My 1987 Mercury Colony Park

[TecNickal]

I already texted you plenty of profanity. Do we need to arrange for a tow of this persons vehicle to a a non-local tow yard for the inconvenience he's caused? Remove plate and claim abandoned vehicle?

Seriously that bothers the hell out of me. Sorry man.

I know a place that you can get a tail gate - it may not be a Mercury version but this junkyard is full service and is in Batesburg. They have like an 83-84 Country Squire and they have a similar year Colony Park but its tail gate is long gone.

Also I checked car-part.com and I see tailgates are readily available from $100-300 - so long as you're willing to drive.

I think he owes you a tail gate and gas money to go get the one you want.

There's a nice one in NC with pictures that's from an 87...

https://cpprohomeky.car-part.com/image?seller=2469&partGUID=5611557B-D765-4F53-92CC-338D6BF49B52&vehicleGUID=2ED96E46-86E6-4417-9806-39BFDADA5029&display=1987%20Mercury%20Marquis%20Grand%20Lid%2FGate%20Assembly-Stock%23%20021602

And the more I look at the pic, the more I agree - just find another one. They are out there. and a 2x4 with hammer can address in interim. Use the bashed tailgate for scrap metal.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I already texted you plenty of profanity. Do we need to arrange for a tow of this persons vehicle to a a non-local tow yard for the inconvenience he's caused? Remove plate and claim abandoned vehicle?

Seriously that bothers the hell out of me. Sorry man.

I know a place that you can get a tail gate - it may not be a Mercury version but this junkyard is full service and is in Batesburg. They have like an 83-84 Country Squire and they have a similar year Colony Park but its tail gate is long gone.

Also I checked car-part.com and I see tailgates are readily available from $100-300 - so long as you're willing to drive.

I think he owes you a tail gate and gas money to go get the one you want.

There's a nice one in NC with pictures that's from an 87...

https://cpprohomeky.car-part.com/image?seller=2469&partGUID=5611557B-D765-4F53-92CC-338D6BF49B52&vehicleGUID=2ED96E46-86E6-4417-9806-39BFDADA5029&display=1987%20Mercury%20Marquis%20Grand%20Lid%2FGate%20Assembly-Stock%23%20021602

And the more I look at the pic, the more I agree - just find another one. They are out there. and a 2x4 with hammer can address in interim. Use the bashed tailgate for scrap metal.

The one in Batesburg doesn't sound bad distance wise. Since this thing doesn't have wood grain, donor model be damned since I plan to paint it with the current colors. Emblems can be swapped. It's not wearing the Grand Marquis ones (which would have been destroyed if it was), which just means the 'Mercury' script needs to come off. Only thing that would be missing is the high mount brake light, but that won't really bother me. Enough cars have burnt out ones around here, so it being completely absent won't hurt a thing.

A little bit of metallic dark brown and gold/bronze color, and bam, straight tailgate and paint that couldn't be any worse than the rest of it. Only draw backs I've got is time to go get that stuff. School Mon-Thurs and work possibly any given day. I'd gladly pay someone to grab a tailgate and for their time and effort to get it (given the pricing for the tailgate is reasonable).

We could probably paint/hang that tailgate on a Saturday whenever nothing is happening. For now, I'll try to bang the existing one into shape. I doubt I'll be happy with my inspection tomorrow. I'll be more pissed if I find the window guides are messed up and it can't be rolled down. That is a feature I find convenient.

This also isn't the first car that has taken a strike from him either. The lady (the family friend) who lives here had her Accord backed into as well. He got it on the corner of the passenger side bumper which pushed it in and creased the trunk lid. I was able to pop that bumper cover out and straighten the lip of the trunk a bit. I guess careless backing is a habit that dies hard.

[Mainemantom]

Tailgate looks pretty bad. Time for a replacement. Have you checked to see if a "skin" is available ? If you replace the whole thing, I would save as many parts from the damaged tailgate as possible. Spare parts come in handy.
Hand the guy who is staying at the house a bill for the damage. After damaging two vehicles, he would not be staying there anymore unless he pays the damages.

