| May 2006 Car of the Month 1970 Mercury
Marauder X-100
Owned by Jim Owens.
The car it self has 64 000 original miles, and was a one family car
until I found it in 2002. It was completely original & in fantastic
condition, it looked like a 5 year old used car, it was never winter
driven. It did need a paint job, but all the chrome and interior where
like new. I also mechanically went over the whole car. I pulled the
motor & tranny and went over everything.
I wanted the car to look like 1970 exactly where ever I could. I
found NOS dual exhaust so you cannot see any pipes. I wanted to put on 3/8 white
line radials (proper for that car) but they don't exist in
the proper size anymore. So I went with raised whites.
So from the exterior other than the tires it's 1970 all the way, with code 1
competition orange with matt black trunk treatment. It was the original K/H Magstars with NOS Mercury Marauder center caps (very hard to find.
When you open the hood it's all 1970 era with all the proper clamps,
decals, air breather and battery cover. I again found lots of NOS
parts, (steering lines, 429 water pump tubes, Ford mounts etc).
Now inside I kept it completely original looking with two exceptions.
One you can see the other is hidden. I added after market gauges to
the acres of wood veneer across the dash. I found gauges that were the
same height, & color scheme as the original cluster (I do have extra
pieces to convert back to original if I so desire one day.
I also really enjoy the sound of a modern car audio, so I added a
killer system. We made two custom sub boxes that fit nicely in the
trunk. One killer amp that is hidden in the trunk, again all these
components can be easily removed with out any damage to the vehicle.
Inside the stereo is complete stealth, hidden in the glove box &
controlled by remote. Two mids are in the door panels hidden by
factory grills, the tweets are out of sight under the dash panel.
It's a 1970 X100 one of 2655 (or something made that year). 429 N code with C6 trans, it has A/C, tilt wheel, rear electric defroster,
buckets, floor console, delay wipers.
I spent about years playing around with it. I did all the paint &
body work myself as that is my profession.
On another note, I really wanted to find another Mercury or Torino Cobra
after I finished this one. I really want to find an excellent Cyclone
Spoiler 2 and make a resto rod out of it, but some how I ended up with
a 68 Toronado. Restoring cars is a little harder in Canada than in the
US as we are limited in access to as many cars and parts. Plus our
dollar doesn't go as far. This Marauder was bought and sold in Ontario
Canada and it's quite amazing it's still here as these cars rusted
badly.
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