photos: William Rubano
When was the last time (if even ever) you saw three white Mercury Colony Parks lined up in a row? This is obviously the business of a Colony Park lover. Always the top-of-the-line, and eventually the only full-size wagon, Colony Park was a mainstay in Mercury’s lineup from 1957 through 1991. In fact, it was Mercury’s longest running model continuously in production. The Grand Marquis and Cougar names were used longer, but Grand Marquis was only its own model for 28 years, and the Cougar was briefly discontinued in 1998.
These Colony Parks are from the final generation, sold from 1979-1991. Riding on the Panther platform, the downsized 1979 Colony Park was 11 inches shorter and over 1,000 pounds lighter than the ’78 models. Despite that, these were still big wagons, capable of seating 8 (or 10, as 4 children could easily fit in the dual facing 3rd row seats).
From the signs in the back window, it appears that the owner uses these for his fence and deck business. Whatever the reason, it appears that these wagons have been put to work throughout their lifetime, unlike some examples I’ve seen that were purchased by elderly collectors.
Personally, I prefer the original, sharper styling. I’ve always loved the front “fins” and their cornering lamps. Combined with the grille, it was a rather menacing, yet elegant look. This one is missing its “Lincoln” hood ornament, and looks incomplete without it.
While the 1988 “aero” facelift was well-executed on the Grand Marquis sedan, I don’t think it did the Colony Park any justice. The wagon bodyshell was just too square at the rear, and received no design modifications to complement the new front clip. I may be sounding nitpicky now, but I also preferred the cursive script used in badging on the pre-1988s to the block font that replaced it.
By this time, sales of the Colony Park and all full-size wagons were falling on a yearly basis, as the market had shifted towards smaller FWD wagons, minivans, and SUVs. The Panthers were set to receive all-new sheet metal in 1992. With the shrinking full-size wagon segment, it was deemed not profitable to include a wagon bodystyle for the 1992 update, and the long-running Colony Park and its Ford Country Squire quietly went the way of full-size wagons from Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth, and Pontiac.
Wow, I can’t remember the last time I saw ONE lined up, let alone two, and here you have a trifecta and they are all the same color. Good to see them used for work, all that covered space comes in handy. I wonder if he uses the one with the hitch to tow a trailer with lumber etc. What are the big ringhooks for below the bumper?
These are fine cars. I owned a Panther ’79 LTD wagon but have always craved one of the final Colony Parks. The late ones are the ones to have; they are fuel injected.
The leather interiors in the Colony Parks seem to be very durable and quite attractive after decades of use.
A nice, dry western one is always on my radar.
This photo does have a Twilight Zone like quality…especially with all of them parked in the same angle next to each other.
I wonder if Mercury ever considered “woodying” the Sable wagons when they first came out?
Talk about Twilight Zone, it may not be a Mercury, but it’s a Ford
I’ve seen pics of that woody Edge before, IMO it’d look better if the wood within the wheelbase only went down to the same height it does over the bumpers.
Those mid-80s models did have just a minefield of vacuum lines under the hood. My Grandma had a beat-up ’85 sedan, and it had a high idle. The only code it tripped was something related to the EGR valve. I spent an afternoon trying to trace down the vacuum leak or other related malady, but never did find it.
She continued driving on regardless.
There’s a dark-colored pre-1988 example in my area. A while back I saw it parked in the driveway of the house where it lives, with significant damage to its left front quarter. I was thinking that may be the end for it, but I’ve seen it several times since then in the driveway, and even once out driving around.
“Colony Park was a mainstay in Mercury’s lineup from 1957 through 1991. In fact, it was Mercury’s longest running model continuously in production. The Grand Marquis and Cougar names were used longer, but Grand Marquis was only its own model for 28 years, and the Cougar was briefly discontinued in 1998.”
If we’re docking Grand Marquis for not being its own model before 1983, Colony Park wasn’t its own model after 1968. Ford Motor Company full-size wagons were marketed as distinct models from 1955 to 1968, but became subseries of the regular full-size Ford and Mercury models in 1969.
