Curbside Classic Outtake: 1978 Mercury Marquis Brougham

by Paul Niedermeyer

Published: November 14th, 2009

curbside classic outtake 1978 mercury marquis brougham

This Marquis Brougham certainly seems the polar opposite of yesterday’s Nissan Pao. It weighs three times as much, is a domestic, certainly not an illegal alien, not exactly artistic or tasteful, definitely not retro, and didn’t require a lottery to buy it (more likely rebates). It’s available 7.5 Liter engine is 7.6 times as big as the Poa’s, even if it only makes 202 hp. Yet, a number of similarities occur to me: They’re both in the same parking lot. Their owners are obviously making an artistic statement. They both have a horsepower to weight ratio of 31 lbs/hp. Both engines are carbureted. Nissan and Mercury joint-ventured on the Quest/Villager mini-van. Both of them are not displayed at MoMA. Somebody help me out here…

Back to the Mercury at hand. This is just not a car that inspires a full-on Curbside Classic. If it wasn’t wearing that appropriate majestic coat of purple, the traditional color of royalty, I probably wouldn’t have even taken its picture. But it was, so it’s earned its fifteen minutes of fame. And it has earned its place in history: the end of the road for the big Fords and Mercuries. The following year was the big downsizing to the new Panther chassis. But we’ll do a full-on CC on that subject with another of the Marquis’ stablemates. Engines were pathetically feeble: the standard 351 (5.7 liter) had all of 144 hp; the optional 400 (6.6 liter) squeezed out 160 hp; and the big 460 (7.5 liter) managed a whopping of 202 hp. Mileage? don’t ask. Ah, those were the sweet days of automotive malaise.

(Edit: I’ve corrected the earlier title and made a few changes to reflect this car’s historical significance. Thanks to the commentators for pointing them out)

#1978MercuryGrandMarquis #GrandMarquis #PurpleMarquis #PurpleMercury

Paul Niedermeyer

More by Paul Niedermeyer

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 30 comments

Zarba on Nov 28, 2009

In 1976, when I got my license, my first ride was a 1973 Ford LTD. Green, green vinyl top, 400 cid 2-bbl. Rim blow wheel, IIRC. A/C that would frost the vents, and acres and acres of room. Great highway cruiser. 29 days after I got that license, the LTD gave its life when some idiot ran a stop sign in front of me. The LTD crushed the van, but the front end was gone, and it went the the junkyard. I walked away from that crash, so I'll always have a soft spot for these FoMoCo land yachts. And yes, they did make some torque.

Like Reply
EHJ710 on Apr 04, 2010

When he was caught, Timothy McVeigh, the OKC bomber was driving a 1978 Mercury Marquis, (it was a a pale yellow one) escaping from his crime. He got caught because a cop noticed he had no license plates on his car, and that was enough to pull him over.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Teddyc73 Doesn't matter, out of control Democrats will still do everything they can to force us to drive them.
Teddyc73 Look at that dreary lifeless color scheme. The dull grey and black wheels and trim is infecting the auto world like a disease. Americans are living in grey houses with grey interiors driving look a like boring grey cars with black interiors and working in grey buildings with grey interiors. America is turning into a living black and white movie.
Jalop1991 take longer than expected.Uh-huh. Gotcha. Next step: acknowledging that the fantasies of 2020 were indeed fantasies, and "longer than expected" is 2024 code word for "not gonna happen at all".But we can't actually say that, right? It's like COVID. You remember that, don't you? That thing that was going to kill the entire planet unless you all were good little boys and girls and strapped yourself into your living room and never left, just like the government told you to do. That thing you're now completely ignoring, and will now deny publicly that you ever agreed with the government about.Take your "EV-only as of 2025" cards from 2020 and put them in the same file with your COVID shot cards.
Jalop1991 Every state. - Alex Roy
CanadaCraig My 2006 300C SRT8 weighs 4,100 lbs. The all-new 2024 Dodge Charge EV weighs 5,800 lbs. Would it not be fair to assume that in an accident the vehicles these new Chargers hit will suffer more damage? And perhaps kill more people?