Ana one, ana two, ana three ?

[Too Stroked]

Well folks, some of you may remember my son?s adventures with 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis (plural). His first car was a green / grey 1999 Grand Marquis that he bought with 126,000 miles on it. I detailed and shared here. It looked pretty darn good when I finished it:



Unfortunately, the first winter he owned it, a rear tire went soft and he lost it in a 45 MPH curve. This resulted in him backing it into a tree and it looked like this:



Scratch one Mercury, but it gave its life to save his. He walked away without a scratch. So, we stripped it of parts and went looking for another. We soon found another with almost exactly the same mileage in grey. I detailed it and it looked like this:



Well, that car now has 165,000 miles on it and still looks great, but the transmission is starting to go. Rebuilding it was looking like about a $1,500 deal ? which he didn?t have. So I found yet another green / grey 1999 Grand Marquis on Craigslist. (Man, I?m getting good at this!) It had a rotted out frame, but only 69,000 miles on the clock. The engine and transmission are next to perfect, it?s got 4 brand new snow tires and lots of good mechanical and electrical parts that will come in very handy. We?re even going to swap out the whole interior. Best of all, we snagged it for just $875 and drove it home.



Before anybody asks, there?s absolutely no chance that I?m going to detail this one. The best you can hope for is a picture of the carcass as we drop it off at the scrap dealer. Can you say father and son project? Let the fun begin!

[Need4racin]

The parts car still looks really good to have a rotten frame. You might try just welding up the frame. I know plenty of people that have did it to various trucks over the years with no problems.

[Too Stroked]

The parts car still looks really good to have a rotten frame. You might try just welding up the frame. I know plenty of people that have did it to various trucks over the years with no problems.

I'd thought of that, then we looked at it and tossed that idea right out the window, It's pretty much gone just behind the front passenger side control arm. In fact it's bad enough that when we put it on the the lift to pull the transmission, we'll need to do something to support it. Notice how low it sits at the right front?

[sscully]

Come on, at least give it a coat of PL...

Maybe a good place to practice some OC 2.0 application on the front clip ???

[gipraw]

wet sanding practice

[Too Stroked]

wet sanding practice

Funny you should mention that. You should see the carpets in this thing. I'm thinking they would need just that if somebody brought this vehicle to me to detail. They're just pathetic. 

And as for you Steve, I actually did think of running this thing through the automatic car wash before we strat tearing it apart. But in the end, I decided to save the $13.00 for beer or something more worthwhile. 

[Need4racin]

Oh well atleast you'll have a good amount of parts. You can't save them all.

[Too Stroked]

Oh well atleast you'll have a good amount of parts. You can't save them all.

I'm going to try to remember to snap a picture of what we haul to the scrap yard. I'll go way out on a limb and predict that it will pretty much be just a shell. Now I just have to figure out how to fold the hood so it fits in my basement.

[sscully]

...<snip>... Now I just have to figure out how to fold the hood so it fits in my basement.

Strap it to the ceiling in the garage ???
- Could always see if they would let you hang it on the wall at the boat shop

[Too Stroked]

...<snip>... Now I just have to figure out how to fold the hood so it fits in my basement.

Strap it to the ceiling in the garage ???
- Could always see if they would let you hang it on the wall at the boat shop

Yea, I'd thought of that, but hanging it over both of my vehicles? 

[sscully]

...<snip>... Now I just have to figure out how to fold the hood so it fits in my basement.

Strap it to the ceiling in the garage ???
- Could always see if they would let you hang it on the wall at the boat shop

Yea, I'd thought of that, but hanging it over both of my vehicles? 

I store the dogs pools over the truck, strapped to the ceiling, over the winter.  some of the CA type 3/16 lashing rope ( for tying stuff down in open pick ups ) and it would be fine.

[Rockpick]

wet sanding practice

Exactly what I was thinking....


Enjoy the newest project, Tom!

[Pockets]

Very Cool!

Good luck with it Tom!