Is it because I’m a sucker for a car on slot mags, that this 1968 Mercury Marquis speaks to me? Is it because I’ve got visions of this Merc blasting down some desert road somewhere, kicking up dust for a mile, that I’m dreaming up a build for this car? Look at it…this is before “Marquis” translated into “U.S.S. Mercury”. Instead, the Marquis was the top trim level for the Park Lane family of cars, and in this shapely two-door style, it rocks. When they are dolled up, the 1967-68 Mercuries look formal, upright, classy. This one looks like what the anti-hero would drive in a Sin City movie, the patchy green paintwork and the bright red of the taillights standing out agains the black and white scenes.

For a Rough Start find, overall things look good: the Mercury is a runner, it’s 390ci V8 and automatic trans doing okay. Fix a leaking transmission, and call it done. Speaking of done, the interior is just about well-done, with the dash pad cooked to perfection. It’s ugly, and if you’re hell-bent on fixing that, we wish you luck. But the seat can be recovered easily and we bet that with a carpet shampooer and some elbow grease, that the rest of the car’s guts will shine like new in short order.

The dashboard might be a constructive loss here, so we’re going to say avoid it for the sake of the budget…we don’t want to know what Just Dashes or any other company would charge to bring that mess back up to snuff. But the rest of the car…in a heartbeat, works. Fix the transmission leak. Wash the poor bastard down. Find some bigger slot mags for the back to make the Marquis look right, and you’ll be good to hit the road in a car that will elicit more “What kind of car is that?” moments than you’re ready to handle.

Craigslist Link: 1968 Mercury Marquis