1991 mercury grand marquis colony park station wagon - $4500 (glenside)

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/4845086210.html

I have a rare beautiful 1991 Mercury Grand Marquis Colony Park Station Wagon for sale . Odometer reads 122K, transmission runs smooth, 5.0 V8 runs "purrfect" no problems whatsoever. The 8 seat interior is in pristine condition, no tears or rips in leather. This is a perfect road trip car. Car has power everything, this vehicle runs like new. I'm asking $4500 or best offer. PLEASE, I REPEAT PLEASE NO SCAMS OR LOWBALL OFFERS. Thank you for looking

 

Given the mileage, I suspect this one is a bit over priced. My guess is that this is a $3,000 car at the top end of the market.

 

I went to see this car last week. The interior is in great condition as stated and the engine does seem to run well. The car idled quietly and smoothly too. Has newer tires and relatively new exhaust.

My experience driving these b body wagons is limited to say the least. I have only briefly test driven a 1978 Caprice Classic wagon about two weeks ago and a 96 buick roadmaster today. I'm not sure how these things are supposed to handle. It seemed to sway quite a bit and feel a bit out of control going around curves and the curved on and off ramps. Mind you, I'm used to driving a geo metro as my daily driver and an 88 ford escort, but my question remains is this type of handling normal? There seemed to be quite a bit of play in the steering wheel too which I've gathered from reading that this is normal compared to cars of today.

But, there are a few other problems. The driver side window won't roll down. There is a nice ding around the window frame of the trunk. Also, if you look closely at one of the pics you can notice damage to the back right door. Wood grain is of course messed up and paint is chipped off. There is also some rust around the wells and 2 inch diameter of rust that is coming thru one of the wells and seems only to be held back by the wood grain covering. About a 5 inch piece of one of the rocker panels is rotted out on the under side of the car but does not seem to have affected the door jam or floor yet.

Looking thru the glove compartment I found the title/transfer. Car is from New Hampshire so it has seen some harsh winters. Car was purchased at the tail end of 2013 for $1550 and only seems to have put 200 miles on it since the transfer. He is trying to turn quite a profit on this. I haven't discussed numbers yet. So from looking at the ad and taking into account this new info what do you all think the car is worth? I just started looking for a long roof about 2 weeks ago and could use some guidance. Thanks in advance!

 

My guess, based on your comments, is that this one needs a bit of work - maybe shocks, or possibly ball joints. These FMC 'Panthers' as they are known, should ride fairly firm for a big car, and not lean so much.

 

Based on your description I would I say that this one would not be worth more than 2500.00 on it's best day. Body work can be expensive, and fussing with the woodgrain panels if you chose to restore it can be quite a process. If it were me, I would want to be down closer to 2000. This car has been posted on Craigslist for several months. I live in Delaware so I have seen the ad regularly. The price has remained at 4500 since it was first listed.

The drivers side window motor most likely needs to be rebuilt. I have had to rebuild all of the window motors in my 85. There are threads on our site here about how to do that, step by step. The good news is that the part you will need is less than 10 bucks and can be easily found on eBay or possibly at your local parts store.

Good luck if you decide to negotiate with the seller.

 

Thanks for the input. Good to know that this ad has been up for a while. I thought it was a newer posting. Also, good to know they should ride firmer than this one seemed to. After test driving and turning into the car lot, the side to side movement seemed to be a little much. Granted there was a bit of a bump between the road and lot, but I took it slow so it shouldn't have been as drastic as it was.

 

My guess is that it needs lower ball joints and outer tie rod ends. Bet the steering box is almost due for a rebuild as well. . Almost certainly the front anti sway var end links are broken. These cars should, even with base suspension, handle better than you expect. With the towing package anti sway bars, shocks and springs, they can surprise you in corners. Ball joints, by the way, are pressed in so are not really a good do it yourself job. They require a press to change them properly.

 

Thanks for all the great info. This will help if I decide to negotiate. So without me driving it, just by the age and mileage, you would assume the car would need to have these items replaced? The car does have a hitch on the back. I asked how much it was rated to tow. The guy selling it for the owner said he didn't know, but that it was a bigger hitch and the car could haul a lot. If I remember correctly, the actual hitch was a U Haul brand hitch. Is that something that was standard on these cars? And, am I correct in thinking that anyone can add a hitch to a car, but that doesn't mean it has a tow package or that it's rated and built to carry a certain load?

 

The tow rating depends on whether it had the tow package added at the factory. If it has that, I believe these cars are rated to pull around 5,000 lbs. My 85 Colony Park does not have the factory tow package and is therefore only rated for 2,000 lbs. So yes, anyone can add a hitch, but that doesn't mean that the car can necessarily pull something safely. I am sure some of the other members on here could probably explain how to tell if the car has the tow package or not. I know the rear end gets a different gear ratio and they will usually have an auxiliary cooling system.