Re: Ranking the Top 11 High Performance Fords From the Last Decade That You Have to Own
A Marauder isn't any more of a "barge" than the average intermediate musclecar of the 1960s. In fact, a Marauder will out-handle virtually any intermediate or large musclecar from the 1960s.
More likely than not, there will never be another new musclecar mass produced in North America that uses traditional body-on-frame construction. Thus the Marauder was the last muscular version of the early form of the automobile (a rear wheel drive gasoline car with a separate body).
Obviously as we've moved into the era of unitized and monocoque construction it has become much more difficult to make radical changes to OEM cars, and usually even to work on them. Automobiles are now much more integrated in their design and almost shrinkwrapped into tamperproof packaging.
In contrast, the Marauder is the final throwback to a simpler time when the elements of a car were more distinct and less interrelated. The design is more intuitive because the structures are more apparent. Even the factory add-on, off-the-shelf Autometer gauges in the dash resonate with a simpler time when everything wasn't custom-designed on a CAD, prototyped on a three-dimensional "printer" and built with computer-aided machines.
Moreover, in a sense, the Marauder represents to a degree what many automotive engineers were dreaming of in the late 1950s and 1960s. Those working on Bendix Electrojectors or air springs undoubtedly dreamed of a day when the technologies would be reliable and economical for mass production. Many racers and fans looked wistfully at the DOHC four-valve Offys that ruled Indy car racing and dreamed of futuristic DOHC powerplants in street cars. Huge disk brakes and low profile radial tires were in their infancy. Many designers undoubtedly dreamed of a day when aerodynamic function and pure lines dominated the form.
Thus, like a Boeing B-52, a Marauder is an interesting blend of the past and the future that will never be repeated by any automobile manufacturer.
If all that doesn't seem like a milestone to you, then so be it. But I expect a reasonable number of collectors to understand the Marauder was the end of a long line that dates back to the origins of the mass produced passenger car and to the musclecars of the 1950s and 1960s.
And if I took the easy way out and listed a bunch of Mustangs, how interesting would that have been?
But a Marauder isn't really trying to be the same thing as one of the RWD Chryslers. There are a lot of ironies in comparing the two models. But to oversimplfy, the Marauder is a throw-back car with an advanced engine while the RWD Chryslers are retro-inspired modern cars with throw-back engines (at least in Gen III Hemi form). Each view will have their champions and their detractors. And their collectors.
Most certainly the Impala SS was first and more timely. And most certainly Mercury stopped short of what it would take to make the model a business success. That's probably more of a function of how much the auto world had changed between 1994 and 2003 and the market hegemony of Chevrolet as compared to Mercury. Frankly, the bar of success was much lower for Chevrolet than it was for Mercury, and the pool of potential customers "tuned in" and interested in such a niche was larger for Chevrolet.
And actually, I almost didn't put the Mach I on the list because I find it to be mildly derivative of the earlier beam-axle Cobras. But I thought the comparison between two visions of "retro" was interesting, expecially since the cars shared virtually the same powerplant.
Then I think you'd have to exclude a fair number of the more mainstream 1960s muscle cars from high performance.
While high performance is inherently a subjective term (e.g. a Mercer Runabout or a '32 Ford were "high performance" cars of their day, but would easily be bested by a cheap Korean subcompact now), what makes Marauder a musclecar is a combination of tangible and intangible characteristics. While it would whip a lot of stock, lesser-eguipped GTOs, Grand Sports, and Fairlane GTs from the 1960s, so would a lot of pedestrian FWD sedans. That's what 45 years of technical progress has brung. But what makes a Marauder a musclecar is both objective performance but also the soul of the design. In other words, the D.N.A. of a musclecar is evident in Marauder.
And the fact that there's "serious tuning" potential places it in the centerline of musclecar heritage. Virtually every 1960s musclecar needed "serious tuning" to live up to its potential.
Well said. And it illustrates well why an engima like Marauder will be collected someday.
Originally posted by RealSteelFreak
More likely than not, there will never be another new musclecar mass produced in North America that uses traditional body-on-frame construction. Thus the Marauder was the last muscular version of the early form of the automobile (a rear wheel drive gasoline car with a separate body).
Obviously as we've moved into the era of unitized and monocoque construction it has become much more difficult to make radical changes to OEM cars, and usually even to work on them. Automobiles are now much more integrated in their design and almost shrinkwrapped into tamperproof packaging.
In contrast, the Marauder is the final throwback to a simpler time when the elements of a car were more distinct and less interrelated. The design is more intuitive because the structures are more apparent. Even the factory add-on, off-the-shelf Autometer gauges in the dash resonate with a simpler time when everything wasn't custom-designed on a CAD, prototyped on a three-dimensional "printer" and built with computer-aided machines.
Moreover, in a sense, the Marauder represents to a degree what many automotive engineers were dreaming of in the late 1950s and 1960s. Those working on Bendix Electrojectors or air springs undoubtedly dreamed of a day when the technologies would be reliable and economical for mass production. Many racers and fans looked wistfully at the DOHC four-valve Offys that ruled Indy car racing and dreamed of futuristic DOHC powerplants in street cars. Huge disk brakes and low profile radial tires were in their infancy. Many designers undoubtedly dreamed of a day when aerodynamic function and pure lines dominated the form.
Thus, like a Boeing B-52, a Marauder is an interesting blend of the past and the future that will never be repeated by any automobile manufacturer.
If all that doesn't seem like a milestone to you, then so be it. But I expect a reasonable number of collectors to understand the Marauder was the end of a long line that dates back to the origins of the mass produced passenger car and to the musclecars of the 1950s and 1960s.
Once again ,that select few(the mine is special crowd) will go to a MM ,the masses of Ford fans will go Mustang (cars Ford made,not Saleens or Roush), 1)Cobra 2)Mach1 3)Bullitt 4)GT and on down the line
I do fairly well in reading comprehension, I know Dodge isn't a Ford product, it was in reference to the fact of fullsize type cars doing well in the marketplace
And while you do acknowledge the Impala SS as a 4 door musclecar and being accepted by the buying public, as you can see the MM wasn't accepted and therefore a failure of sorts, except to that special little group of MM friends.
I just think a Mach1 has enough balls, and is a car to stand on its own as a daily driver that gets the job done to be on the list by itself.
MM a retro rocket ?,namesake only ,rocket no, it would have to have some serious tuning.
It is a High Performance list, not a stuff your family of 5 in it list, if that was the case a 5 door Focus wagon should have made it also.
It is a High Performance list, not a stuff your family of 5 in it list, if that was the case a 5 door Focus wagon should have made it also.
While high performance is inherently a subjective term (e.g. a Mercer Runabout or a '32 Ford were "high performance" cars of their day, but would easily be bested by a cheap Korean subcompact now), what makes Marauder a musclecar is a combination of tangible and intangible characteristics. While it would whip a lot of stock, lesser-eguipped GTOs, Grand Sports, and Fairlane GTs from the 1960s, so would a lot of pedestrian FWD sedans. That's what 45 years of technical progress has brung. But what makes a Marauder a musclecar is both objective performance but also the soul of the design. In other words, the D.N.A. of a musclecar is evident in Marauder.
And the fact that there's "serious tuning" potential places it in the centerline of musclecar heritage. Virtually every 1960s musclecar needed "serious tuning" to live up to its potential.
Originally posted by trukluvr
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