Jalopnik sucks...

Recently, Jalopnik made a top 10 list of "Cars That Killed Mercury". What a waste of time.. Some cars belong on that list, such as the mini-vans, but classics like the Turnpike Cruiser, Fox Body Mercury Capri and even that German Capri have no business being on there. The 2006 Mercury Milan doesn't belong either, that is one car I wouldn't mind driving myself. I won't even get into the Cougars that are listed.. Give me a break.

Jalopnik will always play second fiddle to Autoblog. Their lack of quality reporting and their stupid opinions will always keep me from checking them every day.

http://jalopnik.com/5553707/ten-cars-that-killed-mercury/gallery/

The Mercury brand is going to be phased out..

My news sources have been saying that the Mercury brand is on its way out. Started in 1939 by Edsel Ford, who is the son of Henry Ford, was a car division that was more upscale from Ford but not as expensive as a Lincoln. Now that the Ford Oval has gone upscale itself, the management team doesn't think Mercury is required anymore.

I think that Mercury should have been a division where they can bring low volume global cars to America. How cool would it have been to see a Australian Ford Falcon (Mercury Comet?) or a Focus RS (Mercury Bobcat?) or a Mustang based Mercury Cougar? All would be low volume, expensive but avaiable to those in America that want them.

As a former owner of a Mercury Villager (Nissan Quest) and a Mercury Sable, I have spent a lot of time behind the wheel of a Mercury. Hopefully they will bring the name back on a low volume car (such as the 2002-2003 Marauder) and sell it through Ford dealers. I also hope the good people at Lincoln/Mercury dealerships keep their doors open. We don't need more dealership guys out of work.

The 3.73 Gear, Steeda Pulley and the Trac-Lok is in!

All of the parts are installed!

I pulled the Thunderbird out on the first nice day we had after a couple of rain storms, cleaned her up and took her in for the parts install. All I have to say is.. Wow.. I wish I could have done this with my Sable. It feels like I am still in 3rd gear when I am in 4th. It pulls very nicely and this really got rid of the muddy 50-75 MPH I had before.

Next up is the not-so-glammorus valve stem replacement. The stems are breaking down causing oil burn out the tail pipe. Get behind any Crown Vic or Mustang from this vintage and you will see some white smoke. Mine does it a bit, so its being handled.

Welcome to 2010, the year of the Thunderbird

I am so looking forward to Spring to get all of this stuff installed. The 3.73s, driveshaft and the UDP gives me something to look forward to. Hopefully all of those V6 Mustangs and V6 SHOs will be seeing tailights this year at Milan!