conversions required to register it in Germany are a lot more complicated than originally expected so I won't get it on the road anytime soon.

Fast forward to December 2014, I was originally looking for a winter beater on national classifieds during Christmas time when I randomly stubled across a Marauder! It's the wrong time of the year for me to be looking at a car like that and my original plan was to buy a €500 beater but what are the chances of finding a Marauder over here? I just couldn't resist and had to look at this car in detail. It's a 2003 Black 300A with 86.000 miles on the clock, it was imported from Ohio in 2009 and had 2 previous owners in Germany, unfortunately the number of previous owners in America can't be backtracked anymore. The car was nowhere near perfect, it had all sorts of scrapes and blemishes in the paint, a cracked passenger taillight lense from a low speed collision with a pole while backing into a parking space and a terribly sun faded passenger headlight. However after a test drive it was clear, I had to have this car! This is exactly the car I have always been wanting with the room and comfort of a luxuy sedan and the power of sports coupe, well not quite but you get the idea. As an added bonus, the car was converted to run on LPG with an additional 10 gallon tank in the trunk which is the only way to make a massive V8 affordable to run over here with fuel prices at currently $6.50 a gallon versus $2.70 for LPG. Long story short, a deal was made, I bought the car for the asking price of $12.000 after the seller (who is a professional importer for Mustangs and used this car as his private commuter) has fixed all the blemishes for me.

Yesterday I've collected the car with a smart repaired paintjob, new passenger head and taillights as well as a new set of steering arms which was required to be replaced for the cars safety inspection. I can't be happier with this car and I couldn't stop myself from smiling the entire 300 mile trip home. There are a few things I would still like to do as listed below but apart from those it is just perfect as it sits!


Undersealing the car with shipping container paint will be done fist thing when I get to it otherwise it will rot away from underneath me in our climate.
Winter tyres on P71 Steelies, it's currently on all-seasons but I don't want to run the chrome alloys during winters and put them on proper performance tyres for summer use instead.
Window tint, unfortunately our law only allows us to tint the rear windows, I can't put tint on the windshield and front windows so it might look crap being half done.
Flowmasters, my friend runs the American Thunder Series on his Mustang and I absolutely adore the sound of it so I think that's what I want to get as well.
Marauder spoiler, I want one although this car didn't originally come with it, does look a bit naked without it.



http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1048721/fullsize/dscn1594.jpg http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1048722/fullsize/dscn1595.jpg http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1048724/fullsize/dscn1597.jpg http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1048725/fullsize/dscn1598.jpg http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1048726/fullsize/dscn1599.jpg http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1048727/fullsize/dscn1600.jpg http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1048728/fullsize/dscn1601.jpg http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1048733/fullsize/dscn1606.jpg http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1048739/fullsize/dscn1612.jpg http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1048736/fullsize/dscn1609.jpg

If you can't get enough of it like me, then you should check here for more pictures! (http://www.supermotors.net/registry/24043/84204)

[Bob Mathis]

Welcome to the site.

[burt ragio]

Welcome to the sight. Congradulations on your ride. You will be needing some big brakes & some Addco Bars for the Autobahn.

[martyo]

Very cool!

Welcome aboard!!

[RacerX]

XCAL 4 and tune... Speak to Marty^

[WhatsUpDOHC]

Willkommen in MM.net!

[MGDriver]

Thanks for the kind welcome everyone. Unfortunately shipping parts over from the States is very expensive in postage and import duty so I have safe up for everything that I'm planning to get in advance.

[martyo]

Thanks for the kind welcome everyone. Unfortunately shipping parts over from the States is very expensive in postage and import duty so I have safe up for everything that I'm planning to get in advance.

I have shipped to other parts of Europe without too much of a problem or expense.

[CoreyM75]

Welcome from another CVN member (2000-cvpi). Enjoy the car, it looks very clean.

[MOTOWN]

Nice looking ride!

[345HP87SSAC]

Nice car. Some light 35 percent or even lighter 50 percent in the back still looks good even with stock front door glass.

[BPinsent]

Welcome to the site, glad to see these special cars made it overseas as well.

