$5,000 Luxury: 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis LS
We should have a category for sub-$5,000 vehicles here on Barn Finds. It’s so rare to find nice, usable vehicles for under five grand anymore that they really stand out. How many of us grew up when we could find good vehicles all day long for $1,500? $2,500? Maybe $500, depending on a person’s age, but now it’s rare to find something like this 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis LS for under $5,000. Thanks to Mitchell G. for the tip!
A vehicle from the late 1980s isn’t exactly from the “classic” era, but this car is 35 years old and that’s older than a good percentage of Barn Finds readers so it’s at least “vintage” if not a classic. And, this one isn’t a muscle car or trendy pickup – it’s big and has four doors. Still, $5,000 is $5,000 and most of us can afford a vintage cruiser in that range. The faux vinyl top is an interesting touch.
Mercury made the first-generation Grand Marquis from 1979 through 1991 and they made four-door sedans, two-door sedans, and four-door wagons. Over 130,000 Grand Marquis models were made for the 1989 model year and we’ve only seen two here on Barn Finds over the last decade, both were Colony Park wagons.
The interior is showing some wear. I’m guessing that the front seats are worn given the appearance of the back seat – not to mention that there is no photo showing the front seats without covers on them. I could be wrong, of course. The steering wheel looks interesting. I’m hoping that’s just dirt but I’m guessing it’s wear and deterioration, but maybe it could be cleaned and dyed? Or just get a steering wheel cover as most people do. The seller mentions that this car has 84,725 miles so it isn’t an ultra-low mile car, but that’s pretty low considering this car is 35 years old.
The engine could use a good cleaning, it would be a nice weekend project and I bet it could look almost like new again. It should be Ford’s 5.0-liter OHV V8 with 150 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque. It’s said to run flawlessly and there’s a new battery. It’s posted here on craigslist in Pen Argyle, Pennsylvania, they’re asking $4,950, and here’s the original listing. How much would you pay for this Marquis?
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Comments
For me personally, I observe the following cut-off dates: Ford…1967; GM…1970; Mopar….1973.
Some exceptions would be a ’71 Mark lll, the Nova up until 1974, and maybe some later C-body Chryslers if the color and velour interior is outrageous enough. 1989 just doesn’t get it for me. But, to each his own.
The factory 🏭 options such as dual exhaust, trailer tow/handling pkg ⚙️, really helped these beauties, and made them safe and suitable to haul a decent size boat or trailer.
Ford and GM sold a ton of this type of platform during the 80s because in that period, Americans still had a soft spot for V8 powered rear wheel drive cars. And that platform was what America still built best.
And many of us STILL have a soft spot, appreciation, and are wondering how we got to a world of SUVS, crossovers and melted jelly beans!
I hear ya but the market has spoken. If people didn’t buy crossovers, trucks and SUVs the car companies wouldn’t make them. As for jelly beans, that shape is the most aerodynamic and saves on fuel. Since design is down on computers the algorithms all come up with the same shape. It’s possible to come up with some interesting designs but the bean counters run American companies. Hyundai added some creases and lines to the Ioniq 5 and came up with something cool. Remember when American car companies use to introduce a new model every two three years? Planned obsolescence I know, but people want to buy something new not warmed over. The Korean car companies know that and they’re still making cars not only crossovers. Greed and the bottom line is what’s killing the American auto industry. There I’ll climb down from my soap box.
This American STILL has a soft spot for V8-powered rear wheel drive cars!
My wife and I just took a 3-week California vacation, and the rental company gave us a 2023 Chrysler 300S. Man, what an excellent car. Comfort, power, user-friendly, roomy. Visibility was good (a defect in my wife’s father’s POS Cadillac CTS), and the 300 was not “over-contented” with too many damn widgets and gagets you don’t need to drive you crazy.
My understanding is that the 2023 model is the sunset for that model/body style, which, if I understand correctly, originated way back in 2003, some 20 years! Kudos to Chrysler for getting so much longevity out of a model, and keeping it fresh up to the final model year!
👍 on this grand buy. Having owned 78, and 2007 Grand Marquis, several Town Cars and 89 Crown Victoria LX, I lament the demise of all. Time marches on and seems to have taken a toll òn some aspects of this Grand Marquis. The roof was called a carriage roof and was an option, intended to simulate a convertible. The steering wheel and front seats may need much TLC. Where are you going to find a solid car for under $5,000? Another example of how Mercury put the GRAND in Grand Marquis!
One reason these are seldom seen here is that they were built to last. It’s typical for with care and routine maintenance they can easily go 300,000 mi or more. And so people (especially seniors) keep them, finding nothing similar currently built and enjoying the comfort and style.
