I’m part of a group of people that love the idea of “ProLuxury”. What that means is this: sure, when it comes to balls-out, no-holds-barred performance, you should find the lightest, smallest vehicle and stuff the biggest engine under the hood. But when you’re at the height…maybe even the zenith…of the Second Horsepower War, when you have the ability to shove over 500 horsepower under the hood before modifications and can easily hit four-digit horsepower figures with some hot-rodding, why worry about weight? Why put up with seats from a 1960s van and no sound deadening? Look at Matt Graves’ “Chicken Coupe” Cadillac Coupe de Ville for inspiration. It still has all the stuff-‘n’fluff that it left the factory with, but it also rocks a 600-horse LS swap and a six-speed conversion, plus a ton of suspension gear that eliminate the U.S.S. Land Barge sensation.

Gary Spaniak knows what’s up. His Mercury Grand Marquis coupe has left me laughing all afternoon…this thing is beautiful. Besides being a low-mile coupe in black, it’s rocking a ProCharged Coyote swap. The most sporting car you’d find in the parking lot of any church in 1990 is now beating up on Mustangs and Camaros at the track not for money, not for revenge, but just because it can. Outside of the rolling stock, it is super-clean. But there is no hiding that wicked ProCharger hiss, and sleeper status gets revoked the moment this Panther launches with it’s fronts hanging in the air…while Gary chills out in the “mouse fur gray” interior.

This rules.