Photo: Craigslist Penn Argyl, PA
If there's one notion we can't stand, it's the idea that luxury car ownership is a privilege reserved for the ultra-wealthy. The kind of people who complain that their Starbucks latte has oat milk instead of almond milk and would happily run you off the road and then use their attorney spouse's connections to get off on the charges. But you don't have to be a living stereotype to drive a luxury car. You just need a bit of timing and the ability to make some sacrifices here and there.
For one thing, you're going to have to settle for an older luxury car if you want to save your pennies. But older luxo-barges are a better proposition than you might think. Just look at this 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis LS if you don't believe us. Cheaper and less refined than a BMW 5 Series or Mercedes C-Class but at a fraction of the cost, the first-gen Grand Marquis made from 1979 to 1991 is the American luxury barge personified. Based on the same platform as the Ford LTD Crown Victoria and Lincoln Continental of the period, a smooth, comfortable ride was always at hand for cheap if you didn't feel like forking out an arm and a leg for the equivalent German sedan.
With a tried and true Ford Windsor V8 under the hood an a positively archaic Ford AOD four-speed gearbox, some might call late 80s LTD-based Fords, Lincolns and Mercurys dinosaurs in their day. But the flip side to that argument is that fixing and maintaining an old barge like this one should be fairly straightforward. You can't say the same thing about a C-Class built around the same time. And a Bimmer of similar vintage? Don't even get us started there.
For the kind of person who only needs a smooth ride, leather seats, and a decent stereo, Mercuries from the late 80s and early 90s give you just that, and not a single thing besides. No sporting credentials no one cares about, and certainly no superfluous computer and hard-to-reach sensors that require gutting the engine bay to service. Just pushrods, acres of dead cows, and a Landau-style fabric roof covering to give it that timeless American luxury car look recognizable the world over. With just 84,725 miles on the clock, you probably won't get the same longevity out of this Grand Marquis as you will with Panther platform variants made just a few years later.
Still, this thing will still be cruising highways long after Mercs, Audis, and BMWs from this period are mechanically totaled, then crushed, or confined to museums, never to be driven again lest they spontaneously disassemble. At $5,000 out the door, it sure beats a 15-year-old Nissan with a bad CVT.
With a tried and true Ford Windsor V8 under the hood an a positively archaic Ford AOD four-speed gearbox, some might call late 80s LTD-based Fords, Lincolns and Mercurys dinosaurs in their day. But the flip side to that argument is that fixing and maintaining an old barge like this one should be fairly straightforward. You can't say the same thing about a C-Class built around the same time. And a Bimmer of similar vintage? Don't even get us started there.
For the kind of person who only needs a smooth ride, leather seats, and a decent stereo, Mercuries from the late 80s and early 90s give you just that, and not a single thing besides. No sporting credentials no one cares about, and certainly no superfluous computer and hard-to-reach sensors that require gutting the engine bay to service. Just pushrods, acres of dead cows, and a Landau-style fabric roof covering to give it that timeless American luxury car look recognizable the world over. With just 84,725 miles on the clock, you probably won't get the same longevity out of this Grand Marquis as you will with Panther platform variants made just a few years later.
Still, this thing will still be cruising highways long after Mercs, Audis, and BMWs from this period are mechanically totaled, then crushed, or confined to museums, never to be driven again lest they spontaneously disassemble. At $5,000 out the door, it sure beats a 15-year-old Nissan with a bad CVT.
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