Not everyone looks good in bathing attire and not all cars or trucks look good in racing attire. You’ll have to decide if today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Eurovan is the exception, and if its price and Martini looks leave you either shaken or stirred.
Man, five-grand sure is a lot to spend on a Nineties Mercury that doesn’t doesn’t say Marauder on the back. Of course, bring out a brown wagon with extra seats and in terrific condition and a quintet of Clevelands starts to sound about right.
At least that was the case for yesterday’s 1990 Mercury Marquis Colony Park GS which at nearly five-grand came away with a 64% Nice Price win.
As we noted, it was the Minivan and the SUV that eventually killed off the large wagon form here in the States. It took Volkswagen a long time to get on the SUV train, but they were one of the originators of the Minivan, having started out with the original Type 2 all the way back in 1950.
The last of the marque’s home-grown Minivans to be sold here was the 1992 - 2004 front-engine/FWD T4, colloquially called the Eurovan, and succeeding the rear-engined T3 as the company’s dutiful people carrier.
This 1993 Eurovan sports the company’s 109-bhp/140 lb-ft torque SOHC 2.5-litre five. That was the only engine offered that year, and is paired here with the equally standard five-speed manual transmission. Yep, this is one of the rare Minivans that lets you row your own.
The engine is said to have had a ton of work done to it in the past two years, including the bottom end, piston rings, and a valve grind for good measure. It also has a bunch of upgrade parts like Bilstein shocks, H&R springs and a cat-back exhaust.
Ah, but it’s not the mechanical systems that really make this Eurovan stand apart. It’s the Martini livery vinyl wrap that does that. This was once owned by a master tech at Atlanta’s Superior Autohaus, and he apparently thought what it really needed was to get with the team, the Martini team.
Under the wrap is appropriately German silver paint and there doesn’t seem to be any issue that the wrap is hiding, it’s just there to be different. The van was offered on the Vortex last year at a butt-load higher price, and there you can get an even better idea of all the updates made under the wrap, and some more pics. Also, it’s too bad the van doesn’t still come with the BBS wheels, which could have made up a good chunk of the price difference.
The interior looks servicable, but the van’s 280,000 miles do show on the driver’s seat, which is wearing thin. Aside from that the Porsche-badged three-spoke and three-pedal layout seems inviting.
The question of course is whether it’s $3,000 inviting, and if that’s an invitation to a Martini party that anyone should acknowledge. What do you think, do the mechanical updates and mechanic owned history make up of the miles on this Martini-wrapped Eurovan? Further, does that make it worth its $3,000 asking price?
You decide!
Atlanta Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to DrivingImpaired for the hookup!
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