Mercury full-sized muscle

StealthBird · #1 07-05-2010, 11:47 PM

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]

**bashton** · #2 07-06-2010, 12:59 AM

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

442w30 · #3 07-06-2010, 02:00 AM

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

Also, you should check this site out:

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

StealthBird · #4 07-06-2010, 05:41 AM

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.

442w30 · #5 07-06-2010, 01:39 PM

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.

StealthBird · #6 07-06-2010, 06:48 PM

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 "the same car"?

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 "sporty" 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 "what was Mercury thinking?", 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]

442w30 · #7 07-06-2010, 07:15 PM

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.

StealthBird · #8 07-06-2010, 08:27 PM

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]

442w30 · #9 07-06-2010, 10:15 PM

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

StealthBird · #10 07-07-2010, 01:23 AM

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 "same car" 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.