427-Powered 1963 Mercury Monterey Custom Marauder 2-Door Hardtop for sale on BaT Auctions - ending April 4 (Lot #102,934) | Bring a Trailer
My aunt and uncle had no kids and I had no father, so I was kind of a surrogate son to them. One day he called and said they were going to buy a new car and did I want to help them pick it out. They owned a 59 Ford wagon at the time. We went to the local Mercury dealership and toured the show room. He asked which one I liked. Of course I was immediately drawn to the 63 Marauder sitting there, but knew they surely wouldn't buy it. Surprise! Surprise! He had already bought it and was there to pick it up. It was bright red with a red interior, 390, auto, with a posi rear end. They let me borrow it for dates on the weekend and I took it to Prom twice. Once away from the house, the 1st thing I always did was take off the air cleaner, pop off the hubcaps, and put them in the trunk. On asphalt, it would lay rubber as far as you wanted by just feathering the gas to keep the tires spinning. I once watched the odometer and kept it going for a 5th of a mile before letting off. It could have kept going. Later, when I was in college, he asked if I wanted it, but by that time it had a hole rusted thru behind the door, so I passed. I think it broke his heart that I didn't want it. It had the same mean looking stance as the one pictured.
Back then, any rust was a death sentence for a car. We now spend tens of thousands to repair the survivors. Do you mule kick yourself for passing it up?
