Mercury Marauder

The Mercury Marauder was produced from 2003 to 2004 by Mercury as a "high-performance" version of the Mercury Grand Marquis.

The 2003 Mercury Marauder was based on the Ford Panther platform, which utilizes a hydroformed steel frame, front rack and pinion steering, and totally revised front and rear suspension with monotube shock absorbers. The Marauder had a naturally aspirated 4.6L DOHC Modular V8 Engine with 302 hp and 318 ft·lbf torque. The Marauder was discontinued in 2004 mostly due to lackluster sales, an incorrect target audience, and a lack of major advertising or marketing of the car. Originally, Marauders were produced in "any color the customer desired, so long as it was black." Eventually, the Marauder was offered in silver, blue, and red, but in limited quantities.

Aftermarket parts availability for the Marauder is high, but expensive due to the low number of orders. Mercurymarauder.net is currently one the largest online community for the 2003-2004 Marauder. Another of the largest Marauder forums is www.MotorCityMarauders.com The Motor City Marauder Car Club is based out of Detroit, Michigan, and is the home of the largest Marauder Club in the World. The Motor City Club annually hosts a National Marauder Meet at the Woodward Dream Cruise which draws around 100 of these rare Marauders from all over the Country. On the Motor City Site, the Project Manager for the Mercury Marauder Program, Steve Babcock, will answer Marauder history and program development questions that anyone may have. This is a great resource of Marauder history from the 60's to present day. Steve Babcock is the man responsible for the development and production of the Marauder.

Trilogy Motorsports in Dearborn, Michigan, outfits Marauders with a custom Eaton supercharger which has put several Marauders into the 11-second 1/4 mile bracket.

A concept convertible model was created, but never entered production. This may have been an homage to the two-door Marauders of the past.

After the Marauder was discontinued, the Ford Crown Victoria LX Sport remained, bearing a similar appearance to the Marauder but powered by the lesser 4.6L 2-valve SOHC V8 engine rated at 239 hp. The LX Sport also includes a softer suspension and different axle ratio then the Marauder. The LX Sport offers smillar exterior and interior features as the Marauder such as the center floor shifter, dual exhaust (LX Sport does not have exhaust tips) and a monochromatic exterior but the LX Sport does have some styling differences. For instance, the LX Sport features wood grain trim on the dashboard and doors, unlike the Marauder, which had Satin Aluminum, a 120 mph speedometer, unlike the Marauder's 140 mph speedometer, and LX Sport's bucket seats are smaller. The LX Sport exterior is also similar at first glance to the Marauder's, but there are differences between the two vehicles; for instance the LX Sport has 17 inch aluminum wheels compared to the Marauder's 18 inch Chrome Wheels.

Total production for the 2003 - 2004 Mercury Marauder was 11,052:
 * 2003 - Total: 7,839 (328 Blue, 417 Silver, 7,094 Black)
 * 2004 - Total: 3,213 (980 Dark Toreador Red, 997 Silver, 1,236 Black)

1963½-1965
The early Marauder was a V8-engined large automobile. It debuted as a 1963½ model as a two-door "fastback" hardtop version of the full-size Mercury. Marauders were offered from the 1963½ to 1965 model years, then again from 1969 to 1970.

In 1964, the Marauder name was used to designate both two and four door models of the Mercury Monterey, Montclair, and Park Lane using a fastback roofline, rather than the reverse-slant Breezeway roof that had been introduced in 1963.

This Fastback roofline was developed for both the Mercury Marauder and the Ford Galaxie for NASCAR competition, and may have helped with the many 1963/64 Ford Mercury victories.

1969-1970
In 1969, the Marauder became a distinct model. It competed in the personal luxury market. The base Marauder had a 390 in³ engine, while the Marauder X-100 normally came with a larger 360 hp 429 in³ engine. Typically well appointed versions had bucket seats with the floor console housing the U-shaped automatic transmission shift handle and the sporty Kelsey-Hayes stylized road wheels - complete with rear fender skirts.

The Marauder enjoyed modest success as the touted Turnpike Cruiser aimed at the high performance sporty family car segment. This market proved difficult to establish any decent production numbers with nearly 15,000 cars sold in 1969 and barely a third of that in 1970.

However, the car had its own look with distinctive fake louvered side air intakes in the quarter panels and its tunnel back roofline - painted flat black on the X-100 models. It shared many front end and interior components with the more stately Marquis, but the back end was mostly unique.

The Mercury Marauder Club was the first Internet club solely developed to support the Marauder and had often been consulted and referred to when Mercury was designing the new 2003 model. The club operates for free and offers Marauder owners a place to post questions, comments and register their cars.

"Marauder" was also used as the name of Mercury's 390 and 410 in³ motors in the 1960's.