Mercury full-sized muscle
 

First time I've seen one of these at a general car show, a Mercury X-100. Not sure how many of these are left out there. Giant car, fender skirts, and a performance marketing campaign. What was Mercury thinking this with beast? [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/dunno.gif[/img]

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt...0-%20small.jpg

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt...0-%20small.jpg

Re: Mercury full-sized muscle
 

I also spied that car at a recent Chicago area show. What a neat (and huge) car.

Gotta love those big bodies!

Bashton
MCACN Managing Member

Re: Mercury full-sized muscle
 

Mike, I'm not sure what you mean by &quot;What was Mercury thinkinging?&quot; because there's plenty of the Ford version running around . . .

http://www.graphic-express.com/image..._xl_gt_429.jpg

Also, you should check this site out:

http://www.mikesclassiccars.net/galaxie-collection.php

Re: Mercury full-sized muscle
 

The Galaxie and Marquis may have used the same chassis, but the Mercury was an entirely different body (from nose to tail) over the Galaxie.

These giant 2-door MuscleBoats are fascinating. The only other car I can think of where a manufacturer tried to take a huge full-sized two-door car, and then stripe/paint it to give it a Musclecar look, was the 1970 Chrysler 300-H.

http://www.fuselage.de/chr70/70chr_hurst_3s.jpg

Re: Mercury full-sized muscle
 

I have to disagree - they have the same body, but different styling. Perhaps the Mercury looks heavier due to its Lincoln-esque styling, but they're pretty much the same car.

Re: Mercury full-sized muscle
 

Same body? I don't think so. The Mercury's 1/4 panels, doors, fenders, hood, bumpers, trim, grille, tail assembly, and interior, were all different. When the basic roof, sail panels, and chassis are used, but every other panel was different, does this constitute &quot;the same car&quot;?

Was the 1970 Chevelle SS the same as a 1970 Buick GS? They shared the same chassis, roof, windshield, and windows, but every other panel was different. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif[/img]

The Merc XL-100 was marketed as a &quot;sporty&quot; two-door, with a two-tone (darker hue) on the tunnel back, and they promoted it as a luxury performance car. The overall look, with the squared off fenders, skirts, etc., makes it very unusual, similar to the 1970 Chrysler 300-H. I think that was my original comment as to &quot;what was Mercury thinking?&quot;, because even in original reviews of the XL-100, the road testers were baffled as to what Mercury was trying to accomplish.

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/69ford03.jpg

http://www.us-car-info.de/info/mercu...0frontside.jpg

Re: Mercury full-sized muscle
 

The SS and the GS have the same body, but different styling . . . see where I'm going?

The Ford XL was Ford's traditional buckets-and-console big car. In 1968, they added the GT package to the XL, which added some trim and suspension bits and upped the standard engine to a 390v2. This package continued into 1969.

In 1969, Mercury introduced the Marauder as a stand-alone model. They also had an X-100 model which was akin to the XL's GT package. Standard for the X-100 was the flat black tunnel-back, but a lot of buyers deleted it, based on the production figures I have.

Re: Mercury full-sized muscle
 

I gotcha. All I was saying is that the XL-100 is as similar to a Galaxie XL as a Chevelle SS is to a Buick GS. No one would confuse the two. When every single body panel is different, they're different cars, even if they share the same chassis and a couple windows.

Splitting hairs, all cars have 4 wheels and a steering wheel, so nothing new. No wise cracks about the Tyrrell 6-wheeler in Formula 1. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/laugh.gif[/img]

The XL-100 is a bizarre creation by Mercury, and like the Chrysler 300H, it's one of those that generates a lot of attention at car shows. They LOOK like a Musclecar, they have all the ingredients, but it's like seeing a Burger King triple bacon Whopper for the first time. You can't believe they made the thing, and you wonder who on earth would buy it. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/naughty.gif[/img]

Re: Mercury full-sized muscle
 

Well, if you look at the roofline, you can see they're the same car.

You're confusing some terminology, though:

The XL is a Ford. A Marauder is a Mercury.

The XL-GT is a Ford. A Marauder X-100 is a Mercury.

Both the XL and the Marauder continued into 1970.

Regarding &quot;who would buy one?&quot; I can tell you that, when it comes to 1969 XLs, they made 404 XL &quot;SportsRoof&quot; hardtops with the 429/4-speed combo, which isn't as rare as one would initially think.

Re: Mercury full-sized muscle
 

No confusion on the models, I was just typing too fast, got the models mixed up. The X-100 was a Mercury, as I stated in my first post. Not sure how we got on the whole XL topic. Interesting logic you have ; so a 1968 Hurst/Olds is pretty much the &quot;same car&quot; as a 1972 Pontiac Luxury Lemans 350, because they had the same roof. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif[/img]

Anyway, this post was simply about seeing a Mercury X-100 at a car show, something you don't see very often, and the car is similar (and marketed similar) to the the Chrysler 300-H. A huge 2-door, using styling cues from smaller Musclecars.