[RubberCtyRauder]

Guten Tag.....

[MGDriver]

I have shipped to other parts of Europe without too much of a problem or expense.
Our customs people are a massive pain in the backside, 20% import duty tax on everything you bring in from outside of Europe, no exception to the rule. That and every mod you do to your car is required to be reviewed and approved by local authories who will then add it to the registration paperwork. Basically our government has made it so difficult and complicated to modify vehicles that it puts most people off from doing it which was initially their goal. They don't want modified oddball cars on the road here, everything is supposed to be the "standard".

It's very difficult to import cars like these into Germany and I have a lot of respect for the people who still manage to do it, I personally wouldn't have the time and patience to do it myself so I'm very glad I found one that was already here. It's getting progressively more complicated as time moves on as well, 10 years ago it was still relatively easy to do. However this also shows the way that the global automotive industry is going, back when the Marauder was new every region sort of did their own thing whilst nowadays we are heading towards a global market where every car is supposed to be officially available everywhere in the world and I personally don't like seeing that because it destorys automobile cultures by just mixing everything into one... anyway I'm getting offtopic.

Driving home from work today the car threw the check engine light at me. The previous owner told me that it would do that sometimes when it has been driven on LPG for too long and I should just run it on petrol again for a day to clear the fault. Sounded a bit weird for an explaination but I'll try it tomorrow, has anybody had experience with LPG conversions before?

[WhatsUpDOHC]

I think that your Marauder is 1 of 1 with LPG. [emoji482]

Was it ever dyno'd?

[Windsor58]

Nice car. Enjoy it. Send pictures from the Autobahn...
This site is a great resource for any mods you might consider. Just ask.

[MGDriver]

Hasn't been dynoed as far as I know but you do feel the power loss when running on LPG. When performing a kickdown the system will automatically revert back to running gasoline so that you have the full power available and you can. I know of at least 2 other Marauders over here in Europe that also run LPG, our fuel here is so expensive that most people who drive a V8 will convert it to LPG.

I will make sure to post some Autobahn pictures with if that's what everybody is keen to see and I will also try to take it down to the Nürburgring one day ;)

[2,4shofast]

I have been to the Nurburgring two times and I must say it is the most insane experience of my life. I have never been so scared/excited at the same time. I cant imagine run a Marauder around it!:beer:

[MGDriver]

I've done the Ring in my friends 2004 Mustang GT before and I was pretty much the slowest car on track so I'm sure the Marauder wouldn't score any better, still a fun experience to do it.

Click here if you like to see the Mustang go around the Ring (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f60zI5UAlA)

[2,4shofast]

Awesome video, I will be watching that a few times over! My buddy went in a race prepped Subaru STI that was pretty quick but lacked top speed from corner to corner, Ill have to see if he still has the video!

[MGDriver]

This is his car that I've owned for a couple of months as I described in the original post. Lots of fun to drive especially since it has a manual transmission which is something I miss in the Marauder, I'm normally not a fan of automatics.

http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/965257/fullsize/dscn0958.jpg

[WhatsUpDOHC]

I've done the Ring in my friends 2004 Mustang GT before and I was pretty much the slowest car on track so I'm sure the Marauder wouldn't score any better, still a fun experience to do it.

Click here if you like to see the Mustang go around the Ring (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f60zI5UAlA)
Awesome!!!

[MGDriver]

What I have noticed is that it takes quite long to start the car, I have to crank it for continuous 3 seconds before the engine sparks even when it's warm. Now I don't have a lot of experience with big engines but the Mustang and the Fairlane I've driven before would spark pretty much instantly as you turned the key so could that indicate worn spark plugs? That somehow doesn't seem normal to me.

[Cheeseheadbob]

Welcome to the site and the car looks great! I spent some time in Paderborn during my Army days and drank about 10 million bottles of Paderborer Pils!:beer:

[MGDriver]

Welcome to the site and the car looks great! I spent some time in Paderborn during my Army days and drank about 10 million bottles of Paderborer Pils!:beer:
What a coincidence that you know of Paderborn! Even in Germany this town is very unknown let alone outside of it. We have a lot of British military presence here as remains from the cold war but I've never seen US military around, they are usually down south. When was the time you have been here? I will say Paderborn Pilsner has come a long way during recent years, the bad way unfortunately. Turned from a great quality beer into cheap piss for the homeless and junkies, sad to see.

