My "grayman" vehicle

Well, I've been on a vehicle buying spree recently, scooping up really great deals due to the collapse of the auto sales industry. There's more great vehicles out there than I have money or time. If you are in the market for a good vehicle, and have liquidity, now is the time to buy.

I have a variety of vehicles. I wanted a "grayman" sedan with excellent power, comfort, and safety. I looked at many options and quickly ruled out anything German (cost, poor reliability, and parts/mechanic scarcity). Also eliminated any of this eco-boast nonsense, these puny turbo 4 cylinders that will die an early death, and layers of stupid electronics that nobody knows how to fix and they cripple a car when they break. I focused on 15-30 years old, V8, low miles, excellent condition, excellent safety and reliability records.

I zeroed in on the Ford Crown Vic platform shared with the Mercury Grand Marquis, Mercury Maurader, and Lincoln Town Car. The engines were 4.6 liter V8s with respectable numbers, albeit seemingly somewhat anemic for that size motor (they did have an poorly designed manifold head gasket that would leak, an issue from the 90s to early 2002 that has supposedly been resolved). The Vics were famously fleet cars for law enforcement and taxis, and have a good reputation. There's probably 10s of millions of them in service and in junk yards, and every town has Ford mechanics and parts for these. These also have excellent crash ratings, ABS, disc brakes, airbags, and great visibility. Fuel economy is ~25mpg on the hwy and high teens in town, which is sufficient for me.

Anyway, some online searching led me to a great local find, a 2005. It's in excellent condition with less than 100,000 miles. Drives great and surprisingly great acceleration for a 2 ton car. Very professional looking, low profile, very comfortable driver, blends in, and great for short or long trips. Huge trunk for storage. And from an era where it's not too complicated to work on and most shade tree mechanics can tear the car apart and fix it without too much problem and parts are widely available. I believe Ford used that 4.6L in a lot of vehicles.

I never thought I'd be a Mercury owner, as they seem to have a real negative association with old retirees. But here, that really is a benefit. See, the Crown Vics are commonly really abused because they attract a segment that abuses cars like Mustangs and Camaros. But the Marquis is more refined, and attracts a more mature owner who drives conservatively, garages it, washes it, and gets it maintained at the dealership.

Anyway, if you're in the market, you can get cars of this vintage in excellent condition for about 1/10th their original cost but with still about 75% of their useful life remaining... [Figuring the car originally retailed for ~$30,000 and can be found for around $3000 - I did better than that - and these will last say 40 years or 400,000 miles if well maintained and not abused, so if you get one at say 10-15 years old or 100,000 miles you're only about 25% into it's realistic life expectancy.]

I never thought I'd get so much joy from a Mercury boat of a car, but this is just a fantastic ride to blend in but still have great performance and safety at an absurdly low pricetag.

NOW is the time to get out there and get those useful vehicles you've been wanting.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

My "grayman" vehicle