A little while back, I wrote about a wonderful ’81 Pontiac Bonneville Brougham that Cindy and I had received from her grandparents; Louis and Molly. Cindy’s grandparents were such wonderful people; Louis loved his wife and cherished every minute they had together, while Molly was a typical sweet grandmother who never complained.
The day came when Paul, my father in law, knew it was time to take his father‘s car keys away. Louis‘ driving had gotten unsafe and it was the best thing for everybody involved. The only thing was that at the time, the car was in the hands of Paul’s sister. However, that was not what Louis had in mind at all, he told Paul to take the car back and give it to Cindy and me as he wanted us to have his last car. It was just his wish. What a kind man.
The car: a 1985 small Mercury Marquis Brougham. It was a sort of ginger color over tan with a chocolate brown interior. Mercury had been running a promotion where they ordered this model loaded with power windows/ locks and seats, V6 engines, tilt wheel, cruise control, etc.
When I first drove the car, I didn’t realize how poorly it had been treated in the little bit of time that Paul’s sister had driven it. She had never checked the oil (which showed nothing on the dipstick), the headliner was falling down, the air-conditioning wasn’t working, and she handed me a month’s old letter about a factory recall (No memory of what about). I believe that when we got it the car had maybe 14,000 miles on it, and was only 5 years old.
First stop was the LM dealer who conducted said recall, changed the oil, replaced the air filter, and rotated the tires. When I picked the car up, there was a note written by the mechanic who had done the work. It simply said: “This vehicle has a serious drivability issue that we cannot track down.”
Next we had the A/C fixed and finally the headliner.
Being used to large cars, the Mercury was a breath of fresh air. Though I didn’t realize this until later, I had been brought up on “the bigger is better” marketing. However, the ’85 Mercury showed me that this was not the case. You could have a nice riding car that would hold 5 people in comfort and their luggage while not wasting space. And when it ran properly, it was a really nice driving, solid-feeling car. I mean, John Davis and the staff at Motorweek even praised it.
The only thing Cindy and I really didn’t care for on the car was the design of the steering wheel. I never had a use for that framed look. Also, the car had a 3-speed automatic and did about 20mpg on the road, which didn’t really impress me too much.
…..
The drivability issue that the dealer mentioned became more pronounced about a year later. Sometimes the Essex V6 felt spirited, others it felt like I was dragging an anchor. Sometimes there would be a slight vibration. So I took it to a local friend who was a mechanic under a shade tree!
He suggested that the torque converter was beginning to fail. So he and I replaced that, and the vibration left the building.
About a year later, the car began to run hot (I added gauges to supplement the “cutting-edge” Ford design of having one idiot light to indicate either overheating or dangerously low oil pressure). Then oil burning joined the group –about a quart every 650-700 miles. Cindy and I decided that this car with only 18,000 miles deserved to be looked at by a true shop.
True enough, after running compression tests all around we were told the engine would need to be rebuilt. The mechanic felt that it had been abused and probably ran without oil on different occasions. Who knows, Louis was not all there anymore when his keys were taken, and we saw firsthand how Paul’s sister had treated the car.
We agreed to have him rebuild the engine, and asked him to check the rear end for oil and to change the transmission fluid and filter. All told, it was $1900!
When we got the car back, it ran very nicely. No rocketship, but it was smoother. So we took a road trip from Davie Florida to Charlotte. While on the trip, overheating reared its ugly head. So the LM dealer replaced the intake gasket (there had been known issues about that intake leaking, and they did the work for the cost of labor) and we were back on the road.
From the time we got home, things went downhill very fast. It started out with being very hard to start from time to time. Then Cindy told me that every time she made a left turn the car would just shut off. The gas mileage started to fall off again, and it was time to take it back to my mechanic.
His advice was to get rid of it. He told me that I had put so much into it that if it wasn’t any better than what we had put into it, it was probably time to let it go.
