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One for the lovers of all things oddball Fox bodied ...

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  • One for the lovers of all things oddball Fox bodied ...

    Here's one that most Fox body lovers have never seen in person, or possibly not even aware of ... this one is up for sale about an hour from me, just east of Toronto. I'm going to be somewhat in the neighbourhood on the weekend when I'm out at Mosport, so I may check it out.

    What is it? It is a Canada only Mercury version of the LTD LX 5.0, called a Marquis LTS. I've heard a total production number of around 1400 for these cars, not verified though ... details are sort of sketchy on these cars. The LTDs were sold in 1984 and 1985, the Marquis seems to be 1985 only. They had the CFI version of the 5.0L HO, which was the same drivetrain as the AOD Mustangs got those years, before the switch to multi-port SEFI in 1986 (CFI is Ford-speak for throttle body injection). This was on top of the aluminium 2 barrel intake from the 82 GT HO, flat tappet HO cam, cast iron manfolds, AOD driving a 3.27 locker 7.5" diff. Quick ratio steering, 1-1/4" front stab. bar, 650 lb./in. front springs, these cars are basically a 4-door AOD Mustang. Rated at either 165 or 175 hp, depending on what you read.

    I actually owned one of these cars about 20 years ago as a daily driver for a while, pretty much identical to the one for sale here, until it got T-boned on Highway 401 and sent spinning along the guardrail, significantly shortening it. Oh well ...



    10-hole Mustang wheels are not original, they came with a 14" polycast spoke wheel with 205/70HR14 Eagle GT rubber. Notice the charcoal grey window trim, front grille and headlight doors, as opposed to chrome on a regular Marquis:



    Interior got buckets with inflatable lumbar, that's the black bulb on the inner front corner of the seat cushion. Also a console, floor shift for the AOD, and a unique cluster with a tach where the fuel gauge would normally be. The fuel gauge got downsized, and put between the speedo and tach, where the PRNDL would normally reside on a standard car. This one has automatic A/C and vent windows, looks to be fully optioned as my old car was:




    A lot of the unique parts for these cars showed in the Ford catalogue as being for a vehicle with "European Performance Group", which meant anything somewhat sporty with the shiny trim deleted I guess. LOL

    Not sure what the heck I would do with this car if I did pick it up, as I already have too many disassembled projects. Maybe just a fun sleeper / street cruiser, some of the pieces coming off my 89 Mustang project could be bolted to this car as upgrades.


    cheers
    Ed N.
    Ed Nicholson - Caledon Ontario - a bit NW of Toronto
    07 Mustang GT with some stuff
    88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe 5-speed

  • #2
    So I stopped by on the way home from the track tonight to have a look at this car. Interior is in very good shape, it has a later model HO 302 longblock in it, downside is that the car is crusty in a few spots ... funny thing is that an acquaintance of mine sold the guy this car about 8 or 9 years ago, with a few spare pieces that I had passed along from my parted out wreck.

    And it seems that these are rarer than I thought ... current owner has seen from a few sources that total production might have been only around 140 cars, not 1400. I need another project like another hole in the head, but seeing this car in person today, and sitting in it to fire it up, brought back some good memories of my old one ... hmmm. Will have to start with getting an opinion from my buddy Stu about the rust repair, as he is the one that would likely be getting pressed in to service to do some of that work.


    cheers
    Ed N.
    Ed Nicholson - Caledon Ontario - a bit NW of Toronto
    07 Mustang GT with some stuff
    88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe 5-speed

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