[2,4shofast]

The beer I miss the most from my time in Europe is the Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse. I cant find it where I am living now, its a sad day.:depress:

[Cheeseheadbob]

I worked with the British Army from 1988-1992, so I was one of the very few American soldiers in the area. We were not usually in uniform in public, so it would have been difficult to know we were there. I lived in Munster, but made quite few trips your way via Chinook.

I hope you enjoy your ride as much as I did. Have fun! :burnout:
What a coincidence that you know of Paderborn! Even in Germany this town is very unknown let alone outside of it. We have a lot of British military presence here as remains from the cold war but I've never seen US military around, they are usually down south. When was the time you have been here? I will say Paderborn Pilsner has come a long way during recent years, the bad way unfortunately. Turned from a great quality beer into cheap piss for the homeless and junkies, sad to see.

[Marauder24]

Very clean ride.. Welcome to the family.

[MGDriver]

Thanks to a member over at CVN I got my free Carfax report today. It states 4 previous owners and a last reported odometer reading of 117.000 miles when it was exported, yes this gave me a heart attack at first since my current odometer reading is 86.000 until I realised Carfax changed the readings to kilometers upon export. That matches with the export paperwork that states 72.000 miles when it left US soil in November 2008. It was shipped via New York and Belgium to Germany and has only travelled 14.000 miles since it arrived in Europe.

The car was built June 4th, 2002 and delivered to Ricart Ford (http://ricartfordauto.com/) of Columbus, Ohio. They equipped it with keyless entry and an additional anti-theft system before it was sold to its first owner on June 29th.
Only 6 month later at the beginning of 2003 it was sold to Steve Austin's Auto Group (http://www.steveaustins.com/) of Bellefontaine, Ohio. They sold it again shortly after to the second owner but continued to service the car.
During 2006 and 2007 it was apparently sold again through the same dealer until it ended up with the vehicle exporter in 2008. It had 2 previous owners in Germany which would make me the 7th owner.

Now Carfax states the following underneath the report:


Dealers sometimes opt to take ownership of a vehicle and are required to in the following states: Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and South Dakota. Please consider this as you review a vehicle's estimated ownership history

Does this mean that the 2 dealerships which were involved with this car also count as owners or not? Also I'm considering to contact the 2 dealerships to see if they could possibly remember this car or had some information still archieved about it. I don't know how dealerships work in the States but do you think it would be worth giving it a try or am I wasting my time with that?



The beer I miss the most from my time in Europe is the Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse. I cant find it where I am living now, its a sad day.:depress:
I'm not sure if it's legal to ship beer to the states but otherwise I'm sure I could help you getting your hands on some of that again. ;)


I worked with the British Army from 1988-1992, so I was one of the very few American soldiers in the area. We were not usually in uniform in public, so it would have been difficult to know we were there. I lived in Munster, but made quite few trips your way via Chinook.

I hope you enjoy your ride as much as I did. Have fun! :burnout:
Since I've only started to exist in 1994, I think it is safe to say that we probably haven't met during the time of your deployment over here. Nonetheless if you ever happen to be around my general area again, let me know and you can have a go on the Autobahn in a Marauder! :)


Very clean ride.. Welcome to the family.
Thanks, happy to be part of it! Can only repeat what your signature says. I see you are in Florida, I spent my Easter vacation in the Orlando area every year, would be fantastic if I could get to meet a couple of local Marauderers while I'm out there!

[tbone]

I drove on the Autobahn in 1985. Unfortunately, it was in a 2 cylinder Subaru......:(

[tbone]

I think this was it.

[MGDriver]

I drove on the Autobahn in 1985. Unfortunately, it was in a 2 cylinder Subaru......:(

I've never even seen that thing before but it looks scary. I guess traffic wasn't nearly as bad and insane as it is today but it certainly takes some balls to drive on the Autobahn in that thing, I know I wouldn't.

