In the summer of 1978, Ford and Chrysler were planning to make their full-size cars smaller. This caused some buyers to act quickly and buy what was widely (and rightly) thought to be the last truly huge land yachts in Detroit. This Mercury was built near the end of the model run and was hidden when a dealer principal bought it. Since then, it’s been kept by private people. It looks brand new and is a throwback to the days when bigger was better. Right now, it shows less than 200 kilometers. This 153-mile 1978 Mercury Grand Marquis arrived at an Ohio Lincoln-Mercury store around the same time that Frankie Valli’s “Grease” became the number one song in the charts. It’s a time capsule of landboat life during the “malaise” era. It has been kept in private collections. During that time, it was only driven four miles a year. This car, which is 46 years old, is like brand new; these kinds of cars aren’t made anymore. This disco-era dreadnought is now for bid on Bring A Trailer, which is owned by Hearst Autos and Invoice Pricing. Recent maintenance was performed on it, and it is now ready to be used. It has a lot of problems, as does every car with very low mileage. Would you drive it or keep it in beautiful, out-of-time condition? What makes someone want to damage a car on purpose in this way? Even though the second one is easier to understand, the buyer picks the first one. Most likely inspired by the same longing for the past that led to Grease. By the time this car was made at Ford’s plant in Saint Louis in June 1978, all Ford and Mercury dealers knew that budget cuts were coming. Ford was finally ready to meet General Motors’ reduction in full-size cars for the 1977 model year. That fall, they released what are now called “Panther” cars. The Chrysler shops that were having trouble were in the same boat. As of June, some sellers were calling their LTDs, Marquises, and New Yorkers “the last of the big ones.” How much? This Grand Marquis has a 460-cubic-inch V-8 engine, weighs 4400 pounds, and is 229 inches long from bow to stern. Today, the 5900-pound BMW i7 seems very light next to that, but back then, it was heavy metal. When it came out in 1973, this full-size Mercury was already bigger than the one that came before it. Impact bumpers and style cues based on Broughams slowly brought out the car’s length and width. The Grand Marquis was launched in 1975 as the brand’s new flagship car. It was meant to compete with mainstream cars that had more “near luxury” features. These kinds of cars were clearly on their way out and would never come back in the world of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules after OPEC. This is one reason to think about buying one as an investment. You can’t say enough about how popular these cars were in the 1970s, especially after OPEC. The deal did get some people to buy a big boat before the shipyard shut down, though. For Ford, the LTD/Mercury Marquis generation is the second most popular car platform of all time, after the Model T. More than 7.8 million cars, including Lincoln Continental and Mercury models, were made. About 53,000 Grand Marquis cars were sold in 1978, which is almost three times as many as were sold in 1975. It was Mercury’s best-selling car type. Also, it was almost as fancy as the Lincoln Continental across the showroom. This car’s unusual setup was probably ordered by the shop that sold it, Ron Rush Lincoln-Mercury. It had a $132 leather delete option, so it had the very 1970s-looking velour and cut pile carpet, both in dove gray to match the outside. Some of the nearly $2,000 choices were air conditioning, an 8-track Quadrasonic music system, and the huge 460 V-8 engine (a 400-cid unit came standard). Sadly, the rare de Sade package was not one of them. It needs to be clarified how this happened, but the car has a sticker from a different shop in Indiana called Tom Roush Ford. The 460, even though it was big, only made 202 horsepower. However, its 348 pound-feet of torque was enough to pull a 7,000-pound trailer. It’s clear that these cars are made to make trips more comfortable, but would you drive one? This car is safe to drive, but like all 46-year-old cars, it may have age-related problems you will notice once you put more miles on it. Cars need daily exercise to stay healthy, just like people do. Of course, there’s the important question that all cars with very low mileage have: Would you want to use it? One of the things that makes it so desirable is that it is so rare. This huge guy could make a really fancy piece that you only use once in a while, but cars are meant to be enjoyed. If you want to take the last of the big ones with you, you have to bid before July 2.
