Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #15 – May 31, 2010, 10:06:17 PM Quote from: daminc;323879I'm still a huge fan of the newer Towncars. They have lot of balls in a 5000 lb package.I've been eyeballing a black one I see every day on my work commute. I keep envisioning it, shortened about 6 inches and made into a 2 door. Kinda like a Mark VIII, except with the better grille, lol. Quote Selected
Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #16 – June 01, 2010, 01:02:25 AM I guess its time to say goodbye. The grand marquis were just rebadged crown vics. I drove a 91 wagon with a 302 and AOD. Whole time my dad was working on it, I swore I'd never own a car close to it. Thinking back how I have almost only owned 302/AOD''s, I think my dad was onto something.My biggest problem with ford, they don't make a car that is ment to drive. Mercury was gone long before the newest "cougar" came out. The only way we'll see a new cougar, would be a re-badged mustang named capri. Not because ford won't make another cougar, but because the capri always was a re-badged mustang. One day they might bring back the cougar, but I hope it won't be with a ford name. Ford cougar, just sounds wrong. Quote Selected
Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #17 – June 01, 2010, 03:08:52 AM Quote from: Haystack;323906The only way we'll see a new cougar, would be a re-badged mustang named capri. Not because ford won't make another cougar, but because the capri always was a re-badged mustang. One day they might bring back the cougar, but I hope it won't be with a ford name. Ford cougar, just sounds wrong.The Capri was not always a rebadged Mustang. It was only twinned with the Mustang from 1979-86. That Capri was dropped after 1986 because of lackluster sales. The Cougar was originally twinned with the Mustang for 1967 and it was not a blatent rebadge either. It shared a lot of parts with the Mustang but it rode on a longer wheelbase and had unique exterior styling. When the end of the first generation Mustang came after 1973, the Cougar had to go somewhere, so it stepped up in size to a restyled Montego 2-door hardtop body for 1974. When the Mustang II was being developed, a Capri version was considered and a styling prototype was made but it never reached production. It was decided later that Lincoln-Mercury would stop importing the Capri and switch it over to being a domestic twin to the Mustang for 1979.For 1977, the Thunderbird nameplate was moved to the same platform as the Torino based Cougar to replace the Ford Elite and take over as a downsized version of the former larger TBird. The Tbird and Cougar remained paired together until the end of 1997. As far as the name Ford Cougar goes, if you go back in Mustang history in the early 1960's, there were two seat coupe and roadster Ford Cougar show cars. When the first Mustang was being developed, the production model was chosen from sketches from the design team of John Oros and Dave Ash. It went from paper to production with very few changes. The original name of the sketched proposal was called Cougar. The Mustang went through several name changes through development. They started out with "Special Falcon" complete with a Falcon bird emblem in the corral where the Mustang pony normally sits. The name then switched to Cougar with a cat emblem in the familiar Mustang corral. Later, the name Torino was applied then IIRC, it switched back to Cougar until it was decided to go with the Mustang name which was borrowed from the 1962 two seat protoype of the same name. Iacocca insisted on using the name Mustang because it was "American as hell" and conjured images of a wild horse running free. The designers of the Mustang kept insisting they keep the name Cougar but Iacocca won. However they did get to use the Cougar name on a Mercury version of the Mustang two years later. The Torino name was also well liked among the designer peers and the name was later chosen for the fastback version of the Fairlane series for 1968, which looked very much like a scale larger 1967 Mustang fastback. Quote Selected
Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #18 – June 01, 2010, 09:11:30 PM Ford History 101!!!Where do you guys learn all this stuff!!!:grinno: Quote Selected
Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #19 – June 01, 2010, 09:36:24 PM Quote from: sarjxxx;323963Ford History 101!!!Where do you guys learn all this stuff!!!:grinno:OMG I have been studying this stuff since I was a kid.. I used to check out books in the school library about how cars were made and how engines work. Every month in the library I would read the new issues of Motor Trend and Car and Driver. That was about 1974 (about 8 years old) when I noticed in the fall new model year issue I became accutely aware of the fact that cars were built on similar platforms. The 1975 models came out and I noticed that the Chevy Monza, Buick Skyhawk and Olds Starfire were all the same cars with minor changes to the grille and trim. Then I made it a game for myself to match all the cars with common platforms... like all the Fords to Mercurys, all the Impalas to Catalina, Le Sabre and Delta 88, etc and et al. I learned to tell which cars were common by the shared glass and roof designs. Also during the new model years I used to notice and be fascinated with the year to year cosmetic changes and I would get excited when I would see a new or facelifted car. I started collecting dealer brochures from every showroom every year. I also used to get caught up in the spy photos of new cars coming for the next model year. I started drawing cars as well. It was always side views then as I did not have the skill to draw 1/4 views and such. It's funny because I would always draw the cars from the side showing the full front and back on each end. I evolved in my drawing skills somewhat and I used to put together a lot of plastic scale models. One time after seeing a go-cart with a car body on it, I wanted to build my own car body design on top of the chassis. I would design and design but I could never get my Pop involved to help me do it. I continued my interests in my hobby and I would always buy historical books of cars. I have always had books that show the year to year model offerings in each automotive design decade. I even bought specific books on the design development of Camaros, Mustangs and Tbirds. This is how I remember so much history.I wanted to be a car designer... It just didn't happen because I did not get the guidence while growing up just being raised by my working father. I needed art classes and the right education when I was younger. However all this prepped me for my lifetime knowlege of selling auto parts and that is pretty much what I have done since my first real auto related job at a Honda car dealer in 1988.or most of my driving years I always had new cars. My first car was used and I used to work on cosmetically. The rest of my cars I was always adding, changing or doing something that I wanted to make it different and unique for me.Well, after all these years I have an entire car to restore and recondition, so this is like working on one giant model car. Quote Selected
Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #20 – June 02, 2010, 08:45:18 AM "Bow-Wave"? I always call it the Lincoln "Hair-lip" grille.As for the Mustang being the reason the Thunderbird disappeared in 2005, I highly doubt that. There are a few reasons for that. The biggest being that no one wanted them. They just couldn't sell an oversized two seat retro roadster with a tiny V8 and an automatic. Beyond that, remember that the Lincoln LS (the other PAG 'Ford' sharing the platform) died a year later, and Ford started selling off it's foreign PAG brands as well in 2006. The 2005 Mustang was also supposed to share the DEW platform, but they went with the DC2 chassis instead. It was pretty obvious that the Thunderbird was either going to be axed or completely redesigned on a new chassis. Knowing the sales of the previous decade for the Thunderbird, Ford, I think, made a smart decision. Now the Jaguar XF is the only car left on the DEW, and Ford doesn't own them anymore. I'm not sure if the DEW is the intellectual property of Jaguar, or if Ford has some claim to it through the PAG, but seeing how Ford seemed to be getting rid of their own vehicles on that platform just as they were selling off the other brands under the PAG umbrella, it sounds to me like Ford would have had to pay Jaguar in the long run to keep the Thunderbird going. Quote Selected
Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #21 – June 02, 2010, 02:55:37 PM I moved this out into the general Lounge area due to recent news.The death of Mercury is imminent. Conference call at 3:30pm today for L-M dealers. Ford's expected to can the division and give more cars to Lincoln.I'm sure there will be more about this later. Quote Selected
Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #22 – June 02, 2010, 04:11:22 PM ...and it's official. Mercury will no longer exist after Q4 2010. So long, good friend.Some links...Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100602/AUTO01/6020400/1148/auto01/Ford-retires-71-year-old-Mercury-brandAutoblog (with press release): http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/02/ford-kills-mercury-to-expand-lincoln/Autoweek: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20100602/CARNEWS/100609962Fantastic photo gallery of Mercurys throughout the years: http://multimedia.detnews.com/pix/photogalleries/autosgallery/FordMercuryAds/ Quote Selected
Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #23 – June 02, 2010, 04:41:50 PM That made are cars rare!!,not like it changed. So what will it do to are cars value wise? Quote Selected
Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #24 – June 02, 2010, 04:52:27 PM Hopefully it's like art.. Value increases once the artist dies. Quote Selected
Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #25 – June 02, 2010, 05:09:00 PM Quote from: Kitz Kat;324035 So what will it do to are cars value wise?Nothing....value will continue to sh*t-tank.Seems like saying bye to an old friend, never to see again. Quote Selected
Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #26 – June 02, 2010, 05:49:02 PM Well it is sad to lose a brand that I love but I am really happy to see an American car company make so many smart decisions in the past year with fantastic new products and a reduction of unneeded spending and brands. GM still has too many divisions (GMC), but Ford is cutting the cord because even though Mercury may have been all profit by sticking a new grille on an existing car they understand that it is much smarter and economical in the long term to focus on two brands rather than trying to make Mercury into something useful.Think Honda/Acura or Toyota/Lexus or Nissan/Infiniti. I hope that the death of Mercury ensures at least one hot rod Lincoln in the future!And, of course, Mercury will always live on in my garage. Quote Selected
Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #27 – June 02, 2010, 05:58:58 PM If you bought your cat for investment purposes I have some bad news.....I also have a bridge in Russia to sell you! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9bynDA9fSc Quote Selected
Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #28 – June 02, 2010, 06:03:53 PM I wouldn't count on the death of Mercury increasing the value of our cars. Minor brands have almost always (with very few exceptions) been worth less than the main brand. '67-73 Mustangs are worth more than Cougars. '67-70 Camaros are worth more than Firebirds. Chevelles are generally worth more than Cutlasses, Beaumonts, etc. Monte Carlos are worth more than their G-body brothers (except the GN). And yes, I predict that fox T-Birds will be worth more than Cougars (possibly with the exception of the more rare 84-86 XR7). The only consistent exception to this trend seems to be Plymouth, whos cars seem to be worth more than their Dodge twins...Short term it'll probably hurt values. Oldsmobile and Plymouth owners both saw the values of their cars plummet when the brands closed, and I've heard from several used car dealers that they can't give Saturns away right now... Quote Selected
Official: Ford Axes Mercury Reply #29 – June 02, 2010, 06:19:52 PM T-birds are always worth more than Cougars as there is a much larger following.By by Mercury. Atleast Ford is still around and kicking. Quote Selected
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