The 2003-2004 Mercury Marauder may be the last of the full-sized, full-frame factory hot rods

Let’s face it. The 2003-2004 Mercury Marauder probably wouldn’t even exist if it hadn’t been for the 1994-1996 Impala SS. The Impala SS was a hunkered-down, blacked-out hot rod version of the Caprice police car package. In the Impala’s final year, analog gauges and a floor-mounted gear selector were added to the Impala, just in time for all full-frame GM car production to end as the Arlington, Tex., assembly plant was converted to truck and SUV production.

Once that version of the Impala SS was no more, all the magazines cried, “just like GM—when they finally get something right, they quit making it.” Used Impala SS values were strong, and most people looked back on them fondly. But the GM B-Body platform on which they were built was long gone.

What was not gone was Ford’s version of the rear-wheel-drive, traditional V8 sedan. The Crown Victoria, and Mercury’s Grand Marquis, were still selling strong to police departments and senior citizens respectively.

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