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question of the day
Posts Tagged “
Mercury
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question of the day
classic ad watch
1984 Mercury Topaz: Enlightened With Front Wheel Drive
"30 seconds is hardly a fair amount of time to judge the handling characteristics of any car. One car recognizes that reality." That's why Mercury made a 20-page brochure explaining the suspension of their Tempo clone. We're sure millions dialed up 1-800-MERCFAX so they could read about mysterious features such as front-wheel-drive and independent rear suspension. Hmmm... when's the last time you saw a Topaz?
classic ad watch
Day Of The Cat: 1973 Lincolns And Mercuries Greet The Dawn Of Malaise!
The cage door creeeeeaks open, (perhaps suggesting the rust that will soon assail most Malaise Lincolns and Mercuries), and the angry mountain lion struts out into a field full of parked cars. The Continental... the Marquis... Montego... Comet... Cougar... they're all here, and they're all packing more bloat and less power than ever before.
classic ad watch
Cheryl Tiegs Joins The Cat Set In Her '78 Cougar XR-7
While Farrah Fawcett merely allowed a cougar to sit on the roof of her car in her '75 Cougar ad, Cheryl Tiegs lets a mountain lion ride shotgun in her '78 (equipped with the hyper-Malaise "Midnight Chamois" option package). Not only that, but her hair totally out-feathers Farrah's, and her haunted mansion gives her more of an air of mystery. Did we mention the 134-horse 302 that came standard in this 3,800-pound car?
down on the street
I enjoy the nice, shiny, well-preserved cars in this series, of course, but I really love me some beaters! Cars that haven't been coddled for one minute of their decades-long lives! This Cyclone is one of my all-time favorite Alameda cars; an original 289/4-speed machine, it's been roaring around the island for at least the last 15 years and probably longer. It sounds good, looks mean, and lives on a busy street. Sure, it's slowly rusting away, but it's got decades to go before the slow-motion California-style rust finally brings it down.
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1964 Mercury Comet Cyclone, With Bonus Mercury Poll
I enjoy the nice, shiny, well-preserved cars in this series, of course, but I really love me some beaters! Cars that haven't been coddled for one minute of their decades-long lives! This Cyclone is one of my all-time favorite Alameda cars; an original 289/4-speed machine, it's been roaring around the island for at least the last 15 years and probably longer. It sounds good, looks mean, and lives on a busy street. Sure, it's slowly rusting away, but it's got decades to go before the slow-motion California-style rust finally brings it down.More »
novelties
How Not To Modify Your Mercury Cougar
Whereas we like to think Jalopnik is a fairly safe and friendly place to express an opinion, niche forums can be brutal. Take the story of one young man and his last generation Mercury Cougar at the New Cougar forums. We know it can't be easy to be a Cougar owner — who do you have to look down on? Topaz owners? Nevertheless, these fan-boys soldier on and learn to squeeze every bit of love and performance out of their cars, which is something we can respect. But this guy's ride we can't respect. He's basically taken plywood and home theatre controls and shoved them in the backseat of his car (something you can do if you have no friends). The execution is so poor that it makes you start to appreciate the ridiculous import tuner crowd. But as harsh as we could be, our pithy comments are nothing compared to the ire directed at him by his fellow Cougar fan-boys. We've included a selection of said comments below the jump.More »
classic ad watch
Drive Phoenix To LA Very Slowly In a 1974 Mercury, Get Crap Mileage!
How is it possible that a car weighing just over 2,200 pounds and equipped with a 2-liter engine can drive from Phoenix to Los Angeles at the maddeningly geriatric speed of 50 miles per hour and manage only a pathetic 32.4 miles per gallon? Yes, that's the best the '74 Capri could do! We're thinking it was the weight of several tons of Malaise pushing down hard on the car during the trip (not to mention the restrictive first-gen catalytic converters and miserable engine compression ratios of the era). The six-cylinder Comet made the same trip and grunted out an Saudi-oil-baron-pleasing 26.6 MPG, so we shudder to imagine the sort of single-digit mileage a 460-equipped Country Squire would have achieved.
jalopnik reviews
Why you should buy this car:
You want a luxury SUV that isn't blinged out or foreign. Your expectation of what luxury entails is fairly low. You don't like driving but you're too lazy to ride a bicycle. You give money to groups that support eco-friendly candidates but you don't actually vote.
Why you shouldn't buy this car:
You live by the motto "between here and there is better than either here or there." You spent $30,000 on your last five cars, combined. You're holding out for a diesel version. You realize it ain't this easy being green; making a meaningful reduction in your own environmental impact requires the kind of sacrifice and commitment that can't be achieved by driving a luxury SUV. You couldn't give a damn about the previous sentence.
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2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid, Part Three
Why you should buy this car: You want a luxury SUV that isn't blinged out or foreign. Your expectation of what luxury entails is fairly low. You don't like driving but you're too lazy to ride a bicycle. You give money to groups that support eco-friendly candidates but you don't actually vote.
