1997 Mercury Grand Marquis LS

[jaywish]

Just a thought. Maybe you could find a couple of flag blue panels for this car? It would match the front plate!

These cars do make for a nice drive.

Jay

[BigMerc96]

I love the Town Car for long trips. Its been on a few. Even with it in its current sad shape, I wouldn't hesitate to take it somewhere. My '98 is also good but GMQ seats just aren't as nice, except my '96 which had as-new seats because my Great-Aunt who bought that one new must have weighed all of 80lbs so she did nothing to them in her 73k miles of ownership. Upper trim Town Car seats (like my '97 Cartier) are like sitting on a nice leather glove that you sink into but is still supportive. That is why I would like to find '98-'02 Town Car seats with the center console/jump seat thing for storage.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

It’s one color again.


Wallet ain’t happy though.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Figured I should post up some "detail" shots from the garage just to show the color match. Obviously more can be seen during the day. When I picked it up, it was still in the building in a well lit bay, so I was able to do a very thorough look over. One thing I didn't catch before I left was a harness left disconnected. I went to make a right turn and got hyper flashing. I quickly found out nothing was illuminating on that side other than the headlight.

Luckily it's just a little harness right behind the corner light. Someone probably just got sidetracked and it took all of five minutes to pop out the corner light, so NBD.


FWIW, they did respray the inside of the fender along with doing the outside. It's a small touch that I really liked seeing.

Something to note is that this fender did come off of a 1993 Grand Marquis. 1992-1994 Aeros have fender mounted antennas, while '95-'97 (and essentially all the other years except '05s with their rear quarter panel ones) are in the glass. In my case, this left a hole, but surprisingly Ford did offer a antenna delete cap, most likely aimed at fleet Crown Victorias with a radio delete.



Ford P/N F2AZ-18919-C. They're still out there if anyone ever needs one. I can't say I've ever seen a Panther with this delete cap, so I was surprised when I did find one had been offered.

They blended the door and fender together and re-pinstriped that area. It's rather hard to tell where the blend starts and ends.





They did not blend the hood, but I'd say they did a really good job with the color match to the rest of the body given age and fade. Under the right light angle I can tell where the fender has a slight difference than the hood, but for the most part many people won't catch it and quite frankly it doesn't bother me since it's damn close.



I'll try and get day light pictures later on. I'm just happy to have my car back since they've had it since last week and they were closed Christmas.

[Mainemantom]

The Merc is looking nice. Good thing you could find the antenna plug.

[sly]

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Tossed in a fresh set of NGK spark plugs, then drove down to the salvage yard.

Got bumped along the way:












Really nothing too bad, but of course I said some inappropriate stuff inside the car right after it happened. The bumper did exactly what it was supposed to, and definitely surpassed its 5 MPH rating. I let off the brakes right and tried to get moving into the center turn lane before it happened so that helped a bit. I'd estimate speed around 10-15 MPH.

When I saw how minor it was, I wasn't too worried about it. The other driver and I swapped info and got back to our days. I've got no hard feelings against them. Shit happens and this was really minor.

I broke out the rubbing compound, polish, and wax and cleaned the area.






The cover already had scratches from luggage and such having brushed up on it, so I'm not really concerned. It looks fine unless you're right up on it. No sense in filing a claim on that.

[87gtVIC]

Could have been worse. Good end result. I have to ask why did they run into you?

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Could have been worse. Good end result. I have to ask why did they run into you?

Traffic was slowing down for a red light and stopped somewhat quick, so I was a bit harder on the brakes myself and came to semi-normal stopping distance (I felt I was a touch close) behind a Focus. The Hyundai had a gap, but like me, probably didn't expect to stop as quick, and the distance closed relatively quick. I looked back and saw it coming (they were hard on the brakes), so I let off the brakes, started cutting the wheel towards the turn lane, got on the gas and took the bump. If I didn't let off the brakes and turn into the lane, I would have been pushed into the Focus. If I stood on the brakes, I think the damage would have been worse. There was a truck behind the Hyundai that dove into the turn lane to avoid striking the Hyundai when I got bumped, so I figure this was the better of the options. I really need to get a rear facing dash cam. I've got a forwards facing one, but obviously all you have there is audio.

The car did two funny things after that. 1.) The wipers just came on. Didn't hit the MFS, they just went straight to Low. I had to turn them "on" by the switch, then back off. 2.) The bulb for the left signal indicator on the dash stopped working until I was almost home, then started working again like nothing happened.

[Mainemantom]

Glad that you were not hurt and the car was not really hurt.

[87gtVIC]

Definitely sounds like you saved yourself by paying attention to what was going on behind you.

[DerekTheGreat]

Definitely sounds like you saved yourself by paying attention to what was going on behind you.

This. Congrats on being aware and reacting to the situation. My butthole typically puckers when I'm in traffic that suddenly comes to a stop as I look in the rear view mirror, prepared to try and veer off.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Finally installed a receiver. Been meaning to do this for a while.





Install wasn't that bad. The slowest portion was drilling the 1/2" holes for the bolts closest to the bumper. I used the jack to hold the front portion against the frame after bolting the rear up so I could easily drill the holes. Then I let it down some and loosened the back a touch for final adjustment and to make it easier to get the front bolts aligned. The only tools I needed was a drill with a 1/2" bit and a 3/4" wrench.

Apparently Town Cars have it rough; the instructions were showing to remove the factory hangers and to use a separate kit for the rear exhaust hangers that attach to the receiver itself. No such issue on CV/GMQs, though.

I'll be picking up a transmission cooler and a flat 4 brake light plug-n-play harness soon. Hopefully I'll get started on installing my air ride swap once I get done with this semester. That'll give me more time to work on that project since it'll be an involved process.

[DerekTheGreat]

Shoulda got a Curt hitch, made in America. Not sure about Reese, probably Meh-Hee-Ko.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Replaced the worn tires today. Got some Kumho Solus TA11 225/70R15 tires. Plenty of grip and they do not feel like they have as much sidewall flexing like the Firestones did. I went with these because they had very good reviews on TireRack so I figured they were worth a shot. The white wall may be gone, but the extra benefits of a wider tire with better compound is worth the trade off.

Plenty of tread:


Back on the base model look:


I also got the shop to take the one good Firestone (about 60% tread) and have it mounted for the wagon’s spare. The wagon had a 23 year old Michelin that looked okay, but would not be trusted outside of maybe just letting the car sit on it.

All in all I now have a nice new set of matching tires, a new spare for the ‘97, and a good spare for the ‘87.