1984 Mercury Grand Marquis Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The 1984 Mercury Grand Marquis has been in my possession for less than two and a half months, so no insights on long-term reliability yet. I bought the car quite cheaply at 2,500 euros, but it took a few thousand more to make it roadworthy again. Most of that investment was spent on renewing the rear brake drums and shoes because the old ones had a bad case of rustout. Another substantial chunk of money went into fuel injection system rehab. That's the big problem with old vehicles with electronic systems. After decades of use, the complexity of such systems makes them expensive to repair and refit. Also, some of the parts necessary were hard to come by due to their scarcity. Now, everything is back in working order and the 302 CID V8 runs just fine. With a mere 140 horsepower, the tried-and true FoMoCo smallblock is not exactly dragstrip material, but neither is a car like the Grand Marquis. It's a cruiser designed to be driven quietly and conservatively as a great many retirees in Florida will tell you. They just loved the Grand Marquis down there. In some regions with a high retiree density, the Merc was the hottest seller on the market for many years. Handling and braking are of the comfort-focused variety, with zero encouragement for spirited driving. Fine with me. Anyone who buys a Grand Marquis (or its Panther platform stablemates, the Ford Crown Victoria and Lincoln Town Car) expecting sports car handling and performance is off his rocker. I haven't tried out the Merc so far, but 0-60 times of approx. 13 seconds and a top speed just short of 100 mph seem fitting and quite adequate for me. My Grand Marquis is the top-of-the-line LS version with everything except hot and cold running water and - surprise - all the goodies work, even after 30 years. Time has been rather kind to my Mercury, there's no visible rust and the interior looks and feels good overall. The seats still offer plenty of support and comfort. The only defective items are/were some small sections of the headliner that have begun to sag and the pull strap on the driver's side door, which has been replaced with a hard-to-find NOS part. Speaking of the interior, here's the one item that is a bit of a letdown: Space utilization. It's simply amazing how a car as big as the Grand Marquis (length 214 inches/5436 mm, width 77.5 inches/1968 mm, wheelbase 114.3 inches/2903 mm) can offer so little interior space, particularly front and rear legroom. I'm 6'4" and fit behind the steering wheel only moderately well even with the front seat all the way back. Trunk space is also quite small for a car this size. All of this should come as no surprise to me because one of my previous cars, an even larger 1973 Chevrolet Impala Custom Coupe offered not an inch more interior space than the Grand Marquis. Ironically, when the Panther platform cars debuted for the 1979 model year, they were touted for their - guess what - efficient space utilization. Their predecessors, the gargantuan full-size 1973-78 Fords, Mercurys, and Lincolns were no bigger and, in some instances, even smaller inside. Well, that's the way it was in the old days. Maybe buyers didn't notice because people were shorter back then. On the other hand, my everyday driver, a 1995 Buick Park Avenue, is awash with space, which proves the well-known point that the US automobile industry CAN build efficient cars if they really want (or have) to. In spite of the Merc's particular shortcoming, I'm enthused about my new ride. Maybe it's because the Panther platform cars are truly the last of the breed, the last genuine American cars with traditional body-on-frame construction, a solid rear axle, rear wheel drive and a V8 up front. FoMoCo stuck to that formula longer than anybody else and they deserve credit for that, in my opinion. After all, Panther platform cars were built from 1979-2011. Wow. Well, spring's here and I can't wait to take the Grand Marquis out. Time to show people over here what a real car looks like.Apr 19, 2014

I love this car, I've never owned a better on.a friend of mine rebuit the motor in 2011. It now has 180,00 miles on the whole car but 25,000 on the motor. tranny is great shifts like a dream. I am a single mom and I go everywhere in this car with my kids, most people fear this car for some reason, Lol. This car is a tank it's big and rides like a dream.Sep 28, 2013