This is from a time when people weren't in such a hurry. A smooth, comfortable, isolated, easy drive is all I would ever want on my way back from the office to the suburbs.
Exactly. Most people now don't remember when you drove large vehicles gently. So what if the ride was like a marshmallow? The cars were supposed to be that way.
I bought a brown 1974 Mercury Marquis that was for sale in Taylor, MI around 1990. We called this Merc "The Tank." This was our second car that I sued as my to-from work car. Car was equipped with a 460 that got 11-12 MPG around town and 15-16 MPG on the e-way. Aside from normal maintenance and tires, The Tank did not give us any issues. Sold The Tank around 1999. Some days, I miss The Tank.
@@JazzzRockFuzion Alas, my 1971 is a NY 4 dr sdn. I also have a 1960 NY 2 dr htp, and a 1973 NYB 4 dr htp. do you know which year is the first for the Brougham ?
Another example of "cost cutting" on the 1975-78 big Ford & Mercury cars was replacing the separate "oil" and "temp" warning lights with a single "engine" warning light.
My dad bought a 1976 Olds Delta 88 Royal hard top. It had plush seating as well and the hood looked like the deck of an aircraft carrier, and we called it our land yacht. It was one of the nicest cars we owned and we drove it for 20 years. My sister then got the car and drove it for another 10 years.
Beautiful! My first car was a Mercury Montego in this same color and roof combo , and many shared parts, the brougham medallion on the C pillar, steering wheel, shift lever, chrome trim down the front fenders, but rear end and most other parts a collection of pieces from Cougar and Torino siblings . As a "Mercury Montego MX Brougham", it would have been just a notch below a base Marquis, what they'd call a "near luxury" car. And although considered a "midsized" it presented as a very large car, with long Mark IV style power done hood and narrow grille. Drove it cross country with my dad at 14, and it was my car throughout highschool when my parents got a new LeSabre. It didn't seem cool at the time, my friends called it a boat, most of them had Monte Carlos , Cutlasses, Thunderbirds and Camaros and the Volkswagen boys had a club, but my big brown boat was the vehicle of choice to take eight of us to Burger King for lunch!
And I'll add that on that cross-country trip it often got more than 20 miles per gallon, (albeit the speed limit was 55, it did work for saving gas!) ;)
Thanks 👍, back when the Marquis came out, Car and Driver magazine said they should have come out with a "Marquis de Sade " model 🤣🤣. Always enjoy your videos. Thanks again.
Enjoy C&D but they have a singular preference for everything driving and riding like a race car. Like someone else mentioned, there is a reason so many people are buying body on frame 4 door luxury pickups now.
What memories! My uncle had a baby blue model for years. He said it was the best ride ever helped by the plush "sofa like" seats. Thank you for another wonderful trip.
Very good lead-in point from Adam about many automotive 'journalists' completely missing the point of this car's purpose and place in the market. I can remember reading Consumer Reports whining in the early 80s about the handling of the Lincoln Continental ......apparently their staff were too dense to comprehend that no one bought that car for handling. Nobody cared.
As a high schooler in the early 70s, a friend’s dad had a ‘72 Grand Marquis Brougham sedan. I got to ride in it on a road trip from SoCal to Arizona. I remember being so impressed by the comfortable ride. (Our family had a ‘67 Dodge Dart at the time.) What a great highway cruiser that big Merc was!
As much as I respect the Dart and Valiant for their high reliability and day to day practicality, you could not find a better road trip car than a big Mercury.
Well…this channel helped me get thru the pandemic by rekindling my love of cars and here I still am….Videos like this are the reason…You’re a walking encyclopedia of automotive mechanics and history…Wish I knew 10% of what you do…Carry on.
My father had this precise exact car in 1986 when I was 11 years old and I was soooo embarrassed to be seen in. Currently today at age 48, I'd give my left arm to have this in my driveway.
