Greetings from the Netherlands (Europe) ;-)

Hi all !

I've just bought a Mercury Grand Marquis Colony Park (1978) in light yellow with woody-design. I am going to get the car next saturday from its owner here in the Netherlands. It hasn't got a dutch license yet, so I have to get her on a trailer. First thing to do is to get license-plates!

The Mercury seems to have very little rust and runs very nice. The previous owner got her from the USA (California) about 1.5 years ago and several things were replaced (gaskets, radiator, hoses etc.) with a total of $4000 (bill included).

There are some things to do :

- 2 dents just before the rear-wheel wells under the foil (not seen on pictures)
- replace all weatherstrips (toast; can't find them anywhere!)
- replace aftermarket-radio for original (included)
- searching to buy a 'roofspoiler' on the roofrack (is gone, where to find?)

I'll post some pictures below (yeah yeah, I know you all love pictures).

Almost forgot; my name is Mike and I live in the Netherlands. My wife and I are USA-car addicts and our current car-park consists of a Corvette C4 Coupe (1985), Corvette C4 Convertible (1989), Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 (1997), Dodge W200 (1976) and 2 non-USA-cars; an Alfa 166 3.0 V6 Sportronic (1999) and a Suzuki SJ413 for offroading only. More about offroading on my teams-website (http://www.chaosboyz.nl).

 

That's a BEAUTIFUL Colony Park. Congratulations, and welcome to the forum.

Check this link for weatherstrips.......

http://www.steelerubber.com/

 

Hey Mike,
That's a very handsome wagon you have there! The last of the huge luxury wagons of the 70's.
Nice collection of cars...if there is one non-US make I love it is Alfa Romeo!
I drove a 67 Duetto for a decade until I ran it up under an Escort wagon!But I digress.

Have fun with your new toy, and enjoy this great forum!

 

Welcome Mike. Very nice wagon.

Check this site a few times a week for the Radio or anyother parts you might need for any of your cars. I just typed in "Ford Radio" and got these, but you could try Mercury, Lincoln, Thunderbird, Cougar. My replacement for a no-name radio came from a 1984 Cougar - Fits perfectly.
http://vehicle-db.com/parts/search.pl?part=Ford+Radio

Glad you came.

 

Wow thanks guys for your enthousiastic reactions! Nice to be welcome

I am going to get the Mercury next saturday and made an appointment on 20th of august for getting license plates (a horrible proces over here involving stamping the VIN in the chassis, weighing and a complete vehicle-check).

The Mercury seems to have a factory hitch (towing package) but in order to get this info on my license-plates I need technical info about the Mercury i.e. towing weights. Virtually I would need some kind of 'build sheet'. Does somebody know if this exists and how to get them? I already got a copy of the US Title with the VIN number on it. I also can't find much technical information on the Mercury like specs and options?

@Krash Kadillak : I immediately looked at the steelerubber-website but I couldn't figure out which part#'s to use. I need the rubbers where the windows rest against te body (don't know how to describe it better). Isn't the Colony Park basically the same as the Ford LTD Country Squire?

@Stormin' Norman : Thanks for the link! Thats really interesting! However; the car comes with a frame with the original radio and analog clock. Don't know if it works. The rear-benches are with the car also. I do know I need the rear air-foil or spoiler on the roofrack; that is missing and I would like to keep everything original.

I'll post some pics of my current collection of cars

 

Wow. A beautiful wagon. Has it been converted to run on LPG? I understand that's the best way to get inexpensive fuel there as gasoline is quite expensive.

 

I welcomed you in another thread. What a beauty. Do you attend meetings with the wagon as soon as registered?

 

It seems I can't normally reply in this topic; everything I write must first be checked by an administrator before it is placed on the thread. Is that normal?

The Mercury is complete original from California and wasn't converted to LPG. Yet. I am planning to do that as soon as I get the license-plates and the cars proves itself the next few months. After that, I am getting a LPG-tank installed in the place of the spare tire so I can still use the rear-benches. LPG costs about 1/3 of regular gasoline over here (I pay 0,48EUR/liter LPG and 1.44EUR/liter gasoline).

Every first saturday each month there is a large USA-car meeting nearby called Saturday Night Cruise from The CruiseBrothers. A large event in The Hague. I go there every month, sometimes with my Dodge, mostly with one of the Corvettes and - hopefully if all goes well - next cruise (5th of September) with the Mercury !

 

Last week I even changed the 73 Riviera to only run on LPG (no more expensive gas for me). I changed the IMPCO 300A for a 425.

For the wagon I'm still looking for a LPG solution, for I don't want the LPG-tank to be visible from the outside of the car. Quite an operation with a clamshell wagon..
I know of a few people having troubles with a LPG-tank in the shape of the spare wheel. Make sure you have 8mm lines.

I never encountered any troubles with replying on this board

I attended the SNC every month for a couple of years, but since my car was scratched and one time I even found people using my car as a table to make a joint they never saw me again there. I rather now visit the King's Cruise near Amsterdam.

 

Mike

she looks to be a beauty

 

That's a gorgeous Colony Park. You really lucked out. It looks like it has no rust on it whatsoever, but I guess if it was a California car, there's much more chance of that than in New York where I live. I'm psyched it made it into the hands of someone who really appreciates it. It's a cruiser and a half, for sure. Enjoy it, I know I would.

 

You know what's odd, though, is that it's missing the wood on the front, which should extend all the way to the marker lights/blinker. It just stops at the end of the fenders. The funny thing is that it's missing on both sides, but a rare find, none the less.

 

So - are you talking about the door weatherstrips for the glass on the outside of the door? Some call them "dew-wipes". In my work as a collision damage estimator, I always called them outer belt weatherstrips.

Anyway, I checked to Steele Rubber website, and wasn't particularly impressed with the way it's laid out - kinda difficult to navigate. I entered your make and year, and found a listing for "Pre-assembled beltline weatherstrips (outer only) for LTD & Custom wagon" - Steele part # 80-0678-57 - $86.60 for a set for all 4 doors. (The tailgate is part # 80-0679-57 for $42.80)
-- I am not entirely sure that this would fit your Colony Park. It looks like you're going to have to actually talk to one of their customer service people.