1964 Mercury Park Lane 390 super marauder from North America

Summary:

This is a true American Dream Car, in every sense, and would make anyone happy to drive it

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.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 23rd April, 2007

21st Aug 2008, 19:24

Wing windows are great! You can direct a refreshing stream of air in just about any direction. My '88 Grand Marquis has them. Funny, they were no longer an option on the '89's. Most other manufacturers quit adding them in the late '60's-early '70's. I personally believe automakers quit offering them because of the added expense, not because the car looked better as originally advertised.

1964 Mercury Park Lane 2dr HT 390 ci V/8 from North America

Summary:

I love my Mercury

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.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 1st April, 2007

28th Jul 2020, 12:55

Thirteen years later, wonder how much of those "improvements" the reviewer actually accomplished, beyond putting larger wheels on it?

1968 Mercury Park Lane Brougham 390 cubic inches from North America

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.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 21st May, 2006

22nd May 2006, 08:46

Thank you for the info. Very interesting.

9th Apr 2008, 23:34

The 1968 Mercury Parklane 390 engine referenced by the author had a very pain-in-the-neck coolant bypass hose that caused mechanics of the era to tear their hair out and loudly offer up earthy observations about Henry Ford II's maternal ancestors. The 3" long hose fit between the water pump and the intake manifold with barely 1/2" gap between the two.

In order to replace the break-prone short hose, the mechanic had to remove the water pump. In order to remove the water pump he had to remove in true "the toe bone's connected to the foot bone, the foot bone's connected to the heel bone, etc." style: the alternator and bracket, two idler pulleys, the power steering pump and bracket, the AC compressor and bracket, the fan, the fan shroud, all belts, and the water pump pulleys. Frequently, when the water pump's bolt holes had corroded into mere rust, the radiator and AC evaporator and upper and lower hoses would also be removed to allow tools in to install helicoil repair of the block before reassembly could happen.

Grown men would cry and curse while replacing the bypass hose, and other grown men would cry and curse when presented with the bill for replacing the bypass hose.

22nd Jun 2009, 22:57

But even the nastier jobs, like the ones mentioned, were still very simple compared to working on today's cars.

1966 Mercury Park Lane Coupe 428 super maruder from North America

Summary:

Style, Exclusivity, Power, and Comfort

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.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 30th December, 2003

25th Jul 2007, 20:48

66 Mercs are well built. Frames have a tendency to rust through as this was designed as a unit body with a "flexable" frame designed to absorb road shock and keep the car quite. the 410/428 engines are amazing.

1964 Mercury Park Lane Breezeway 4D HT 390 super marauder from North America

Summary:

Beauty to look at. A boat to drive

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.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 19th December, 2002