So, I bought a Mercedes...

[Grand Marquis GT]

Cool car, I'm jealous!

[mrltd]

Not bad, I doubt most of that stuff had been replaced before- or at least in the last 15 years. It'll be another 10-15 before you'd have to replace them again.

I do love the simplicity or German cars....I did my BMW motor and trans mounts on my back in an hour. Can't do that with a panther.

[1980c10]

Man I've been watching the build on that car for a long time. Its crazy someone on the gmn bought it lol. It was my favorite when it was on color matched stock wheels. Good buy man

[79lincolnlover]

Enjoy! Be sure to keep it green...

[91LTDProject]

Man I've been watching the build on that car for a long time. Its crazy someone on the gmn bought it lol. It was my favorite when it was on color matched stock wheels. Good buy man

What site did you watch it get built on?

[1980c10]

I believe it was on www.stanceworks.com if I am remembering correctly. I could be wrong. I am on alot of forums, I will look around for the build for ya though.

[91waggin]

Fuckin gorgeous.

[91LTDProject]

I know its a bit early to be considering paint options, but I just found this picture of a local car that I drool over everytime I see it. I've always loved this color combo, just trying to picture how the Benz would look painted in a blue like this with a cream/off-white roof and hubcaps that match the roof. Photoshop anyone?

ps- I dont know how the eek smiley got there...

[1980c10]

I think it would look sick. What wheels are on the car right now? I know it has gone through a few different sets.

[91LTDProject]

I'm buying it with the hubcaps and steelies pictured above, as I didnt care much for the others

[torquelover]

Hi. My name is TL, and I approve of this thread

[91LTDProject]

She arrived yesterday morning. I had been having a little bit of buyers regret, but it all melted away when it pulled into the driveway. I dont have many pictures so far, but I'm going to wash/wax/polish it tommorow and clean up the engine bay as well. Cleaned out the trunk tonight, and my neighbour/friend are going to start making a template for the floor/sides, and also look into cleaning up the air tank/compressor wiring and re-locating it. Also going to start mocking up a gauge pod for the air gauges since the previous owner never finished it, and I'm going to remove all the laminated wooden trim and take it to a luthier friend of mine to see if it can be restored or duplicated.

Also on the agenda is that the car currently has no stereo. The previous owner had mocked up kickpanel templates out of cardboard and covered them with carpet, so I'm probably going to just copy those using MDF since he did a pretty good job, and then get some really good speakers and find the most stock looking speaker grills I can. Still have to figure out what to do for rear speakers, how I'm going to mount them in the rear deck and make them look factory....

Anyways, the only pic I have so far, I'll be taking plenty tommorow and updating as I go along with the rest of the project... Enjoy!

[1987cp]

My first thought on seeing the pictures was "Uh, you're going to want to get out your camber gauge ASAP ....". :banana:

Just watched the vid. The air ride controls are pretty slick. I like the fact that nothing looks like it was added. A lot of those setups I see involve some obviously tacked-on control panel for the compressor and vent solenoids. Hiding the controls in the ashtray and re-purposing another factory switch looks quite clean.

That's true, it is nice how there's nothing weird about the interior.


That car reminds me of a ratty S-10 I used to see eons ago. It was lowered pretty radically, and had a sticker saying "No fat chicks - the truck will scrape".

[gadget73]

I actually saw a bagged Mark VII this weekend. Big metal box stuck right in the middle of the center console with switches. On the other hand, I saw another one that had the tripminder deleted and the HVAC controls moved to that spot. In the original radio location, it had gauges, and in the original HVAC spot it had a navigation system screen. It wasn't stock, but it was a clean install that didn't look tacked on. Making it look like it belongs there is more difficult, but the results are worth it.

[91LTDProject]

Some shots from today. First batch is how it arrived at my house...









wood trim I need to restore...





Gauges I need to build a pod for...











After engine bay powerwash/degrease and car after three step Mother's wax job (cleaner/polish and sealer/carnuba wax, pics dont do it justice), and polishing all the chrome we could. Paints actually in alot better shape than I thought. Also a pic of the retrofitted HID's and projectors (forget what they are out of, some sort of european car). Also started mocking up a gauge cluster today, my neighbour was bored while I was waxing it, so he whipped something up out of a sheet of aluminum and some wood just to get an idea. Turned out pretty good, dont have any pics though. Also found out he has access to a pressbrake, so all I have to do it get some sheetmetal and get my measurements down, then bend it up...
















Picking up an oil filter and new valve cover gasket tommorow after work, going to set the valves up, do an oil change and change the fuel filter. Also if I have time, the right inner CV boot needs to be changed. The previous owner included two 100% new CV axles with the car as well as a CV boot kit, so I dont know whether to do the axles or the boot...