At Mecum Kansas City 2021, a Light Desert Tan Mercury Grand Marquis Colony Park LS station wagon with bodyside and tailgate rosewood woodtone appliques sold for $8,500. For Boxing Day 2021, here’s a big American station wagon.
“luxurious working cars”
For 1984, Mercury’s Grand Marquis Colony Park station wagon was little changed. The Colony Park name had been around since 1957 as a signifier of Mercury’s top-of-the-line station wagon.
The Colony Park’s only powertrain—indeed the only powertrain available for any Grand Marquis—was a Windsor 140 bhp 4.9 liter/302ci V8 with fuel injection paired with a four-speed automatic. Fuel economy was 17 city/27 highway by 1984 standards (14/20 by current measures). With an 18.5-gallon fuel tank, a Colony Park owner could expect a range of between 285 and 365 miles with a 10% fuel reserve.
The Colony Park was a large car, with a 114.1-inch wheelbase and 218-inch length. It had changed little since 1979, when Ford downsized its full-size cars to the Panther platform. Changes over the next five years were mostly confined to trim and color variations, along with powertrain changes.
Standard exterior and mechanical equipment on the $11,816 Grand Marquis Colony Park (about $32,500 in today’s dollars or about what a base 2022 Ford Explorer goes for) included the distinctive “bodyside and tailgate rosewood woodtone applique,” a three-way tailgate, a power tailgate window, power steering, power front disc/rear drum brakes, and P215/75R14 white sidewall tires (a size still available thanks to Hankook) on 14-inch wheels with Deluxe wheel covers. Inside, reclining Twin Comfort Lounge front seats in vinyl, a fold-down rear seatback, and AM/FM stereo radio with two rear speakers were included.
At $12,437, the Colony Park LS added tinted glass, Luxury cloth seat trim for the Twin Comfort Lounge front seats, seatback map pockets, and 18-ounce color-keyed cut-pile carpeting.
Packages, Options, and Production Numbers
Packages available for the Colony Park included Convenience Group, Lock Group, Light Group, and the Trailer Towing Package.
Since there were no Lincoln station wagons, the Colony Park LS was the top-of-the-line wagon available from Ford Motor Company in the mid-1980s. Despite all the luxury Mercury implied the Colony Park LS had, it still didn’t include standard air conditioning, though the take rate on the two air conditioning options—one manual ($743) and one automatic ($809)—must have been high.
Other options available included “glamour” paint ($77), a luggage rack ($104), a Traction-Lok axle ($95), fingertip speed control ($176), a leather-wrapped steering wheel ($59), a tilt steering wheel ($110) and the Premium Sound System. Optional P205/75R15 tires ($17/$178 if puncture sealant) required the optional turbine spoke cast aluminum wheels ($361). A well-equipped Colony Park could easily get to $14,600—not that many thousand dollars from Lincoln money.
Mercury sold 17,421 Colony Park wagons in 1984, but the split for the base versus the LS versions is unknown.
Make mine Medium Canyon Red Metallic, please.
Two other Panther-based cars I have written about are the 1980 Lincoln Continental Mark VII coupe and the 1983 Mercury Grand Marquis sedan.
Eighties Cars 