November 3, 2002 - I know it has been a long time since I've made any entries to the Diary. The rest of the summer was filled with my Mom's wedding to Mr. Brown on August 17th, and then a week later a drive down to Walt Disney World in Florida with my sister Michelle, and step-brothers Brian and Matthew. We had a 2002 Grand Marquis on the way back! It was an okay car... it didn't want to make me run out and buy one. Anyway, I drove the Marquis very frequently all thru the rest of the summer. I really wanted to know how it would handle cause I had thought about doing some of the body work that it needs over the winter. On the whole things went pretty well. She had her bouts with stalling now and again, but on the whole she ran pretty smoothly.
Recently the only real problem I've had with her is that since the cold weather has come, she doesn't wanna run. It takes her a LONG time to warm up. You can see all the smoke in the exaust pics up above. I think the valve seals must be shot, and when it's cold they shrink more, leaving more oil to leak which is why I only notice it when it's cold out. We had a warm spell a week ago, and she ran fine, with not a lot of smoke at all when I first let her run. In the picture Below you can see her new accessories: color-keyed Rosary Beads, steering wheel cover, and a Jensen AM/FM stereo with casette player. I hate the radio and am thinking of installing a unit on the floor and putting the original back in, but not hooking it up to anything.
A few weeks ago, while heading East on Rt 44 past Chaplin, Connecticut I saw this poor old 1973 Marquis at a garage/junkyard. I wanted to take a few pics of the bumper at the time because I had put a bid on a 73 bumper and wanted to see if it would fit my car. (it looks like it will!)
The lumber on the trunk along with the "WIFE & DOG ARE MISSING - REWARD FOR DOG" sticker are nice touches:
Just past the pick-up truck in back of the Marquis there was a 73 Chysler New Yorker, and I ran over to check it out... next to it buried in weeds was a 73 Mercury Monterey! The same color as this Marquis. Just as I was about to snap a picture of it, I heard a voice yell, "Do you two gentlemen mind telling me just what you're doing here?!?!?" Needless to say, the owner of the place wasn't too pleased to have company. When he saw my camera and I told him that I was just taking some pics, and that I had a 77 Merc he seemed to calm down a little bit. Apparenlty he's been subject to some theft recently. He told Mr. Brown and I about how he had plans to restore this, but never found the time. ================================================================================================= November 21, 2002 - I was perusing e-bay today briefly and fell in love with this...
It is a 1977 Mercury Marquis coupe in the same color scheme as my car! I've not seen another white & blue Marquis in all my searching! I need it! I have to have it! My baby needs a sister! ha ha :)
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