[tbone]

I wasn't on long. I think I had it up to maybe 60. (mph)

[MGDriver]

Took the Marauder on its first cross continental roadtrip over to England to visit friends and family last week, an approximate 1000 mile round trip crossing through the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the English channel by ferry. The car behaved itself exceptionally well, so much more comfortable on the long distance than my Audi except from the fuel stops along the way as the Audi does it all on one tank. I didn't take many pictures as the weather was very sterotypical English so here's just one of it chilling together with my friends cars. We call it the 3 wild cats: Panther, Puma and Jaguar.

https://scontent-vie.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t31.0-8/10854468_803402583067778_28476 99370089913915_o.jpg

[Big Mercur]

Very Cool!! Welcome & you have a nice ride Sir!!!

[tbone]

Strange seeing a Marauder over there.....I like it.

[WhatsUpDOHC]

Strange seeing a Marauder over there.....I like it.
Agreed!!!!

[2,4shofast]

I love seeing a Marauder over in Europe! I have my 98 SHO over in Italy when I was there and everyone got a kick out of it, especially when I ran it with an exhaust dump up to 7200rpm.:burnout:

[MGDriver]

Thanks guys, we just got our first warm weekend as a taste of spring so I gave the Marauder its first bath and detail of the season, after that I went out and took a ton of pictures. Here's my favourite one of them behind our municipal airport.

I also got my build number certificate in the mail from WhatsUpDOHC as seen below... been a great weekend! :)

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t31.0-8/11021391_806684409406262_31403 93860684338982_o.jpghttps://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t31.0-8/11037370_806140516127318_93781 4222344078208_o.jpg

[Mr. Man]

A little late to the party but Welcome to MM.net.

If your MM is still on the OEM tune I would get in touch with Marty from Mo's Speed Shop (site vendor) and see if he can come up with a tune that will work with the LPG conversion and still satisfy the govt people. It may be possible to just re-flash the transmission tune and leave the engine alone. At a minimum this should make the MM more drivable and make your smile even bigger.

Also note if you drive the car on the Autobahn or a race track be aware that there may be a vibration that starts to be noticeable at 115mph or so. If you feel this DO NOT go any faster as you could lose a tail shaft or worse. The OEM drive shafts are not super balanced. Lots of info on the subject if you Google 'Marauder drive shaft issues'.

Again Welcome.

[tbone]

Great pic! :banana2:

I can't help but note that your wipers look pretty high. You can pop them off and lower them on their splined shaft. :burnout:

[Mebot]

Awesome pics man. Get some more photos posted. But with cool things in the background like alps, cuckoo clocks, Bavarian beer, etc....

[MGDriver]

Mr.Man, I have an SCT tune on my car already which came from the previous owner, this car was imported and converted by a local Mustang importer who used it as some kind of a service vehicle to pick customers up and those kind of things since you can't really do that in a Mustang. The tune I have on it is designed to work with the LPG system but that being said I'm always up for trying something new so maybe Marty could have a look into it, as a Marauder specialist he might be able to enhance it. The previous owner certainly knows his business when it comes to Mustangs, friend of mine is a satisfied customer of him for years, but I'm sure Marauders are quite a bit different to work with.
I haven't been brave enough to exceed my usual cruise speed of 100 mph on the Autobahn in this 2 ton behemoth yet although the tune removed the speed limiter. I've heard about this driveshaft issue, been in contact with another Marauder owner over here who had his driveshaft disintegrate from underneth him doing 145 mph on the Autobahn.

tbone, yes I always thought the wipers sat a bit high but wasn't sure if it's norm, how do I go about lowering them for the mechanically not so inclined? I also noticed you can't put them in an upright position as they would just hit the bonnet.

Mebot, truth be told I live in a very boring area out in the sticks, I'm 400 miles away from the Alps and those Bavarian things you mention. The only remotely interesting thing in my area that attracts tourists is a medieval castle that was used as a Nazi SS headquarter during and prior to WWII. Nowadays it houses a museum about that era and is always very busy but I to plan try take some pictures around there with the car sometime.