Tag: Mercury Grand Marquis

I’ve lost count of how many 2011 Mercury Grand Marquis LS unicorns that have passed through this blog but I do know the first remains the car with the highest single day views ever. Not what I intended when I started the blog. It’s what the people want? There were only 248 of these Mercuries produced in 2011, its final year, but I don’t think it’s the limited numbers that interests drivers. It’s the land yacht comfort and old school highway cruising in a reliable Ford Panther platform.

I’m writing from a hotel room in White Marsh, Maryland, just outside of Baltimore where I’m awaiting the arrival of my oldest son to take in the Baltimore Orioles home opener. This car is at the White Marsh CarMax no more than two miles from my room. I could walk there and drive back in this before the first pitch.

With bench seats, a column shifter, adjustable pedals, a CD player AND a cassette deck with Dolby Noise Reduction, this car rates a “9” out of 10 for features by CarMax, and maybe that was true in 2011. It’s pretty basic. But it is a pretty blue over tan and I’m sure it’s quite a smooth ride down I-95 to Miami.

Back seat is jut right for your kids to make out in.

The trunk gigantic enough for snitches.

Popularity can’t be because of the 4.6 liter V-8, making 224 horsepower and yet 275 ft-lbs of torque. I’m told it’s adequate to not get squeezed out on interstate merges but not much more. It will get 24 mpg on the highway.

This is a one-owner, accident free car that’s spent all of the last dozen years right here in Essex, Maryland. It’s still eligible for MaxCare for five more years and up to 150,000 miles. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the cheapest MaxCare package out there.

Stock No. 24128280 VIN 2MEBM7FV1BX605625

If you really want one of these with lower miles, and aren’t afraid to tempt fate, the five-owner white over tan 2011 Grand Marquis below has only 38,000 miles on it. But they were not an easy 38,000 miles. The car hit the dealer lot in August 2010, and by the fall of 2010, brand new, and within a period of two months, the car was hit three times! Then hit again in 2012 and again in 2016! It’s currently reserved in Huntsville, Alabama here, and is selling for $19,998. What are the odds it has any more accidents in it?

Stock No. 23377703 VIN 2MEBM7FV5BX601884

Below are a pair of 2011 Grand Marquis that were in my “saved” file and just sold. They’re flying off the shelves!!

Here’s some of the old ones:

May 5, 2022 2011 Grand Marquis LS

May 24, 2020 2011 Grand Marquis LS

March 5, 2018 2011 Grand Marquis LS

I can’t help it. I’m captivated by CarMax offering these final year Panther-platform 2011 Mercury Grand Marquis LS sedans. Only 248 spilled over into the 2011 model year. CarMax has had maybe a half dozen since I started blogging. I didn’t blog on all of them so I’m catching up. I have a theory that all 248 of these unicorns will be on their lots at some point so from here on I’m documenting them!

CarMax lists the car as “fully loaded” and gives it a 9 out of 10, but there’s not much going on in there by modern standards. Heated mirrors? CD? Not even Bluetooth. Under “Technology” only cruise control is listed.

Not too many column shifting old school sedans out there anymore. Something satisfying about the “ka-chunk” of pulling it down the PRNDL. Saves console space so kids can stand on the transmission hump and stare out the windshield as the miles go by. Oh wait, that was my generation.

Gargantuan trunk that will hold tons of luggage or multiple bodies. Old joke. I got nothing more.

The down side – an anemic motor with only 224 hp and 275 ft-lbs of torque. But it will last a long time? Only $19,998 and 40,000 miles. If you really want this car it’s here in Irving, Texas. Amazingly, MaxCare is available for another five years – until the car is maybe 16 or 17 years old – and another 110,000 miles!

Stock # 22006347  VIN # 2MEBM7FVXBX603260

Still intrigued with these Panther-platform dinosaurs, especially the ultra rare ultra low mileage ones.  Only 248 2011 Mercury Grand Marquis models made in the final year.  This one has only 14,000 miles (*although sadly during one of those drives in 2018 the car was in an accident in Florida).  And the 4.6l V-8 only packs 224hp – just a few more than a four cylinder VW GTI of the same era.

