A lot of owners don’t realize the track width changed in ‘03(?) which required different offset wheels. I’ll see a newer one on ‘02 or older wheels and they stick out of the fenders, and older ones wearing newer wheels and they’re tucked waaaay under. Patrick These wheels look great on this but look stupid on the newer ones.
Wow, that is not too far from where I live. The car looks good and the price is nice. Good thing I have no room in my garages because that is really tempting.
Too funny! Not the ball joints failure but the pic i'm showing.. I wish this had more options than of just "like" a post. Years ago in the 90's I drove "briefly" a 1984? Marquis "WAGON that was RED" and people thought I was a cop! I like the CV/PI but now remembering that Ford might of sent them down the line with all possible heavy duty options like the radiator and suspension but they were specialized by private shops. 5 or 10 years ago when they were still around I might of bought one and regretted it..
These were my first choice but I cannot swing the move. Brad C also has a beauty he showed me in Ohio and I can't swing that one Its more about the moving costs involved.. Is that a sbc powering it?
All the round body style B and C body GMs were chevy powered. Up through ‘93 they were pretty tame, but ‘94-‘96 got the iron headed LT-1. They made 260 hp and would run in the 15s. Impala SS, Roadmonster and Fleetwood got that engine while some Caprices got a 4.3 liter version (still a v8). They were fired by the Optispark distributor and it’s the weak link on them. Patrick https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a33498771/tested-1994-buick-roadmaster/
Never had one of the big Mercs, but we had an '86 Town Car that we loved. The only significant issue we had was that at about 145,000 miles it blew a brake line. The brake lines run along the top of the frame. You either have to lift the body or relocate the lines. The engine and transmission were flawless: there was a service bulletin on the torque converter, but it never gave us any trouble. Rodman Lincoln Mercury in Foxboro, MA replaced it for free. I loved the car - we sold it at about 165,000 miles; the new owner gave it to his mother in Florida and he drove it from Massachusetts to Florida, His mother drove it for four years and then traded it in on a new Toyota in that stupid "cash for clunkers" program. A real shame.
Cash for Clunkers removed a LOT of good running cars from the market and queered up used car prices for years. Combine that with the subsequent CAFE requirements and you get little cars that trade reliability and serviceability for every last mpg. People bought them hoping to save money only to realize the money they saved on fuel won’t pay for the Powershi(f)t tranny or turbo 1.nothings that grenaded themselves in their penalty box cars. I’m honestly surprised that the Grand Ma(rquis) aren’t being snatched up faster. They’re the last great car for the thrifty. Patrick
Ok, I bought the car today, thanks for the tips and info everyone. Started to rain a 1/2 hour before I got to see the car and on top of that my kidney started to act up and I was miserable. I did a little peeking underneath and all looked very solid for a car that lived in MA it's whole life. Offered $2,000 from the start and the guy accepted, wasn't really in the mood to bargain anyways and the price was fair for both. It is a cloth seat non crazy optioned car which is good. It had the manual AC/heat switches which is good. Road tight and smooth and other than the faded paint on the trunk it did seem well cared for. Steel wheels with hubcaps and living in a city thats loaded with pot holes it's a plus. Now the dreaded insuring and registering that will take a week probably. I left it at the sellers house as I can't park a unregisterd car where I live now. Time will tell..
The big full-frame Fords (same as Mercury) are still being used as police cruisers. Considering that the last CV was built in 2012, this is amazing. I know that in Massachusetts, the Staties usually kept their cruisers for about two years. The older troopers love the Vics and don't want to give them up. There is a company in California (Wild Rose Motors) that specializes in rebuilding Crown Vic Police Interceptors for police departments. These were really good cars; that is coming from someone who isn't a big Ford fan.
Had one as my sales car and put 120K on it with little issues. The Aurorama heat and air control went out and works off the vacuum. Easy to replace control and around $250 back then, had to go through two controllers before I found a good one. I think these are all reman parts as there is a core charge. A new alternator, tensioner and belt was all I ever did to it. Paint peeling really bad but car served me well.
One other item that I forgot about! The windshield wiper will fail to park the wipers in the down posirion. They still work ok, but it just looks dorky. You can replace the segment of the wiper stuff, but It doesn't list under the Grand Marquis. You'd have to get the part for a same year Crown Vic. NEVER MIND!!! They changed the design in 2003...
Thanks for the heads up.. I would say 1/2 of the top of trunk is peeled. It also had been repainted at some point because of peeling I was told, I don't know if all of it was painted as I haven't looked at the papers with some invoices that he gave me. Why would the re paint peel? bad primer from the start? Had the brakes re done and still had a soft petal, so the master cylinder was replaced around 2 weeks ago and have the bill for it. Fingers crossed..
I used to work on a few of these back in the day.. They had the normal front end troubles- ball joints, tie rods etc. They are decent platforms and no worse for repair needs than anything else on the road. The worst issue I would see was the frames would rot out behind the front wheels. IIRC, right behind the inner wheel well where the frame turned 90° to go back. It was surprising as the rest of the car would still look relatively decent. Beyond that I'd be leary of it having all new brake lines with the body in that condition. It indicates to me that the car might have been patched up before.
Hmm, I did not really look well at the front part of the frame Was more concerned about the back. I can't get to the car for a few days and probably to late to back out>>
Wipers not parking easy fix, just did this on my 99' MGM.........Didn't have to make anything just clean and lube the piece that slides.
Hmm- Of all my years working at a Ford dealer back then, (18 years as Parts Manager) I've never heard of that. Also, good to know...
I never had any rust issues with any of our three Town Cars. This is in New England. Never had any wiper issues either. Never had any ball joint issues with the '88 (a different car then the '92) or the '92, but did have to replace them on the '95 due to squeaking. They were not loose however. The '88 and '92 had grease fittings on the ball joints, the '95 had new "improved" ball joints without them. I installed Moog joints that did have zerk fittings and never had another issue. I really liked these cars. A fringe benefit was that they did really well on gas on the highway.