If we took the opposite approach and used more relaxed standards, the Marquis name was in use in some form continuously, on vehicles with a common lineage, from 1967 to 2011.
And it was never the only full-size Merc wagon – there was a Grand Marquis Wagon throughout the Panther years, the exact same car but hold the Di-Noc.
Next time that you pass that row of wagons, leave a note under the wiper challenging him to enter the Banjul Challenge. Olds Custom Cruiser vs. Mercury Colony Park in the battle of the rusty white mid-market orphan division wagons would be quite an event!
If you are going with the wood grain the earlier front end looks much better. I just don’t like how they end it at the front fender and leave that gap of body color with the rounded off front end. I’m not a big fan of the sheathed front bumper either and combined with the old style rear it looks out of place.
Either way it is truly amazing to see three of them so identically equipped down to the turbine wheels and still having all of the center caps, at least on the driver’s side.
Do they all have the same color interiors too?
My jaw dropped at these photos, as I’d think it would be more likely to encounter three Bugatti Veyrons parked side-by-side. Out here in California, Colony Parks and Ford wagons alike were almost never seen when new, and today? Well, since buying mine in 2011, I’ve seen three others and that’s it.
Here’s one of them …
Wow, a rare sight indeed!
My grandparents had a 1991 identical to the newest one pictured. They owned it from 1996 till about 2002. Of course it was in far better condition at the time.
I better not show this to my Grandma, as she LOVED that car!!!
(Truth be told, I was rather fond of it myself)
No one has heard of any of those family since they stopped at that motel…….
Wow, that is really, really, really amazing!! Downstate really is easier on vehicles because if these three were up in the Ithaca area they would have rusted to death by the early-mid 2000s. These Panther Estates are quite rare anywhere you go, I almost never see them on Craigslist or Ebay or in real life which is why I settled on a Caprice instead. My 87 B-Body Estate which came up to Ithaca from Long Island was only one of three or so runners left in the area (77-90 sedans included) and I never had the opportunity to park next to its twin.
Anyway, this is a great catch indeed, but are the vehicles still there as of December 2013? The weather looks too nice for Wintertime and those blue inspection stickers look like they expired a few months ago. Nice to see each of these vehicles still sport the Empire Blue and Whites and in the ever decrease A-series none-the-less. Any idea what the plate frames say? The 1988 “aero” facelift looks fine to me and makes the Merc look less old fashioned, but FoMoCo never caught up to the B-Bodys which had a more complete looking aero look by the late 1980s. What caused the rear quarter panel dent on that one Colony Park you think? A bollard perhaps?
My best friend’s parents had one of these for YEARS when we were growing up. So many good memories – lots of trips . . .
CJS
I owned an ’85 Grand Marquis LS, but not a wagon. 1986 and newer was the way to go, as they went to multi-port injection then. I DID, however, have a 1973 Colony Park, and it was just like a Lincoln station wagon, right down to the 460 engine and power vent windows. Pure luxury, if you could afford the fuel….
Oh that’s crazy… I bet the guy who owns these is full of strange idiosyncrasies. 90% of box Panther wagons I see are in this exact kind of condition and being used for a similar purpose – pool guys, plumbers, handymen, etc.
My father got one of these as a company car in 1987. His was beige with the same woodgrain on the sides. I really liked riding in that car. It was the first time I had experienced automatic air-conditioning and was amazed. It was also cool that the back window was powered. It was a vast improvement over the Olds Cutlass Cruiser he had before that.
It was a good match to his father’s black 1987 Grand Marquis. I guess we’re a Ford family.
They may be a bit beat up but those cars do ride smoothly on the road when running right. I’m not really fit to comment on trips over 240 miles per clip, but when I drove a 1990 model home between 50 and 100 miles (With the tires all at 35 PSI cold; That’s actually 10 PSI above the doorjamb specs for the front tires) I could scarcely tell I was driving a car because it absorbed so much of the “Feel of the road.”