Well-Preserved 1996 Mercury Villager GS Up For Auction

There was a time, not too long ago, when minivans were all the rage, and the preferred method of family transportation. Things have changed, however, as folks gravitate toward crossovers and SUVs, and today, there aren’t many minivans on sale at all. During the minivan’s heyday, the Mercury Villager hung around for roughly a decade after it debuted as a joint-venture product of Ford and Nissan – sharing much in common with the Quest. Today, we don’t see many Mercury Villager vans around, but this very nice example just popped up for sale.

This 1996 Mercury village GS is currently up for auction at Bring a Trailer with 77k miles on the clock, and it certainly looks like it’s been well taken care of over the years. The Toreador Red example with Light Sandstone-finished lower-body panels has lived its entire life in California, and looks no worse for wear on the outside, touting features like a passenger-side sliding door, tinted rear windows, and aluminum 15-inch wheels wrapped with mixed tires at both ends.

Inside, one will find a rather tidy interior with Saddle cloth covering front seats, along with second- and third-row benches. Amenities include a power-adjustable driver seat, cruise control, an AM/FM/cassette stereo with a CD changer, and air conditioning with rear controls, plus power windows, locks, and mirrors.

Power for this van comes from the naturally-aspirated 3.0L V8, which was factory-rated to produce 151 horsepower and 174 pound-feet of torque, flowing to the front wheels via a four-speed automatic gearbox. Braking duties are handled by anti-lock front discs and rear drums.

This is the first time we’ve seen a nice Mercury Villager surface for sale at a collector car auction, but other models from that same brand are a common sight. That includes more than a few Sable sedans, such as this very nice 1996 model that just landed at auction last month.