By the time we got rid of the car, it had 22,000 miles and this would’ve been in 1994. I sold the car to a gentleman called Charlie for $2595 and I told him that I had had work done to it, but that he needed to understand he was buying it “as is”. No problem, he was excited to have a car, since his had been totaled and he had been out shopping for a while.
Mercury Marquis image from the Cohort by canadiancatgreen.
Charlie, the new owner, came by my store after about two months to check in. No surprise, since he was a regular customer at my hardware store.
He told me that while on his way back from Lake Okeechobee after a good day of fishing, the Mercury threw a rod or three. He said it just started clanging very loudly, then it just coasted to a stop. He made a deal though –he traded the car for the cost of the towing bill!
Related CC reading:
Ford is capable of building dependable cars.
But they refuse to do so.
From the clip on fuel and A/C lines, to the dual disc transmission, warped rotors, heater cores made of gum wrappers, it’s like somebody there is working for GM.
Could be nepotism, DEI, or simply decisions made by accountants.
Could be the UAW.
DEI hiring practices have proven time and again to be a benefit.
As far as Ford’s problems, I’d blame it on the accountants. They pigeon-hole themselves into the same spot every decade or so. 1.) Build a world-class car out of desperation that eclipses the competition. 2.) Make the rest of the lineup almost as good. 3.) Get too comfortable, let everything wither on the vine. 4.) World-class car now looks like old news because it hasn’t been updated in 10 years and the rest of the lineup are mediocre stragglers. Rinse and Repeat.
It’s not the accountants, at least not primarily. Ford has struggled with very serious political factionalism for many decades. It was well known that Ford’s structure (owned by the Fords) led to the formation of power enclaves that then fought each other. There were brief times when it settled down and worked pretty well (the Petersen – Poling years) but then would become dysfunctional again. This was exacerbated by poor CEO hiring decisions: Jac Nasser, Mark Fields, Jim Hackett. Alan Mulally saw this all and tried to change it to little or no avail.
And current CEO Jim Farley is still fighting it. Ford is the recall queen. It has been for years. Quality never became job #1; it was a PR campaign. The issues are deeply entrenched in their corporate culture and that’s difficult to excise and fix.
I don’t trust Ford, personally. My friend’s F150 EcoBoost at 167k miles is having one big expensive problem after another. That’s just one example, but the recall record of Ford tells the tale.
This was exacerbated by poor CEO hiring decisions: Jac Nasser, Mark Fields, Jim Hackett.
Hackett was appointed CEO while you guys were in Dearborn for the meetup in 2017. I had worked for Steelcase dealers while Hackett had been CEO of Steelcase. I already knew his MO: building shoddy, but expensive, product.
I’d add that not only has that world-class car not been updated in 10 years, but during those 10 years has suffered from the “Death by a thousand cuts” of repeatedly trying to shave a few pennies out of it here and there.
From the clip on fuel and A/C lines, to the dual disc transmission, warped rotors, heater cores made of gum wrappers, it’s like somebody there is working for GM.
I put it on MBAs, and a corporate culture of continuously escalating gross profit, to please the stock market, by decreasing quality, while escalating prices. Ford isn’t the only one following that program either.
Here is a table of global warranty claims expense, as a percent of revenue.
There are consequences to paying your senior executives in stock rather than cash…
My own 86 wagon had very high miles for its age (5-6 years old and > 100k) and was the opposite of your car in almost every way. It always started and ran great. After later experiencing the Ford AOD transmission, the 3-speed C5 was a delight to drive. But yes, the fuel mileage was not impressive. And my headliner fell down too.
The more I read here, it seems like Ford of the 80s became like Chrysler of the late 60s-early 70s in that the good ones were really good and the bad ones were really bad.
This is the first time I read of a lemon version of this car. My experiences with Fox body Fords were singularly positive.
