During your Christmas gatherings, someone invariably will suggest piling the whole family in a vehicle and driving to church/a movie theater/a kegger together. So what do you drive? Your Ford 429-powered E-Type sure is spiffy, but it only seats two. Aunt Jemimah's 1987 Ford Aerostar has seats aplenty, but is populated by vermin and the fungi growing on her kids' unwashed hockey pads, plus it's a 1987 Ford Aerostar and that's just disgusting. What you need is a 6-seat road trip champ that runs 12s in the quarter mile. Find this turbo sleeper 1996 Mercury Grand Marquis in Irving, TX for $6,500 via craigslist. 
And oh, what details those are. Starting with the 16-valve 4.6-liter modular V8, the seller added a Precision T4-style turbo, intercooler, three-inch ducting, and head work. Through a fortified AOD 4-speed automatic with 3,000-RPM stall, at least 500 horsepower spins the rear wheels via limited-slip differential with 3:73.1 gear ratios. The full gamut of suspension upgrades are here too, to ensure control if not outright canyon carving.
Because everything else is left alone, this highway cruiser compromises nothing. Air conditioning and power steering are retained, as are the stock appearance inside and out (minus the wheels). That means six seats and a trunk that would make a mafia hitman weep. You can go anywhere in this thing, because if decades of use in the police force have taught us anything, nothing can stop a Crown Vic. And now, few can keep up with one.
PhiLOL actually likes the tuna here, but abhors structural rust. Save the manuals.
Something like this was what I always had pictured if I were to ever build a bullrun / cannonball run car.
ReplyDeleteThis in CVPI (C71) guise + a manual transmission = my dream car.
ReplyDeleteI will forever kick myself for not buying one of these when I had the chance.
ReplyDeleteWhat the heck? The link worked a second ago. I must have messed it up.
DeleteThe Kenny Brown P2 Panther
This. Is. Beautiful. The fact that it looks more like the Marquis than the Crown Vic even with the rims almost makes it look like a grandmother's vehicle. The price and the horsepower, aside from the magnificent simplicity of it, make it nigh-unbeatable.
ReplyDelete