As the long- time owner of a '73 4-door Brougham, I can certainly vouch for Adam's opinions here! I think the only road tester of the day who understood this car was "Uncle" Tom McCahill of Mechanix Illustrated. I, too, truly enjoy driving and riding in this car-- it is just so smooooth and quiet. My particular example has the self-leveling rear air suspension, which I think enhances the experience even further.
I was 15 years old when my father brought home a new 1973 Cadillac Coupe de Ville in Autumn of 1972, St Tropez Blue Firemist Metallic. GM cars this era were crisper handling than the FoMoCo cars, but more supple than the Mopars. It was a huge car with outsize dimensions. I turned 16 in January 1973 and learned to parallel park in that car. Steering and braking had a predictable response. you could hear the whoosh of bumps as the car glided over them, you didn't really feel them. It had tilt/telescope steering wheel, climate control, Twilight Sentinel automatic headlights, AM/FM four speaker signal seeking stereo, electric locks and windows, dual outside mirrors and rear window de-icer. Parking brake auto released when you put the car in gear. Interior was white leather with deep blue carpets and door trim. Engine was the Cadillac 472 cubic inch 4 barrel. 1973 was the first year that radial tires were standard on most GM cars. Cadillac instrument panel also featured white pointers for speedometer and shift indicator. Also worth mentioning is 1973 was the last year for Cadillac Coupes to have working back seat side window glass. It was a true hardtop. They became fixed the following year.
@@61rampy65 I always enjoyed reading his columns at Mechanix Illustrated during the 1960s and 1970s.. He also had written a book that dealt with cars and driving, especially long distance that I had.. The book was from 1964 or so..
I agree 100% with you about the padding! I wish they would put more padding IN the actual seats of new cars. I love the heated seats but we need softer seats, those of us with back issues that is. Congratulations on your beautiful rides~ so many awesome memories of those models. Love from Memphis, TN!~
Great overview of a long lost era of luxury cars. I remember seeing that deep dish trunk on a '69 Galaxie. And that "Ford brown" was around for decades - a classic old man's color scheme. Thanks very much.
Edsel had body color wheel covers in '58. My '58 Citation had them. I had 2 '73 Mercury Marquis Broughams. A pillared 4 door hardtop I bought in 1981 when I was in high school. Some would laugh at the car, but I came out of a '71 Ford LTD and love big full sized cars especially FoMoCo products. I didn't give a crap what buff books thought about these cars. Car and Driver was bird cage lining. I would find a 4 door hardtop in 2002 . I also had a '78 Marquis Brougham in the 90's. great cars.
These cars are magnificent to this day. Especially this colour combo. And this comes from a guy who has never favoured browns. But even back then I always loved these cars in brown with loads of chrome. Nice car.
I got to ride in the back seat of a new 1973 Mercury Marquis Brougham 2 door, triple dark green with vinyl seats. I loved it. I hated the way Car and Driver and Motor Trend would criticize these awesome cars.
As European imports gained market share (particularly Mercedes and BMWs), car reviewers became enamored with handling, road feel, and fully independent suspensions and judged American cars as unrefined and behind the times accordingly. Consumer Reports was probably the most vocal in such comparisons. But in a large nation with a great interstate highway system, people who had to do a lot of traveling for business much preferred our “land yachts” during long journeys. With the age of our roads and not the greatest infrastructure maintenance, it’s a wonder cushioned rides have not made a resurgence.
Car reviews came from absolute praising to criticism (speaking of US cars) anyway because they're not "your typical consumer"; in the end those're regular people who chose handling and smart space utilization.
@@jamesengland7461 Indeed. GM and Ford, especially. Both of them were already producing and selling vehicles in Europe that were designed for that market and should have been a simple and inexpensive decision to import some of them instead of reinventing the wheel with cars like the Pinto and Vega, neither of which improved American carmakers’ reputations.