In 1989 I bought an ’86 Marguis that was it very good shape with about 65,000 miles on it from an older couple as our ’78 Z28 was completely worn out at over 200,000 miles. We drove the Marquis until it was T-Boned and totaled in ’94 just prior to which I had replaced a variety of parts once it accumulated something in excess of 120,000 miles. The engine and transmission were never any trouble — that despite my often taking it up to its terminal speed of 106 mph and holding it there for as long as I could get away with it. It wasn’t fast or quick; however, it was highly dependable. Now this was back when I changed oil and filters every 3,000 miles, and I ran it on tier 1 gasoline exclusively, and with the right tires, it was good to go regardless of the weather. I hated to see it go as it was inexpensive, reliable, and I liked its looks. With my Chessie, Alpine Jack, keeping me company in the passenger seat, it was a fun drive to any destination.
I was temporarily in Facebook Jail for my comments about my Fox Body: a 78 Merc Zephyr Z7, bought new. I said “kill all Fox Bodies with fire”. Apparently, you can’t say “kill” on Facebook.
That car was an incredible collection of horrid design, shoddy materials, and lousy assembly. I got rid of it after spending all my vacation time from work, over two years, sitting in the Merc dealer service department’s waiting room. Somehow, I managed to put 13,000 miles on it, between it’s monthly trips to the shop. A coworker bought a Fox Body 79 Mustang, new. He got rid of that steaming pile in one year.
Several months after I got rid of the Zephyr, I was dropping off my girlfriend one evening, and I saw a silver Z7 pull in to the neighboring apartment building. I walked over for a closer look. I recognized a spot where I had touched up the paint. The owner was just then getting out of the car. I explained “I used to own this car”. The first words out of his mouth were “you have a lot of trouble with it?” I went through the litany of the car’s ills, and said “how about you?”. He had had the car maybe three months. He said he had had the carb rebuilt, and, now, the a/c had quit. I said “yup”.
My dad passed in 1990. I inherited his car, an 82 or 83 Fairmont Futura coupe. He had not kept much maintenance paperwork on it. One of the very few work orders I found had a note on it “towed in by customer”. I thought “yup”.
The automotive pages I follow on Facebook are overwhelmingly populated by guys decades younger than I am. Many of them speak glowingly of Fox Bodies. I say “you guys have only known them after people have been fixing them for thirty years”. I knew those cars the way Ford built them.
I don’t have anything to say about Fords in general, but I will say that if I had a car that threw a rod (or perhaps several rods) within a few thousand miles of being rebuilt, I’d be looking more askance at whoever did the rebuilding than I’d be questioning the underlying designer of the engine.
Still, a pretty vehicle it seems.
Sorry, left a word out of that last line. Should have been “Still a pretty DISMAL vehicle it seems.”
My Dad’s worst car was an ’84 Pontiac Sunbird bought new. Interestingly it was a “copy” purchase after my sister and her husband had bought that same model/year.
He bought it new and had it serviced per the maintenance book at the dealer, but at less than 1000 miles it broke a timing belt…which was a portend of things to come. The engine was replaced at about 40k miles with a new replacement 2.0 by the same dealer. My youngest sister took over the car after that; things didn’t get any better…another 40k miles on the replacement engine threw a rod; the car was totalled out about 6 years after he bought it (it was the only car he owned it’s whole life, he usually traded cars pretty often, much more so than I do).
These were neat cars but only offered a few years, and followed by the Taurus/Sable and coexisting with the Crown Victoria/Marquis, these seemed to disappear compared to the better known and longer offered models. Though they only briefly appear in a scene from the movie “About Last Night” which also came out the year before the Taurus/Sable for some reason I think of that movie whenever I think of these, probably because I didn’t otherwise have any exposure to these up close. Too bad, these seemed to be a good car, but got caught in the rapid migration away from RWD (other than in the Crown Vic itself)
I would have been onto the rebuilder after the intake gasket failure did they not replace that and torque the manifold?
My first car was a 1984 Marquis Brougham passed down from my parents. I haven’t seen one in person in almost 30 years. Are there any even left?
