Tim Chadwick meets a charming Swiss immigrant with a penchant for old Shaft movies and classic American cars
When Kiwi classic car enthusiasts think of Ford’s in-house Mercury brand of car, they often think of the old post-war Mercurys, the classic Cougar or the TransAm racing and muscle car era models.
However, Mercury did build some rather long and large cars back in the days before America finally woke up to both the Japanese industrial invasion, and the depth of the oil crisis.
During the’ 60s and up to the mid ’70s the top line Mercury, almost on a par with Ford’s flagship Lincoln brand, was the Mercury Marquis. The original Marquis model of the late ’60s was a two-door luxury coupe, based partially on the four door Brougham model, 
and powered exclusively by Ford’s 246kW, 6719cc V8 (330bhp, 410ci), with 6391cc and 7104cc (390 and 428ci) engines also on offer before the ’60s finished.
From the end of ’60s through until 1972, the Marquis models were known as being part of the ‘Continental Styling’ era as Ford tried to lift the standard of the Mercury Marquis line to a level that was virtually the equivalent of a Lincoln coupe, yet more affordable than a Lincoln.
The Marquis model was extended beyond just being a two-door coupe, with various sedan and wagon versions available, while a convertible sister was created in the Mercury Marauder. Two-barrel and four-barrel carburettor 7030cc (429ci) V8 engines were the mainstay powerplant during this period, which also saw the Marquis cars styled along with Lincoln, with retractable headlamps. The fold-away headlamps became a Mercury and Lincoln characteristic throughout the 1970s, seen down here, closer to home in the South Pacific, on Ford’s Falcon-based LTD and Landau coupes. Come 1973, and the Marquis received a major restyle to take it through the middle of the decade.
Flares, Afros and Perms!
As with flares on trousers, afro hairstyles and perms, during the ’70s the Mercury Marquis just got bigger and bigger! The large Mercury gained an energy absorbing bumper and a lower, sleeker roofline which highlighted the car’s length. The overall style was quite boxy in shape. In 1975 Ford dropped the long running Mercury Monterey model, and instead introduced a top-of-the-line Marquis model known as the Grand Marquis. In a badge rationalisation, all other Mercurys of this period were badged as a plain Marquis or, of course, as the Cougar, which had grown a middle-aged spread after its former muscle car days.
Although I have a later model Mercury Cougar in my garage, I had not ever heard of a Mercury Grand Marquis, or had perhaps overlooked it in American motoring books, until Michael Glamsch glided by one day in his original unmolested ’77 Mercury sporting a SH4FT (SHAFT) number plate.
Michael’s 1977 Grand Marquis is powered by the 7538cc (460ci) Ford V8 engine, and was imported by him personally in May of 2007 from Scottsdale, Arizona, as a product of surfing the net.
The Grand Marquis is one of the rarer Mercury cars around, and this may be the only 1977 model in New Zealand.
Whereas people were importing classic finned American cars or classic muscle cars a couple of years back when our Kiwi dollar was high against the greenback, Michael Glamsch sought a car which reminded him of both his more youthful days in the 1970s, and the cars seen in his favourite Shaft movies starring the Afro-American actor, Richard Roundtree. Although Swiss in his origin, the food and beverage lecturer at the Pacific International Hotel Management School (PIHMS) in New Plymouth grew up with American cars.
Swiss GM Factory
Back in Switzerland, his father had always driven American cars. “My dad started off with a rear-engined Chevy Corvair,” Michael said, “and throughout my younger days back home we had loads of Buicks, from Skylarks through to the Century model. You see, GM had a factory in Switzerland at that time, and so GM cars were mostly what we had, as far as American cars go. I recall that my parents also had a Pontiac, an Olds [Oldsmobile] and now they have a Chevrolet. I had Cadillac cars mainly, as well as the obligatory Ford Mustang, which was my first car, 20 years ago. It wasn’t until I came to New Zealand eight years ago that I drove my first Japanese car!”
In New Zealand Michael was missing the long low American cars of his youth, and so one day, while cruising on the internet highway, he spotted the untouched Mercury Grand Marquis of 1977 vintage and had to have it. “I liked the shape of the car when I saw it in the pictures on the internet,” Michael continued, “It reminded me of childhood TV programmes and of course the action-packed Shaft series of movies. In fact, Shaft is still one of my favourite movies. Perhaps I should see a psychologist!” At this point Michael burst into restrained laughter, but I understood his admiration for the kitsch glamour of the big ’70s cars, and we stood back to admire the sheer folly and audacity of such a land yacht as the Mercury Grand Marquis.
At the front, the wide imposing grille is a chromed set of six ‘waterfall’ modules balanced with the retractable lamps either side, protected behind vinyl or vinyl-like panels emblazoned with the dual ‘crowned-lion’ Marquis coat of arms, complete with a shield featuring the head of the ancient Greek god Mercury.
Blunt Effrontery!
The high impact bumpers are massive and sport yards of chrome, in a perhaps blunt effrontery to the world at large! The front corners of the car feature the marker lights and indicators in a type of razor-edged styling. This sharp-edged outline continues right along the outer edges of the front mudguard area on into the cabin area proper. For such a long car, the cabin does not take up a great area of the Grand Marquis. The doors are of a pillarless design, with the bulk of the side area support coming from one of the very stylish facets of this car, its wide rear pillar area, which swoops up and over the roofline with a thin chrome strip separating the two tone gold and cream colour scheme. This is probably the part of the Grand Marquis that I find the most aesthetically pleasing. The rear of the big Mercury is fairly straightforward in design, with a tidy set of horizontal strips encompassing the lights, and the chromed lettering spelling out the company brand name in a bold serif font. The words ‘Grand Marquis’ mounted on the right rear of the boot-lid are in a more flowing or semi-scrolled font, to give off an air of grace befitting this luxury liner.