Of the cars I've owned, the most comfortable and smooth-riding car was my 1975 Cadillac Sedan DeVille. That is until the rear springs started sagging. Then it didn't ride so nice. A close second was my 1974 Miller-Meteor Criterion ambulance (Cadillac chassis). I drove it across country when I first bought it, and then on trips from NJ to Chicago, Tennessee, Long Island, etc. I absolutely loved it. It was a one-owner original and ran and drove like new. This was in 1997-98. Anyway, I believe that car had a diecast grille, now that you mention it. I really like that Mercury. This makes me want to own one.
I have such a soft spot for big luxury 2 doors😊. Interesting that when you said , back in the day, it was described as a “ dinosaur “ as a synonym for obsolete and when I think about that is exactly right. Old engineering, inefficient & practically no safety standards......This wouldn’t be fun to park or put fuel in as daily driver ....but it’s also a fantastic representation of a bygone era & nowadays we all know now “ dinosaur” used to be an insult but now it’s a complement . Sure it’s massive, impractical but above all else its really frickin cool😅
You are so right, Adam. The automobile reporters of the day seemed to hate all the big American cars of the time. I was only in high school during this era, but the motor magazines angered me with thier reporting. I loved all these big cars! I loved smooth comfortable and quiet. They seem to love rough, hard with engine noise.
The automotive press writers were mostly younger guys that were performance oriented.. They didn't care for the package of the era and they let it be known in no uncertain terms. But they were exactly what millions of American drivers wanted. After a day at work, they wanted something calm comforting and restful, not getting bounced around in a canyon carver.
Never owned a Mercury, but I always wanted one, you can tell dennis on mcc loves 'em. Had a '76 Bonneville Brougham, my father even took the huge coil springs from a Grand Ville, and swapped them in. I can relate to this, smoothest ride I've ever had, noticed no bumps , smaller potholes, seams in road, you just glide down the road. Night & day compared to what we drive now. "Comfort lounge"😊sounds similar to my high school ride
Adam, I'm glad you let it flex its muscles a little bit!! I never was able to put 2 and 2: together about the raised belt line combined with the low cut on the roof. But it gives it that muscle look. That 429 sure would like some dual exhaust! 😊
A modern Grand Marquis with the handling & performance package feels like a Mustang compared to this big beauty. These things just float like a cloud. Don't have to slow down over speed bumps or railroad tracks but you do have to slow down for curves & turns, as you should. Love em!
While I might lean GM, it's impossible not to drool while looking at this fine machine. All of your full size Mercury cars of this generation are stunners, inside and out. I love that Ford was willing to make cars with the sole purpose of comfort during this period. What a great car for Americans on the move. Put me down as a fan of the deep well Ford trunks. And those wheel covers are so handsome! This car is great!!! Thanks for sharing another from your fleet. That wood grain on the dash almost perfectly matches a similarly vintage alarm clock I have. I think it looks pretty nice.
My cousin bought had one of these, I was a kid at the time. He brought it over to show and I was in love. This had to be one of the finest most decadent sofa on wheels ever. I can still remember the smell of it new and was my first exposure to a sound system in a vehicle. the color was a bronze like with a spectacular cloth interior. Nice car, thanks fo rthe memories.
Back in the mid 70’s, my dad went on a business trip with a coworker. They took the coworkers brand new Mercedes. Upon returning home, I asked him how he liked the Mercedes. “That thing rides like a buckboard”, was all he said.
My late father bought a new 1969 Marquis Brougham 4 door in what we called “robin egg blue” with black vinyl top and black cloth interior. Lightly optioned with AM radio, A/C and that’s about it. He later bought a bright red 1969 Marquis convertible (used) with white vinyl interior. It was more highly optioned with power windows, vacuum power door locks, rim blow wheel and wire wheel covers. He loved those cars as the front end styling harkened back to the Cord.
Thanks for jogging my memory; someone who I worked closely with and was a wonderful person had a 1969 Marquis Brougham 2dr in that same, as you called it, robin-egg blue color with a black vinyl top. His was a more optioned out version, which included those vacuum-powered power door locks. I recall it having very comfortable black cloth seats.
