Mercury Marauder

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The Mercury Marauder was the name of different automobiles made by the Mercury division of Ford Motor Company.

Early Models

A 1963 1/2 Mercury Marauder

The early Marauder was a V8-engined large automobile. It débuted for the 1963½ model year as a two-door "fastback" hardtop version of the full-size Mercury. Marauders were offered from the 1963½ to 1965 model years, then again from 1969 to 1970.

In 1964, Marauder name was used to designate both two and four door models of the Mercury Monterey, Montclair, and Park Lane using a fastback roofline, rather than the reverse-slant Breezeway roof that had been introduced in 1963.

This Fastback roofline was developed for both the Mercury Marauder and the Ford Galaxie for NASCAR competition, and may have helped with the many 1963/64 Ford Mercury victories

1969-1970

A 1970 Mercury Marauder

In 1969, the Marauder became a distinct model. It competed in the personal luxury market. The base Marauder had a 390 in³ engine, while the Marauder X-100 normally came with a larger 360 hp 429 in³ engine. Typically well appointed versions had bucket seats with the floor console housing the U-shaped automatic transmission shift handle and the sporty Kelsey-Hayes stylized road wheels - complete with rear fender skirts.

The Marauder enjoyed modest success as the touted 'Turnpike Cruiser' aimed at the high performance sporty family car segment. This market proved difficult to establish any decent production numbers with nearly 15,000 cars sold in 1969 and barely a third of that in 1970.

However, the car had its own look with distinctive fake louvered side air intakes in the quarter panels and its tunnel back roofline - painted flat black on the X-100 models. It shared many front end and interior components with the more stately Marquis, but the back end was mostly unique.

The Mercury Marauder Club [link] was the first Internet club solely developed to support the Marauder and had often been consulted and referred to when Mercury was designing the new 2003 model. The club operates for free and offers Marauder owners a place to post questions, comments and register their cars.

"Marauder" was also used as the name of Mercury's 390 and 410 in³ motors in the 1960's.

2003-2004

From 2003 to 2004, Ford produced the Marauder as a "high-performance" version of the Mercury Grand Marquis sedan.

The 2003 Mercury Marauder was based on the Ford Panther platform which utilizes a hydroformed steel frame, front rack and pinion steering, in addition to totally revised front and rear suspension with monotube shock absorbers, the Marauder also had a naturally aspirated 4.6 L DOHC V8 with 302 hp and 318 ft·lbf torque. 2004 was the last year for this Marauder mostly due to lackluster sales, blamed by some on bland styling and an incorrect target audience. Originally, they were produced in "any color the customer desired, so long as it was black." Eventually, the Marauder was offered in silver, blue, and red but in limited quantities.

The Ford Crown Victoria LX Sport, the Marauder's successor which fares better on the commercial market, was introduced in 2002. While not as powerful as the Mercury Maurader, the Crown Victoria LX Sport takes the slot of Ford's full-size performance sedan.

Ford attempted to market the new Marauder as a "modern muscle car," since with regards to 1/4 mile performance, it surpassed the 1994-96 Chevrolet Impala SS that Ford used as an example of its competition.

Aftermarket parts availability for the Marauder is high, but expensive due to the low number of orders. [Mercurymarauder.net] is currently the largest online community for the 2003-2004 Marauder. Trilogy Motorsports outfits Marauders with a custom Eaton supercharger which puts the Marauder into the 12-second 1/4 mile bracket.

After the Marauder was discontinued, Ford introduced the Crown Victoria LX Sport; which bears a similar appearance to the Marauder but is powered by the lesser 4.6 L 2-valve SOHC V8 engine rated at 239 hp. The LX Sport still offers the same exterior and interior colors of the Marauder, however it uses wood grain trim on the dashboard and doors, unlike the Marauder, which used aluminum.

Total production for the 2003 - 2004 Mercury Marauder was 11,052:

• 2003 - Total: 7839 (328 Blue, 417 Silver, 7094 Black)
• 2004 - Total: 3213 (980 Dark Toreador Red, 997 Silver, 1236 Black)

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