The interior of this particular Mercury Grand Marquis is based on a light tan or caramel theme featuring inlaid wood veneer, and two-tone caramel and white leather seats with buttoned upholstery. This car’s interior will not appeal to all classic car enthusiasts, and some will find it quite kitsch, but for those into ’70s cars this is really a major draw-card, a tidy faux glamour veneer, plastic, carpet and leather amalgamation that simply and unashamedly now screams ’70s at you!
Michael invited me to go for a short cruise in his big Mercury and I was keen to sit back and enjoy the open interior of the car, partially wishing that I had brought along an old pair of genuine mid-’70s Lee brand flared pants that hang in my wardrobe for fancy dress events. After all, this was a fancy event, in a fancy car!
Michael had no trouble starting the slab-sided leviathan, and we eased off out onto the road. The Mercury floated along in a steady fashion, and I found myself looking out along a large piece of sheet-metal real estate, as wide as Arizona itself!
The dry desert state has been kind to Michael’s imported Grand Marquis, although the paintwork is now starting to blemish in places. This does not bother Michael, as he’s quite keen on unsullied and original US motor cars which exude their era. He has, however, made some quiet investigations about the cost of a respray just in case, and the figure for such a large car looks to be around the six grand mark, at a professional paint shop.
As we glided along, I asked Michael a bit more about his importation of the big car.
Long Beach to Auckland
“I found it on the eBay website originally,” Michael said, “and I made enquiries before arranging the whole import procedure myself. I simply went to a website called shipoverseas.com, and then all I had to do was fill in some forms and they organised transport for the Mercury, from Scottsdale to Long Beach at the coast, and from there it took only three weeks to come out to New Zealand by ship. After its MAF clearance, it was trucked by Cart-A-Car Ltd down from Auckland to New Plymouth, where Eagle Automotive Ltd put in the required seatbelts for compliance and oversaw the VIN process for me. It all went really smoothly.”
Both car and driver are imports — “Yes, the Mercury from Arizona and me from Switzerland, of course, but I’m a true Kiwi now. After serving my time in the Swiss army because it’s compulsory there, and gaining my degree in hotel management and working in various hotels, catering situations and casinos, I met and married a Kiwi lady, and so I came here and I really love living here. I’m not going anywhere now, unless it’s somewhere nice like Hawaii or Samoa for a warm holiday!”
The Mercury Grand Marquis continued rolling along on its 235/75-15 Uniroyal tyres in a comfortable glide as I then enquired about the cost of running such a big car. “Well, she is certainly big,” Michael replied, “close to six metres in length and about 2.03 metres wide and around 2.3—ton in weight! We had a 454 Impala that was doing about 22 or 23 litres to 100 kilometres and so I’d say that this would be similar, but of course it has a lot to do with your foot too. You need a big engine to power a heavy car like this along the highway, but if you drive it well you can keep the economy figures reasonable.”
After a while, Michael parked the Grand Marquis and we lifted the bonnet to look into the huge engine bay, at the big 460 donk. Despite the car being from the Mercury stable, the Ford blue engine gave no hint of being disguised as a Mercury or anything other than a true-blue Ford powerplant. Although a mass of wires and cables, the beauty of this engine area is that it is from an age just prior to the advent of overkill on electronics, solenoids, engine-management features and the suchlike. Large, but all pretty straightforward.
Isaac Hayes
Our conversation, from either side of the wide engine bay, took us back to our childhoods in the 1970s; American television; Shaft; The recent death of Isaac Hayes, who wrote the indelible Shaft theme music; and the matchbox toy Mercury Commuter station wagon produced by Lesney Matchbox during the early ’70s.
Old American cars with fins bring back ’50s rock ’n’ roll nostalgia for a lot of folk, and the ’60s Lincolns remind people of James Bond’s Goldfinger, JFK, and so on — but for sheer ’70s over-the-top flares, disco, and afro-headed cop movies, Michael Glamsch’s Grand Marquis fits the bill.
Michael is making some new motoring plans at the moment, and so he is putting the Mercury Grand Marquis up for sale, but he still has a rare Ford Galaxie in his shed that you shall meet between the pages of NZ Classic Car at a later date.
As befits a food beverages lecturer, as I went to leave Michael’s house, he gave me a parting gift of a plastic hamburger telephone! Yes, a real working Telecom-compliant burger phone! Michael really is the grand Marquis of Mercury mirth, the burger-meister of big barges — or the Marquis de Shaft — and I thank him for his time and charming hospitality.
1977 Mercury Grand Marquis – Specifcations
Engine Ford V8 (460ci/ 7538cc)
Carburettor Four-barrel downdraught
Power 158kW (212bhp) at 4400rpm
Brakes Disc/drum
Overall Length 5.85 metres
Width 2.03 metres
Max speed Approx 185-190kph
Economy Approx 22.2l/100km
Words and Photos: Tim Chadwick
This article is from Classic Car issue 219. Click here to check it out.
You don’t see many of these around. Cool car, though.