For their, "Auto Test '73 Buyers Guide" issue, the staff of Consumer Guide magazine had a fine time making fun of the 1973 Mercury Marquis styling. But these were the years of Ford Motor Company's highway livingroom cruisers and when it came to driving comfort - nothing could be finer. This "Ford Formula" would have become total plush had it not been for the OPEC embargo of '73/'74. What a joy to have seen these luxury tanks floating down the roads of my hometown during my high school years, they don't mak'em like this anymore, Adam.
Beautiful car! My mom had this color ‘73 Marquis Brougham sedan. She loved it! Not a great car in the snow though. I remember getting my hands stuck in the headlight door at least once.
Thanx as always Adam !! You're historical knowledge about the older ( & better) cars of my era. Grew up in the 60's . This Merc is a real beauty. Love that you mentioned the "mission" you nailed it. These cars where doing as designed. Quiet, comfortable, beautiful & always a head turner!!!!
Adam, thanks again for bringing me back to my youth; this Mercury Marquis Brougham is beautiful! As I've stated before on your channel, I got to drive my boss's 1974 Mercury Marquis Brougham 2dr on numerous occasions at work, my first job, while I was in high school and early college. You mentioned grocery shopping; we made good use of that deep- well trunk to deliver groceries to customers and to load up with supplies from time to time. That 460cid engine was a beast, a real torque monster. Though the car was a bit beaten up, it still drove smoothly and quietly. Honestly, I prefer the look of the Marquis to the Lincolns of these years. This, along with your Mercury Colony Park Station Wagon and your 1974 red Marquis Brougham, are my favorite vehicles that you've shown in your fabulous collection, though a more than honorable mention goes to your black 1968 Ford LTD.
Adam, I agree with your comment on the dash clock function. Try setting the non functional clock at 10:10. That's an astetically pleasing location for the stationary hands. Thank you for your great commentary! Bob
One can not fantasize enough how cool it would of been to buy and drive this car at the époque. Especially after working hard and saying to oneself; I want to drive in luxury now. Showing up at your friends with this car on a sunny summer Saturday afternoon. Priceless..
One of the Smoothest Quietest Cars of the 70’s. My First Boss in 1976 had a 1975 in that popular blue 4 dr. I would volunteer to vacuum and clean windows at his home which gave me the opportunity to drive the car a little bit. No comparison to my ‘72 Delta 88 Royal. I couldn’t imagine a car being better riding and more insulated ride back then. And my next car was my bosses sisters ‘73 Fleetwood Brougham and the Mercury was a better riding car.
Yep Adam, such a Classy-Looking Vehicle and enormous, as well...The Mercury Range from 1968 to 1974 is my fav and very under-rated, IMHO...They all look Gr8 and from what U have said, are well-made, quiet and a joy 2 drive.....Cheers fm Damo😍👏
My father had a 1970 Mercury 4D HT 429 2bbl which had two nasty problems. 1. The body flexed so badly (even on the freeway) that the pillarless windows would squeak in their rubber seals. Mercury was aware of the problem and could only recommend a special lubricant for the seals to quell the noise. By 1973, the hardtops would gain a center support to steady the roof. 2. Bad starters. Evidently Ford/Bendix/Autolite removed one of many palls in the overrunning clutch to save $$ but it couldn't handle the impact torque. Happened to my old man who got stranded once. I recall seeing Bill Cosby on a TV commercial explaining that Ford had 'improved' their starters by adding an additional pall to the overrunning clutch (as if he knew what one was). You wouldn't see that today!
We had a 1973 Mercury Colony Park, the wagon version of this coupe. It was so sweet. It was a medium green color, full wood paneling, 429 engine, with the twin comfort lounge seats. IIRC, $5,800 new.
It's good to hear a automotive reviewer, who appreciates a car for it's original purpose. There is a popular car reviewer on YT that would say, "This thing's hilarious".
