Of all the Panther platform cars Ford built over the years, the Mercury Marauder is certainly the enthusiast’s choice, given the fact that it came from the factory fitted with a host of performance upgrades – as well as a more sinister look. Not many Mercury Marauder models were produced in total either, which has made it quite the hot entity on the collector car auction circuit as of late, with many low-mile examples surfacing for sale. Now, this 2003 model with very few miles on the clock joins them.
This 2003 Mercury Marauder has just 4k original miles showing on the odometer, in fact, and is up for auction at Cars & Bids. As such, it doesn’t have too many flaws to note, save for the typical paint chips, creases in the leather upholstery, and a missing cigarette lighter (which has been replaced with an aftermarket unit), though there are signs that the front and rear bumpers have been refinished. Otherwise, the black paint looks to be in great shape.
Inside the cabin, one will find a host of amenities to accompany the leather upholstery, including power-adjustable seats and pedals, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, aluminum-style trim, automatic climate control, cruise control, and auxiliary AutoMeter gauges. Power comes from the naturally-aspirated Ford 4.6L V8, which in this guise was factory-rated to produce 302 horsepower and 318 pound-feet of torque and is mated to a four-speed automatic transmission.
This is certainly not the first low-mile Mercury Marauder that we’ve seen pop up for sale in recent months, however. That list also includes another pair of 2003 models – one with just 5k miles and another with 30k – as well as a 2004 with a mere 3k miles on the clock. Given how collectible these sedans were from the start, that isn’t terribly surprising, even if just around 11,000 were built in total.
Comments
You’d think … you’d think that with almost daily vintage Ford autos showing up for auction and the demand being good this would trigger some executive into thinking, Boss (meaning Farley) maybe we need to look at coming close to vehicles like this Mercury … the demand is seems is still there. And Farley, if you’re reading this … bring back the Mercury Family, to me it was the Oldsmobile (second behind Cadillac) as the next rungin the FMC Ladder. I was ready to move up to a Mercury model, which would have lead me to Lincoln … at least those made 20 years ago, there isn’t a Lincoln I’d buy anymore. Farley, buyers like me, with money to spend want a car like a ’69 or ’70 Lincoln Mark 5 … sorry but a SUV just won’t cut it. It I wanted a SUV I would not be searching for a Lincoln Mark 5 to restore as a daily driver. And while we’re at it, the good old Thunderbird would too be a great seller,as would a LTD in bother the Sedan an “oh my God” the humble Station Wagon.
Failure Farley could care less about how many of these sedans show up at auctions, I owned a 2004 model, drove it 143,000 miles then sold it once FoMoCo decided to stop production of sedans.
Your odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 100 million better than Ford ever producing this sedan again, since most of their executives are sedan-haters.