[knucklehead0202]

Bummer on the tailgate buddy, but at least it isn't your whole front end...

[dmccaig]

Dear OP,

That third taillight space works good for a rear window wiper. Be sure to save low mileage hinges and latch mechanism.

Donald McCaig

[Kodachrome Wolf]

This thing is toast:


Creased from the upper trim straight down to the bottom lip. The window rolls down about half way before it starts binding on the left side. I had to pull it up some with my hand to get it going again. Opening the tailgate is out of the question. You can get it about 4 inches before it catches on the body. It does have some sag, so if you lift on it from the bottom, you can get about an extra inch, but the trim at the bottom catches on the body. It'll have to be bent out of the way to get it to open.

On the plus side, a donor tailgate should hopefully be sourced on Saturday. Nick is going to see about swinging by the full service place, so we will see how that plays out. I should be getting compensated for the costs from the guy that hit it. As long as the replacement tailgate is straight for the most part, things should be just fine again. A minor delay, but at least it'll be back on track for doing all the other things interior related that is planned.



Besides the tailgate stuff, I changed the oil and swapped in the replacement wiper switch. Still no wiper action, and just the washer pump functions when the lever is pulled. I need to get a voltmeter on that area soon.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Nick, I can't thank you enough!

Nick scored me a replacement tailgate from an early Country Squire:


I know the trim is different, but I'll paint it to look like the existing style. Eventually all the wood trim bits will go away, but for now I'll work with it. I'm going to try and get some work done on it next week.

Nick, thanks again!

[jaywish]

At least it looks like the chrome can be swapped in place of the ford "wood" trim.

[87gtVIC]

Nice! Good luck with the swap.

[gadget73]

Never been a fan of the Ford trim honestly. That plastic shrink wrapped woodgrain always goes to hell and it looks foolish. The Mercury chrome and wood inlay trim looks better and holds up better long term.

[pantera77]

Never been a fan of the Ford trim honestly. That plastic shrink wrapped woodgrain always goes to hell and it looks foolish. The Mercury chrome and wood inlay trim looks better and holds up better long term.

Completely agree, the merc trim is so much better.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Never been a fan of the Ford trim honestly. That plastic shrink wrapped woodgrain always goes to hell and it looks foolish. The Mercury chrome and wood inlay trim looks better and holds up better long term.

Completely agree, the merc trim is so much better.

I wouldn't mind swapping the trim pieces, but I'm not one for wanting to put holes into the new panel. I know the trim at the bottom of the Mercury good has little holes for where little bolts go to hold it in place in combination with those trim retainers. I'll have to think about it since it wouldn't be there forever. The eventual plan would be to have the car painted (most likely a few years down the road), but the two tone job would be dropped and the trim work that surrounded the wood grain would be deleted and any mounting points and holes would be filled and smoothed.

I will be attempting to generally match up the two tone so the replacement panel doesn't stick out too bad. I've seen a dark color called Cordovan Brown which could be used where the wood was, but replicating "sunburnt old gold/bronze paint" will be the fun part. There's some sandy gold colors I've seen that could be close to match the faded stuff, but I've also seen a color called Camel that looked like the stuff on the hood.

Should be interesting to see how close I can get it.

[87gtVIC]

I hear of people always suggesting bringing in a piece of the car they want to get paint for and having the place scan it with some fancy machine and then they can mix up a batch of paint and in some cases even place it in a convenient aerosol can for you. I just have trouble finding those places though the idea sounds super appealing. May be something worth putting some effort looking into for your camel/sandy beige paint. No idea what piece of the car you can easily remove and bring inside for the 'procedure" at the paint shop...Maybe hack off a piece of the old tailgate???

Whatever comes of the situation nothing will match anyways. lol

[gadget73]

The fuel fill door would do for that. Fairly small and easy to remove.

[87gtVIC]

That would definitely solve one of the two colors he is after.