Scotty,
A lot of us forget inflation when remembering what we paid
for cars & trucks years ago.I bought A LOT of them over the years
& sometimes forget to figure that in.
Also,some of us forget that minimum wage was $1.65 in 1972.
I agree, angliagt. I usually cringe when I see a comment about how a certain car should be $1,000 because that’s what someone paid for it in the 1970s or 80s.
When I see a gas price of $0.79 a gallon on an old tv show and think, dang! Then I look up $0.79 on the inflation calculator and see that gas is at least as cheap now given inflation than it was decades ago, it brings me back to earth. Don’t forget that a lot of people are paying $5+ a day for a “coffee” drink (most of them are more sugar than coffee), and also paying for bottled water. Things change, prices go up more often than they go down, that’s just the way it is. That’s why I choose to live in the past… ha.
I have my doubts about this one. I drive a 1988 Mercury Grand Marquis with 372,000 miles, and the original velour interior still looks nice — even the driver’s seat. The steering-wheel’s moulded-in texture is worn a bit smooth in the places where I hold it, but the wheel itself still looks sharp — not shabby, like the one here. However, I am curious as to why this particular LS has a GS dashboard and steering-wheel? The LS steering-wheel has all sorts of lovely faux-wood accents, particularly, on the horn button in the centre. And the LS dash has brushed aluminium trim. Something about this car does not pass the “smell” test for me.
Spend a little extra for a nicer one or even a Town Car if you must absolutely have 89 Panther platform car. This one looks like it hasn’t been cared for all that well.
RJ, I agree with you!!! If I am going to replace my venerable Grand Marquis, I am going to hunt for one highly cared-for, all original, never smoked-in, with everything as close to “like new” as I can find — not one like this, whose truthfulness I doubt a bit (to quote Henry Higgins). I agree with those here who have said, if the interior is THIS bad, then what sort of “care” has the REST of this car had? The incorrect steering wheel and dash (for the GS and not the LS) make me wonder if the owner had more than one of these, then mixed-and-matched to his liking, and now is selling us an assemblage of what he didn’t want on the one that he kept.
The turbine wheels are great, that fake carriage top…😫
I think the odometer has rolled at least once, or they didn’t do a good job cleaning the rats nest from on top of the engine, steering wheel looks like a backyard mechanic was driving it around and the back seat has some issues in not sure what so with all that and the fact its in Pennsylvania I wouldn’t buy it.
Like Angliagt points out; with inflation the $500 car of 35-40 years ago is now the $5,000 car today. But for most of the seventies and well into the eighties,I could always pick up a decent car for $500 or under. My best score was a 1966 Chrysler Newport two door hardtop with low miles in great shape that I bought in 1976 for $300! I drove that car for three years using it as my daily work vehicle. I could stash all my tools in the huge trunk and nobody knew. Good theft prevention. Better yet I could tow my boat on the weekend. Really nice driving car with good power and decent fuel economy from its 383 two barrel. Good luck trying to find something like that today. That’s why I bet someone will buy this car because you just can’t find an equivalent vehicle built in the last twenty five years. GLWTS.
All agree that even these Panthers were great cars, but the frames on this era are notoriously weak, even if not driven extensively in the winter months. This car is very dirty. I’d dicker with the asking price on that issue alone, might be a good one, but a full inspection required before committing.
My 1988 Grand Marquis has 372,000 miles (so far), and the interior has no “issues”. Even the driver’s seat still looks nice. The steering-wheel had a moulded-in “grain” or ‘texture” which has worn somewhat smooth where I tend to hold it when driving, but it is not shabby like this! Mine has lived outside of Albany, New York since it was new, and has driven through every winter — the secret is in keeping the underside clean. This one has the GS steering wheel and dashboard, which is strange on an LS. — unless they got rid of the “fancy” ones for ’89, in anticipation of that new plain steering-wheel and dash with the air-bags for 1990. But I am apprehensive of a car from this era with a ratty interior claiming 84,750 miles. Considering the “indestructable” nature of the insides on these cars, SOMEthing doesn’t pass the “smell” test, for me.
The seller describing it as immaculate undermines the credibility of everything they say.
I bet the mileage is 100K. I mean just look at it!
To Norbert Beard: My 1988 Grand Marquis has 372,000 miles, and the interior still looks nice — including the driver’s seat. Pain’t’s a bit faded, which on this one appears not to be so. But with the GS dash and steering-wheel in an LS, I still wonder if this seller has played mix-and-match with more than one Grand Marquis, then kept the best for himself — or else, sold the nice LS interior to someone and replaced it with a GS from salvage. I wouldn’t touch this one with YOUR $5,000! I agree with Bc: regardless of the price, when a seller tries to pass something off as “immaculate”, when it clearly is nowhere near that; then, what ELSE can’t you believe??