Why you shouldn't buy this car:
You live by the motto "between here and there is better than either here or there." You spent $30,000 on your last five cars, combined. You're holding out for a diesel version. You realize it ain't this easy being green; making a meaningful reduction in your own environmental impact requires the kind of sacrifice and commitment that can't be achieved by driving a luxury SUV. You couldn't give a damn about the previous sentence.
More »
12:00 PM on Fri Apr 11 2008
By Matt Hardigree
1,978 views,
39 comments
Latest by trjarvis01: Definitely Chicago. You got your Dinkels on Lincoln, the CB2 up the street, and a Treasure Island from... Broadway, maybe? I hear Bill C. has one, with a fridge in the back. But no astroturf. more »
jalopnik reviews
Exterior Design:***
Whereas the platform buddy Ford Escape never manages to look tough enough and the other derivative, the Mazda Tribute, looks like a child with some sort of neurological condition, the Mercury Mariner Hybrid appears exactly as it should. By far the best looking of the trio, the conservative looks fare well next to luxury SUV offerings from Toyota and Acura.
Interior Design:**
Compared to the previous generation, the interior of the Mariner is smart and luxurious. The stone-colored leather seats are comfortable, though more side bolstering would be nice. The rear bench is roomy enough for two passengers joining you and your wife for a night of gallery hopping, and if you ditch them, the rear seats fold forward far enough to hold just a touch over 66 square feet of trendy crap.
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2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid, Part Two
Exterior Design:***Whereas the platform buddy Ford Escape never manages to look tough enough and the other derivative, the Mazda Tribute, looks like a child with some sort of neurological condition, the Mercury Mariner Hybrid appears exactly as it should. By far the best looking of the trio, the conservative looks fare well next to luxury SUV offerings from Toyota and Acura.
Interior Design:**
Compared to the previous generation, the interior of the Mariner is smart and luxurious. The stone-colored leather seats are comfortable, though more side bolstering would be nice. The rear bench is roomy enough for two passengers joining you and your wife for a night of gallery hopping, and if you ditch them, the rear seats fold forward far enough to hold just a touch over 66 square feet of trendy crap.
More »
12:00 PM on Thu Apr 10 2008
By Matt Hardigree
2,613 views,
41 comments
Latest by charles_barrett: @Matt Hardigree: "...as I cruised for Etruscan pottery." Matt, please tell me you aren't planning to take the Etruscan stuff to "the Paint Your Own Pottery place off Lincoln Ave..." I doubt you can improve on their work... more »
jalopnik reviews
The full title of this review is "2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid, Part One or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love my Yuppie Ass" but the kicker wouldn't look good on the page. I do my best to pass myself off as anything-but-a-yuppie. Preferring to rock cheap chinos, a hoody and an Astros cap over J. Crew sweater vests and flat front Banana Republic slacks, but something about the Mariner Hybrid makes me suddenly think about how fly I'd look with the sleeves of my dress shirt exposed while driving through Lincoln Park listening to The Best Of Tuvan Throat Singing Vol. 2.
More »
2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid, Part One
The full title of this review is "2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid, Part One or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love my Yuppie Ass" but the kicker wouldn't look good on the page. I do my best to pass myself off as anything-but-a-yuppie. Preferring to rock cheap chinos, a hoody and an Astros cap over J. Crew sweater vests and flat front Banana Republic slacks, but something about the Mariner Hybrid makes me suddenly think about how fly I'd look with the sleeves of my dress shirt exposed while driving through Lincoln Park listening to The Best Of Tuvan Throat Singing Vol. 2.More »
12:00 PM on Wed Apr 9 2008
By Matt Hardigree
2,652 views,
119 comments
Latest by leighzbohns: on topic: The many hybrids I see are prius. Basically, the D-Bs who want a SUV jut buy one with the full climate change, and the folks who want a wagon buy a wagon, and all the wannabe Gs more »
down on the street
How is it that I've only had one Mercury Cougar in this series so far, and that a Malaisemobile? Even worse, we forgot about all about the 40th anniversary of the Cougar last, in spite of repeated reminders from the Colorado Cougar Club! Maybe the problem is that the bloat-o-riffic Farrah Fawcett Cougar managed to obscure our mental images of the sleek 60s cats. Anyway, I've photographed several of the sporty Mustang-based Cougars on the island and you'll be sure to see them in this series, starting with this '68.
