2003 Mercury Marauder

On March 27 2003, after months of research and days of active and fervent negotiations, I settled on one particular showroom stock Mercury Marauder. Until the test drive, the car had remained indoors since its delivery. The car got quite dirty during this test drive, being the tail end of winter and all, and here it is being prepped for the big moment when the keys would be handed over.

Not a day after it reached my driveway, we got a dumping of snow. Enough to scare me off of attempting my first drive through snow with a rear wheel drive car in over 10 years. Not to mention that I'd be venturing out into this snowy salty mess with high performance WIDE tires with pristine shiny rims, the intention for next year being plain black steel rims and good winter tires. So the Civic remained in active duty during those rough few days... a brand new car waiting at home and you can't drive it!

Soon enough, the snow melted and the car was anxiously put into service. Suddenly, I wasn't in such a hurry to get the Firebirds back on the road!