1972 Mercury Marquis Brougham

Description

When was the last time you saw an early Mercury Marquis? Ford's intermediate brand focused on luxury, and it would be OK to look at this 1972 Mercury Marquis as a bargain-priced Lincoln. Massive, black, and powered by a giant V8 engine, it is a true American land yacht. And since it's lived its entire life with the same family, it's been very well maintained and shows just 55,653 original miles.

Basic black is always a good choice on a luxury sedan, but in 1972, not many people chose it. There were, of course, plenty of browns, beiges, and greens, which makes this one stand out without shouting about it. The paint is original and still looks quite good for being 46 years old, offering a decent shine and only modest signs of use and age. Not perfect, but certainly a dignified car in middle age and you could probably buff out a pretty good shine with some elbow grease. It's truly massive and the design language is a neat mix of Ford and Lincoln, which suits its spot in the lineup just fine. There's a lot of chrome, of course, and it accentuates the squared-off nose and long flanks without looking over-done. Hidden headlights were still a thing in 1972 and the hood ornament looks an awful lot like Lincoln's cross, which was surely intentional. There's a black vinyl top to add some formality and for being original, it's shockingly nice. Most of the chrome is good to excellent aside from the grille between the taillights, which is showing its age.

The red brocade fabric interior is just beautifully preserved and a great contrast to the black paint. Yes, there's a little fading on the carpets, which is all but inevitable where red is concerned, but you'll note the wonderful diamond-pleated seating surfaces are just fine and show no splits or tears. Likewise, the door panels and dash pad are not cracked or dried out and even the steering wheel shows no signs of deterioration. Ford's familiar square gauges give a basic view of the hardware, but this is a luxury car, not a sports car, so what do you really need? It's loaded with features like A/C (needs to be serviced), power seat, power windows, cruise control, tilt column, remote mirrors, and an AM/FM stereo radio. Rear seat space is massive, as is the trunk, which still carries its original carpe set and a spare tire assembly with jack.

Ford's mighty 429 cubic inch V8 provides motive force and it's pretty impressive. Even though smog rules had taken the edge off all engines, the 429 remained effortless in the Marquis. It's nearly silent, pulls like an electric motor, and simply goes about its business without calling any attention to itself. And with so few miles, it's in excellent condition and runs great. Turn the key and it fires easily and there's some evidence of routine maintenance throughout the engine bay. You could spend a weekend tidying things up and this would be one heck of a preservation class car, too! The C6 3-speed automatic transmission shifts unobtrusively and with towering highway gears in the 9-inch rear end, it's a car just built for road trips. The undercarriage is original but tidy, having never seen winter weather and it sits on big whitewall radials that help with the pillow-soft ride.

This is a lot of sheetmetal for the money, and it's an unusual car in nice original condition. Altogether, that makes for an easy way to get into the hobby. Call today!