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1968 Mercury Cougar
How is it that I've only had one Mercury Cougar in this series so far, and that a Malaisemobile? Even worse, we forgot about all about the 40th anniversary of the Cougar last, in spite of repeated reminders from the Colorado Cougar Club! Maybe the problem is that the bloat-o-riffic Farrah Fawcett Cougar managed to obscure our mental images of the sleek 60s cats. Anyway, I've photographed several of the sporty Mustang-based Cougars on the island and you'll be sure to see them in this series, starting with this '68.More »
down on the street
Hey, if you shoot enough photos of old cars on the streets of Alameda, sooner or later you'll get a shot that looks something like a Robert Bechtle painting! The photo above made me almost happy enough to forget my frustration that there's a super-original, 4-speed-equipped '68 AMX parked a couple doors down from this Comet... in a driveway, and thus off-limits to DOTS. The pain!
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1965 Mercury Comet 202
Hey, if you shoot enough photos of old cars on the streets of Alameda, sooner or later you'll get a shot that looks something like a Robert Bechtle painting! The photo above made me almost happy enough to forget my frustration that there's a super-original, 4-speed-equipped '68 AMX parked a couple doors down from this Comet... in a driveway, and thus off-limits to DOTS. The pain!
More »
offbeat news
IRS Gives Biggest Tax Credit To New Ford Hybrids
Now that the tax incentives to on the Toyota Prius have run out, the new king of the road for deductions are the hybrid offerings from Ford — the Hybrid Ford Escape and Hybrid Mercury Mariner two wheel drive. The taxman will be giving buyers of the twin hybrids up to $3,000 in deductions in an effort to offset the additional cost associated with purchase. Of course, if and when Ford ever manages to build 60,000 hybrids, those incentives will evaporate just as they have for the Prius. [IRS.gov]
industry news
Mustang Aussie: Ford To Focus On The Falcon, Not So Much Mercury
We hear this AM that Ford's taking a page directly from GM's Aussie-loving playbook. Bryce Hoffman of the Detroit News, who's never met a job he couldn't hand-le when it comes to Ford, is reporting they're looking at bringing the rear-wheel-drive Falcon platform up from down under to provide the basis for the next Ford Mustang. In addition to the muscular two-door, it'll also be used for new sedans from the Ford and Lincoln brands — replacements for the Crown Vic and Lincoln Town Car — both scheduled to meet their demise come 2011. The only problem is, Auto Week reported this same thing like umm, in January. So we've got a more important question that Bryce has seemingly left unasked.More »
retro
Yes, Mercury Really Did Make a Cougar Wagon
A Mercury Cougar station wagon, you say? Yes, Cougar wagons really exist, and we aren't talking about homemade ones welded together by the wild-eyed freaks who build stuff like the Cyclonechero. In 1977, you could buy a Cougar-branded LTD wagon, and a Fox-based Cougar Villager wagon was available in '82. Thanks to Cougar expert Mark for the tip! [LTD Sightings]
choose your eternity
Yesterday's all-Corvette Choose Your Eternity poll resulted in the '68 just barely edging out the '69, no doubt due to the Jimi Hendrix connection. Now it's time to try a different type of theme; we haven't yet seen a selection of cars based on a model year alone, so today we're going with two vastly different- yet vastly cool- choices from Anno Domini 1958, the year Nikita Krushchev became premier of the Soviet Union.
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Project Car Hell, 1958 Edition: Mercury Commuter or Vespa 400?
Yesterday's all-Corvette Choose Your Eternity poll resulted in the '68 just barely edging out the '69, no doubt due to the Jimi Hendrix connection. Now it's time to try a different type of theme; we haven't yet seen a selection of cars based on a model year alone, so today we're going with two vastly different- yet vastly cool- choices from Anno Domini 1958, the year Nikita Krushchev became premier of the Soviet Union.More »
journalism
Unlike D. B. Cooper, The Loverman Resurfaces!
Like all of you, I was very sad when the Loverman left us. In my case, it was especially tough, because Jonny was the Jalop who talked the Gawker Overlords into hiring me (and it's been quite a ride since my first post a little over a year ago). However, those of us who jones for the Loverman's writing chops can now get a fix, because that sneaky devil Farago over at The Truth About Cars offered him sufficient booze, poker, and whores to sign up. Here's the Loverman's take on the Mercury brand: [TTAC]
down on the street
What's better than a regular station wagon? Why, a pink four-door hardtop station wagon with about 800 pounds of chrome, of course! I'm actually pretty familiar with this car, because I've known the owner for many years (and in fact was with him on the day a few years back when he bought it from the original owner). This Commuter was bought new at a dealership in Oakland and has lived its entire life in Alameda; I'm pretty sure it's only been off the island a handful of times in the last 48 years.
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1960 Mercury Commuter Station Wagon, With Bonus Wagon Poll
What's better than a regular station wagon? Why, a pink four-door hardtop station wagon with about 800 pounds of chrome, of course! I'm actually pretty familiar with this car, because I've known the owner for many years (and in fact was with him on the day a few years back when he bought it from the original owner). This Commuter was bought new at a dealership in Oakland and has lived its entire life in Alameda; I'm pretty sure it's only been off the island a handful of times in the last 48 years.More »
