1972 Mercury Marquis Colony Park

Looks really good but priced way too high.

https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/mercury/colony-park/1916479.html

 

What a nice car. Mercury wasn't shy about using wood grain. Were those seats leather or vinyl. I Forgot how much the front looked like a Lincoln of that time. Too much @ 19k, but it is Hemming's.

 

That's vinyl, I believe.

 

Let me roll up my sleeves and get to work here.
As I've mentioned before, unless things have changed since Mercury was "discontinued", Mercs generally bring less than their Ford counterparts. For my money (so to speak), $20K is just about the top you could expect to get for a '72 Country Squire (maybe $25K for the absolute best), so I'd expect the Colony Park to go for a bit less. And that's for a basically perfect example, which this car is not.

Aside from the dented molding, the split seams in the front seats, and the badly faded tailgate emblem, the woodgrain transfer on the body sides is incorrect. The transfer on the '72 did not have simulated plank lines. Now this isn't a huge deal for the casual cruise-in, show 'n' go, fun car, but that's the sort of car you'd pay something more like $8K , not $20K. Since I don't think it's currently reproduced and thus would have to be custom made, I'm guessing it would cost in the neighborhood of $3K or more to correct that woodgrain.

Option-wise, this car is about middle of the road. It has a 429 (not a 428 as stated), automatic temperature control, cruise, an AM/FM Stereo, remote left-hand mirror, and, of course, a roof rack with air deflector. It does not have power windows -- not a overwhelming popular option even on the CP back in '72 -- and power door locks are not in evidence (I believe these would have been activated by the regular door lock knobs and not by separate switches on this car, but there probably should be a separate switch for the tailgate lock) either. Also, I don't think the seats and door trim were the highest available level. I know split bench seats (aka Twin Comfort Lounge seats) were available for this car.

All in all, it's a very nice car, but not nearly nice enough to justify anything close to the asking price.

 

Well put and correct, so far as I can tell.

 

not to mention the crack in the steering wheel ...

 

And nobody noticed the lazy eye passenger side headlight cover.........

 

This could be something as simple as a vacuum hose or as hard to deal with as an obsolete and unobtainable clip or vacuum check valve. Knock another $50 off the counteroffer to the asking price.

I can't tell from the pics whether the steering wheel's cracked or if that's a seam separation. Either way it'll cost some bucks to fix correctly.

 

Excellent points, ctrysquire, well said. It's a decent looking car, but has several issues.. The wrong woodgrain really stands out to me and it looks like the tailgate woodgrain may be the only original left on the car. The Colony Park woodgrain was very dark in those years.

I agree that $8k would be about right for it. IIRC, this car was on ebay within the last 6 months or so, but I don't remember the selling price. It seems like Auto Gallery may be buying up clean wagons and trying to double their money!

It's a cool car and although '71 and '72 are basically the same car, I would prefer the cleaner look of a '71 grille.

 

The '71 and '72 do have the same body shell and the same interior as far as I can tell. Engine-wise, however, there are some significant differences. Although the base 400 lost only 1/2 point of compression, the 429 lost a full 2 points -- from 10.5:1 in '71 to 8.5:1 in '72. Although the switch from gross to SAE net horsepower ratings precludes a direct comparison by specs, I'd have to say if you can manage the octane appetite, the '71 wins for power and fuel mileage.

I have a slight preference for the '72 grill over the '71, myself. I think it has a little more of the classic look. Not that I consider a '71 any slouch in the looks department.

 

Unless my eyes are deceiving me, I'm seeing 3 different patterns of woodgrain!! The driver side has the plank pattern, and the passenger side does not. Not to mention that the passenger side rear quarter looks darker than the rest of the passenger side. Looks to me like the passenger side fender and doors match. The passenger side rear quarter and tailgate matches. Then, the driver side is all the same.

 

Exactly! As I mentioned previously, the tailgate woodgrain is the only area that looks original/correct..

 

'72 isn't supposed to have planking.....

 

I get that. But, you'd think that if someone was going to replace the d-noc, which they obviously did on the driver's side, they'd go ahead and replace all of it so it would match. The passenger side doesn't have planking.

 

You would think............
Then again, we're wagon geeks who notice stuff like this. There's probably buyers out there who won't even notice it until two weeks after they bought it.