Faults:

It was an estate sale (eBay, last July, 2006), and the old guy had just "Rhino-ized" the trunk interior. He & the rest of the family had done all the usual maintenance stuff, not envisioning that this vehicle would be a collector/showcar.

So, I just had the ENTIRE brake/electric/exhaust systems gone through. Imagine metal fatigue, corrosion, etc.

I still need to get the carb re-built, and the rear bumper is badly dented. Also, I have a lifter which needs an adjustment-I pray.

General Comments:

I am so happy with this car, I can't even believe I was so lucky. I'd passed on a 1966 Monterey (with breezeway), at a Lake City (Seattle district) used car dealer in 1995-or-6, because I was feeling cheap that day, and, at $1600, I did not want to have it's brakes re-done. And 'Mr. Weaver'-the ancient dealer/owner wouldn't give me a $200 break, towards the repair. Of course......

Next day, it was gone, and I had looked for an early-mid-60's Mercury with power breezeway ever since.

With 106,000 original miles, power everything, a good mechanic, and that INcredible BRIGHT red imitation Ostrich-and-Elephant interior, this car keeps me happy, and is amazingly attractive to most people.

The other day, I went by a Mom picking up her 9-or-10-year old son at the busstop, and heard him yell "Mom! Look at THAT old car!" as I drove by, with just the driver's wing-window cranked open-Say..... Why don't they put 'wing-windows' in cars anymore?? They make perfect sense.

In Edmonds, north of Seattle, we are a large retirement community, and a lot of seniors like to chat about their old Mercury (or what-have-you). Very cool, this car is.

Faults:

I think the tire/wheel combination was too small at 14" wheel with 5" width and a F14 tire.

General Comments:

It has the high performance S-22 package, with bucket seat in front, and a full length console.

The rear seat was never sat in until after we bought it.

We have changed to 16" wheels with a little wider tires.

The engine runs great, get 13 mpg on the highway.

We are planning a transmission exchange for a new over-drive.

The only problem/design error we have found is the rear spring set-up. The car sags in the rear, we are changing the rear springs and upgrading swaybars on both front and rear.

The car drives good, but can't wait to upgrade front end and install rack and pinion steering.

It is still a BLAST to drive.

Faults:

I bought a 1968 Mercury Park Lane Brougham brand new in 1968. It was a fine car for its day.

Back then I owned a repair shop, and was quite annoyed when I changed the heater hoses that you had to partially disconnect the inner part of the right front fender to do it. It was an all day process under the best conditions.

Another Mercury Model of the day I recall, had to have the engine mounts loosened to allow for the engine, a 428 cubic inch in a Cougar Eliminator to be jacked up, so you could get enough room to change the spark plugs.

A more puzzling problem was when a good customer brought her 1972 Cadillac Sedan Deville in for a performance problem. The Cadillac was only a couple of years old, and the ignition and carbueration was perfect. So why then did it not go any faster than 55 mph and with considerable surging at that speed. We were baffled for awhile, but then realized the problem was that the silicone lubricate that Cadillac had installed in the inner exhaust extension pipe had worn away, and was backing up the exhaust and choking out the engine. After we installed the new exhaust extension pipe the Cadillac 472 cubic inch engine performed flawlessly.

Another habitual problem for Chevrolet Impala and Caprice built between 1965-1966 was premature excessive wear on lower front ball joints. Back then I had an inspection station and we had to fail many a Chevrolet of that vintage because of poor ball joints.

Finally in 1968, Chevrolet went with an Oldsmobile type ball joint design on its larger models and solved the problem.

General Motors water pump failure during the years of the late 1960's and early 1970's was excessive in the 350 V-8. Problem was even the new replacement waterpumps were no better and had to be constantly changed, due to bearing failure and leaking. Now I'm talking about water pump failure in less than one year or 20,000 miles.

Not to be undone Chrysler, had a severe ignition problem during the early years of electronic ignition. All models from Plymouth to Chrysler from roughly 1971-1977 had a ballast resistor design, which was like a large fuse that would fail frequently and prevent total ignition modular burnout, but also prevented the car from starting. The fuse was a plug in device that fitted easily into the ignition modular. It was a $10 item and we kept one in the service truck at all times for disabled Chrysler products. GM and Ford did not have ballast resistors, so when the ignition failed, it was a $100 ignition modular that needed to be replaced.

Unfortunately for myself I bought a one year old Dodge Coronet (1973). It was a former Chrysler Lease vehicle and I paid $2600 for it. It only had 9,000 miles on it. I soon regretted purchasing the vehicle as the carburetor failed within a few months, and then every carburetor I replaced it with (all new) ended up with flooding problems. I believe there was 8 of them spread over a seven year period.

Finally I traded the Dodge in, but only later learned that the carburetor manufacturer admitted to massive carburetor failure on Chrysler products made from 1973-1977.

Faults:

New water pump.

Heads needed rebuilt.

New fuel pump.

Brakes rebuilt.

General Comments:

You cannot kill this car and it has enough power to smoke most "pure" muscle cars. It's very rare and I love this car.

Faults:

Power steering pump stopped working to one side.

Front end needed alignment when I got it.

Front bench seat has a few rips and tears in it.

Tail light covers cracked or broken.

Trunk liner has fallen apart.

Gas filter comes loose every so often.

Paint job is fading and in some parts gone.

Dome light cover has literally melted.

Power window motors have gone out in passenger front and back, and driver's back window.

General Comments:

Driver and rear breezeway window work just dandy.

Very little to no rust.

Interior is gorgeous black.

Back bench seat is in pristine condition.

The dash is still shining bright, covered in chrome.

Beautiful body style.

Drives like a boat.