Howdy to all you Mercurymarauder.net fellows. I'm a regular poster over at CVNet and a Panther Club member for Utah, but I don't yet own a Marauder. One of the members of our local Panther club pointed me to this want ad, just posted, for a cherry 2004 Marauder sitting down in a barn in Kanosh, Utah... a tiny bug-splat of a town just off I-15 between the equally small burgs of Fillmore & Beaver. (That's what she said!) We kind of thought that all the fanboys should know about it, even though it is too rich for our blood. We both own LX Sports and while they're not Marauders, they're enough for us because we like to drive them, not store them.
Here's the local want ad.
https://cars.ksl.com/listing/7538088
Since I was travelling past Kanosh to Cedar City to pick up another car yesterday, I asked if I could stop and look at the car and get the story. I did so and here's what I learned.
This is a ONE OWNER Utah only car that belonged to a 65 year old lifelong bachelor with no heirs who spent all his money and time on FoMoCo products. This bachelor died unexpectedly leaving his estate trustee (who was his mechanic) to liquidate all his cars, which totalled over 30, including about a dozen Continentals from the 40's, 50's, and 70's. It has 20k miles and was meticulously serviced and driven very little. We can all see the good condition it is in, so I went looking with an eye particularly attuned to spot flaws, which is what a serious Marauder buyer will want to look for. Here's what I saw for myself in my cursory inspection.
To start, here's shot of the engine bay.
engine bay.jpg
It appears to me that it still has the original BFGoodrich tires and they are not fresh... who would expect 17 year old never changed rubber to be fresh, eh? Car only has 20,000 miles on it. Chrome wheels look to have no rash.
tires.jpg
I could only find 2 flaws in the paint, 1 tiny pinhead chip in the front hood and some hairline topcoat scratches that would probably buff out on the right rear bumper.
chip.jpgbumper.jpg
That's it for the exterior, on the interior I paid close attention to the leather condition as I recondition a lot of Vic, LTC and Marquis seats. This leather has no cracks, no worn spots, to rips, just some very light creases on the driver's left lower bolster, shown here.
seat lower.jpg
That's the worst of it. To the touch, I found only one panel, the right lower bolster, that felt a little dry and could use some Leather CPR cream, all the others were soft and supple. This was easily the best leather interior I've ever seen on Panther of this age.
The guys over at CVNet were very interested in any shots I could take of the underbody, since most of them are east coast guys where rust rot is an issue. It tends not to be a concern out here in the arid west. I did what I could to take some representative shots in the garage, but it was raining the day I was there and the farm is on a dirt road with a gravel driveway so we did NOT drive the car. I started it and tested every switch I could test and found no issues, but I didn't drive it.
Here are the underbody shots I took, make of them what you will.
underside 1.jpgunderside 3.jpgunderside 4.jpgunderside 5.jpg
I've no interest in the car, if any of you do, contact the guy on the linked ad directly. After our visit I told him to go search through the dead guy's paperwork to look for the window sticker and invoice, as well as his closet for the jacket. Who knows what he'll find?
One things for sure, it's the best Marauder I've ever seen. And shipping shouldn't be too bad since it sits right on I-15 near the I-70 juncture.
Good luck.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by 03Merc
BUCKWHEAT 03 MM 300A-August, '02 mfgr, black w/ blue metallic clearcoat, 94,000 miles, Texid stroker 5.0, #15 Kool-Aide w/ SnakeBite porting, Venom cooling, and upgraded to M122, 3873 of 7839