At $5,000, Is This 1981 Mercury Marquis A Liberating Deal?
Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Mercury Grand Marquis Brougham should not be confused with Donatien Alphonse François, better known as the Marquis de Sade and a world-renowned weirdo. Now that we have that clear, let’s see what the car might be worth.
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Jaguar and wagons don’t go together very well, although there have been a few over the years. Probably the most famous is the XKE 2+2 hearse custom built by the late great Gordon ‘Red’ Harden for the 1971 movie Harold & Maude. Less popular but seemingly well-liked here was the 2006 Jaguar X-Type wagon we considered yesterday. It was mileage-heavy but at $4,200, light on the price. That proved a winning strategy for the seller as the Jag hauled off a solid 58 percent Nice Price win.
The Jag came from England, a country I’ve heard is plum full of bejeweled royalty and their little dogs with fluffy butts. Such hoity-toity anointment is less common across the channel these days, but that wasn’t always the case and this 1981 Mercury Grand Marquis Brougham two-door takes its name from the old-school French term for landed nobleman.
Now, truth be told, I’m scratching my head over just what trim level this Marquis actually is. The seller lists it as a “Grand Marquis Brougham,” but that’s not a real model. The trim levels for Mercury’s LTD clone in this model year were the base Marquis, mid-level Brougham, and range-topping Grand Marquis. Based on the upholstery, this car appears to be either a Brougham or a Grand Marquis. I’m just going to use the catch-all name, same as the seller, to hopefully prevent confusion about what we’re talking about.
The ad’s limited description also raises questions about which of the three V8s available this model year found its way under the Marquis’ lengthy hood. The base engine in 1981 was a 4.2-liter two-barrel V8, while a throttle-body-injected 5.0 and a two-barrel 5.8 were optional choices.
Don’t get your panties in a bunch worrying if this car might be missing out on anything since the horsepower for each is, respectively, 120 horsepower, 129 horsepower, and 145 horsepower. And that’s hauling around almost two tons of car fully loaded. At least the transmission is easy to deduce since it’s most likely Ford’s AOD four-speed, although the older three-speed C4 was also available then.
What the ad does tell us is that the engine has received a new alternator and carburetor. That reveal cuts the 5.0 from contention. It also has a new power regulator for the passenger door window, although everything else on the car appears to be original and stock, right down to the standard AM/FM stereo radio. The car has a mere 82,075 miles under its belt and appears in excellent condition for its age. The seller does note some cracking in the dash cap, but that’s minimal enough not to be obvious in the two interior shots. Outside, it wears handsome factory turbine alloy wheels that were an option at the time. Most remarkably, the body-colored bumper fillers are still intact and haven’t gone all wavy as they tend to do.
Everything—exterior and interior—is color-coordinated in mint green with just enough bright trim to keep things interesting. The ad doesn’t provide title status, but in such shape and with so low mileage—plus the claim to have been bought through a local dealer—we can assume there probably aren’t any shenanigans.
The seller asks $5,000 for the classic two-door and may have better luck at that price if they had listed it under “Autos” on Facebook Marketplace instead of under “Boats.”
What’s your take on this Marquis and that $5,000 price tag? Does that seem like a deal whatever trim and engine it has? Or, at that much, has this Mercury’s boat already sailed?
You decide!
Facebook Marketplace out of Des Moines, Iowa, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Glemon for the hookup!
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