But that big beautiful (heated) bench seat, column shifter, and four-dead body trunk (or suitcases and golf clubs) takes me back to another time. Here’s the last 2011 I posted about two years ago…lower price but higher miles.  If you can get over the accident, this one’s way nicer.  And just for fun, the great NY Times review “Heavyweight for a Requiem” from back in the day is to good not to reprint.  My favorite lines:

• It’s the kind of car dad bought because his buddy at the Kiwanis Club owned the
  dealership and he didn’t want something flashy like a Lincoln. A car you could wear
  a hat in.
• Wallowing anachronism that it is, the Grand Ma has its charms. It rides as if the tires aren’t just smothering out the road’s divots, but giving each of them a somber, dignified burial.
• The engine’s initial response is strong, but it quickly runs out of breath and by 5,500
  r.p.m. it’s exhausted. The transmission sort of slides at that point into the next gear
  and heaves a sigh of relief.
• InsideLine.com clocked it accelerating from a standstill to 60 m.p.h. in a leisurely 9.3 seconds; it also plowed through a quarter-mile run in 16.8 seconds while reaching 83.9 mph.
• Somewhere along its developmental journey the Grand Marquis
  picked up power rack-and-pinion steering that is shockingly sweet, with good oncenter feel, precise calibration and good feedback. 
• This is a car unconcerned with carving corners or blitzing across the
  autobahn. It’s built for people who have lived long enough to have already had all the drama they want in their lives.
• INSIDE TRACK: You may miss it, but you didn’t really want it.

Find this 2011 Mercury Grand Marquis LS here in Orlando.  Where else?!

Got a fascinating and gathering interest in Mercury Grand Marquis’ as unicorns (like the ugly one at the bottom of this blog) because of the generosity of David Fesz and his far more widely followed automotive Facebook page Unique Cars for Sale 2.0.  The page notes, “You’ve discovered a better place to share rare automotive sightings discovered FOR SALE online with other enthusiasts, plain and simpler.“  It’s a closed group but if you ask, and you’re not an ass, you get added.  Lots of cars posted there I haven’t seen in years.  And they are okay with me posting some of the more unusual CarMax unicorns I find there.

And that’s what has me confounded – when I looked at the number of historical hits on my blog over the past year plus, I found the single most spectacular spike I’ve had was for my post on March 8, 2018 – and they all came from the link I posted on Unique Cars for Sale 2.0.  Not the CarMax offered BMW and Audi V-10 powered cars, the Mercedes V-12, the Porsche 911‘s, or Jaguar XKR – but for a 2011 Grand Marquis of all things.  I found the car interesting at first because it was gigantic, cheap at $14,000, with only 41,000 miles.  A little more research though and I found only 248 Grand Marquis’ came off the Continue reading “The Grand Marquis Mystery – Why The Interest? (Shout Out to Unique Cars 2.0)”

The ridicule is coming.  It’s worth it. I really mean to stick to enthusiast unicorns but sometimes nearly extinct cars get my attention.  I’m tracking cars I expect CarMax to stop carrying and this is one of them.  Mercury abruptly discontinued the Grand Marquis line in 2010 but sold a few (248 to be exact) 2011 models.  This life-long Florida car is a throwback to another era.  It’s not a great car, but the last of it’s kind.  With an anemic V8 (I still don’t know how Ford only gets 224hp out of this), bench seats and a column automatic four-speed, it’s a bit dated.  But with 41,000 miles and only $14k, it’s almost a cheap piece of history.  And only 247 others have one like it.  Probably less.  Here’s the CarMax link  – if it’s dead the car is being transferred, on hold/sold.  Here’s a great NY Times review “Heavyweight for a Requiem” from back in the day.  My favorite lines:

• It’s the kind of car dad bought because his buddy at the Kiwanis Club owned the
  dealership and he didn’t want something flashy like a Lincoln. A car you could wear
  a hat in.
• Wallowing anachronism that it is, the Grand Ma has its charms. It rides as if the tires aren’t just smothering out the road’s divots, but giving each of them a somber, dignified burial.
• The engine’s initial response is strong, but it quickly runs out of breath and by 5,500
  r.p.m. it’s exhausted. The transmission sort of slides at that point into the next gear
  and heaves a sigh of relief.
• InsideLine.com clocked it accelerating from a standstill to 60 m.p.h. in a leisurely 9.3 seconds; it also plowed through a quarter-mile run in 16.8 seconds while reaching 83.9 mph.
• Somewhere along its developmental journey the Grand Marquis
  picked up power rack-and-pinion steering that is shockingly sweet, with good oncenter feel, precise calibration and good feedback. 
• This is a car unconcerned with carving corners or blitzing across the
  autobahn. It’s built for people who have lived long enough to have already had all the drama they want in their lives.
• INSIDE TRACK: You may miss it, but you didn’t really want it.

Generally convertibles are ugly with the top up.  I have never understood why anyone would want a hard top to look like a hideous, top-up convertible all the time.  The worst of both worlds.  But with the Grand Marquis you also get a bench seat, column shifter, and a V8 with a whopping 224 hp for less than $12,000!  But it’s a clean 11 year old, two owner Florida car driven maybe 3,000 miles a year.  And CarMax will sell you a warranty into 2023 and another 100,000 miles!  Would make a great Father’s Day gift for somebody?  If I had money, I tell you what I’d do……