One of my favorite cars, along with the Lincolns of that era. I currently drive a 2007 Mercury Grand Marquis, The biggest, most comfortable car I can find that is reliable enough for cross country trips. I bought it about 8 months ago, with 36,000 miles on it. I also have a 2006 MGM with 384,000 miles on it.
Adam- know you love these big Mercs... you need a 69/70 Marauder X-100 in your collection! I remember SOOOOO many of these cars from my youth... My grandfather was a Mercury man... a slew of Grand Marquis' from the 80s on... a '78 Town Car Cartier (2-tone cream/bronze)... A '75 Grand Marquis Brougham (baby blue/navy blue)... a '73 Grand Marquis Brougham champagne pink/burgundy... hideous)... a '71 Grand Marquis Brougham in mint green/emerald green... a '69 Monterey coupe in burnt orange with sport wheels... a '67 Parklane convertible (white/black)... etc. all great cars.
I LOVE the styling and whole appearance of these cars. I live in the UK 🇬🇧 and we simply don’t see this type and era of US cars. Always enjoy your standing start on a turn with a spot of tyre squeal! Reminds me of ‘70’s cop shows.
Really really wish I had a car like this,, a cathedral on wheels, beautiful style excellent condition. A more fuel efficient engine and chase down every rattling thing would put the end on the annoying things that otherwise would start to catch up you. A lifetime of nice weather drives. Thanx for sharing.
Thanks for taking the time to show us around your beautiful car. I am always in awe of the huge houses, roads and just general space in America. Oh and the huge cars 😂 I completely agree about journalists missing the point. These cars were big cruisers and did an amazing job at that. My ‘72 Riviera is like a magic carpet ride and sofa interior.
When you pointed out the brougham emblem, I just noticed that the lower left quadrant of the shield is the older Mercury wingned head! Now that some detailing right there!
Adam is too modest to ever say the exact number of cars in his collection. But he did kinda hint at it in one video in a vague way. I think it's in the region of 25 to 35ish.
I had a ‘75 wagon. The cruise control is capable of malfunctioning and sticking at full throttle, making for an exciting day. Happened to me, fortunately on a highway.
I love your videos. I own a German car and an Asian car now, but had many GM cars in the past. It’s impractical for me to own a huge car from the 70s as I can barely fit my Audi in the garage and limited street parking living in Chicago. But the history of the American cars, both engines and quirky features is fascinating to me. Reminds me of riding in my Grandpa’s 1972 Ford LTD 2-door. Creamy smooth and the rear windows went down. I still remember that and thought it was so cool! Keep the vids coming.
People like to dis these lovely V8's from this era for their HP numbers. But just get behind the week and you instantly will know they move these big cars with authority 👍🏽
I had a 73' Marquis (four door hardtop) in high school, I bought it with the understanding that the engine was blown. Before removing, I decided to give it a tune-up just to see if I could get it to run. The dealership I bought it from failed to verify the engine with the VIN. So I looked at the VIN and called the local Ford dealership. The engine that was installed had the distributor in a different location than the tune-up manual showed. Turned out, Ford said: that according to the VIN number, I had a 460 CID 4V V-8 "Police Interceptor," so I tune it according to those specifications, and it started right up. I told my dad that the dealership had missed the fact that the distributor's location was the tell, pop took it over to the service manager at Key Buick in Swarthmore, PA and told him about the mistake. They took it in on trade and decided to just wholesale the car as is, so I lucked out. The service manager told my dad to tell me to come work for them when I graduate. My dad owned a gas station for 35 years, I started working on cars at twelve alongside my pop: dad just laughed at the notion that I would leave him!
I would love to see you review the 74 Mercury Montego MX. It's what I learned to drive in and I have lots of fond memories of it. There's a number of styling cues on this Marquis that look really familiar to me. Thanks for all the reviews!
Love the car, love the color. Even though I like to drive small handling cars the opposite of this, id consider having something like this for long trips etc. Thing is just beautiful!