Mine managed to eke out 218,000 km before it threw a rod on it’s second engine. The original engine lasted about 170,000 km when it blew a head gasket. As I remember, the 3.8 Essex was prone to this. My 1988 Thunderbird met the same fate.
It was not the pinnacle of design or build quality and mine had very questionable driving dynamics. But now that I am older, I really want one if only for the nostalgia and the rarity. Maybe one of the 134 Marquis LTS models built exclusively for the market here in Canada.
Sounds like one more Monday / Friday car .
The engine failing after being rebuilt makes me wonder of there weren’t initial quality control issues with the cylinder block ~ in 1981 we had a fleet of medium duty Chevy trucks, one vibrated badly, it shook like a paint mixer, we tried all manner of this and that, eventually at about 10,000 mile we tore the engine completely down after installing a “Target” engine the crankshaft bearing saddles had been machined close to .010″ off to one side . the poor thing never had a chance .
Why it didn’t go back to the dealer is anyone’s guess .
Bummer a car with so much promise failed to reach it’s capability and why sometimes it’s better to take a known good engine out of a wreck .
-Nate
Interesting. My father gave me his ’85 Ford LTD with the 3.8 Essex V6 in 1989 with about 50,000 miles. I sold it in 1994 with around 72k miles for $2,700. Not an exciting car, not a bad car. I used it for short trips and errands mostly, since short trips are harder on cars. I replaced the tires. The issues I had were a bad power brake booster, and A/C wouldn’t blow cold, due to a leak, bad O-rings. I had both replaced. I thought that was OK, perhaps better than average for a car of its age and miles. It was a competent car, the driver seat was fairly comfortable, the V6 was fairly brisk. A Fairmont Brougham.
It’s real hard to point the finger on this car. Could easily be a car that left the factory built pretty well, or it could be one that was started before and finished after a holiday weekend – but a good rebuild would have fixed the engine issues. Rebuilt engines are a crap shoot: there are a few reputable re-builders, but even some of the better ones are perfectly happy if their motor goes 50,000 miles and poops out because of cheap components. They’ll get caught on a few warranty claims, but generally they don’t have to make it far before a premature failure is someone else’s problem, and many cars won’t get there anyway. Still, 4,000 miles means either a garbage rebuild or big external problems (cooling issues, for instance) that should have been caught and corrected. A small shop rebuild can be better (if anything) or anything down to a time bomb depending on the skill of the re-builder. Things like AC and headliners aren’t so easy to pin on the neglectful sister, but obviously aren’t deal-breakers.
The big thing is, while the Essex V6 isn’t bulletproof, there’s nothing so bad to explain one highly premature and one extremely premature failure. Most likely explanation is the sister never checked or changed the oil and threw a quart in when the oil light started coming on, then someone did a slap-dash rebuild (maybe just threw new pistons, rings, and bearings in without having the bores or crank machined or even checked). Sad to see a car go to the wrecker with 22k; not a great loss to the motoring world considering, but probably as much the victim of neglect and mechanic malfeasance as poor engineering and construction.
Quality was not job one with These particular Fox Bodies. My father owned a business in southern New Hampshire in the 80s, and We bought several of these for our salesmen, From luggage racks coming off in the Carwash to stalling problems, these cars spent a LOT of time at the LM dealership. I look at these websites and see Detroit seventies and eighties cars that have somehow survived and scratch My head in wonder! I’m glad they don’t build them like they used to!
I enjoyed reading this story. A car being at end of life and having had so much extensive work done at 22k and 9 years old sounds ridiculous by today’s standards. But I know cars have a come a long way in the decades since these were built.
Frankly I’d be somewhat pissed about spending so much on a relatively newer car with low mileage and still getting squat. To concur with comment before mine, yes, definitely glad they don’t build them like they used to.
My mom still has her 2004 Ford Taurus. Shes currently got 135k on it. Only owner. Still runs good!