66 Parklane

[Mach1]

I am going to be checking out a 66 Mercury Parklane convertible tomorrow, and am wondering if anyone here has any recommendations on what to look for as far as problem areas for these cars. The only info I have on it is that the owner has had it since the 70's, it was repainted two years ago, they put a new top on it at that time also, and its supposed to look and run good with 60,000 miles. They are asking $10,000. I plan on checking out the trunk and floors for signs of rust repair and test drive it. Any recommendations on other things to look at would be much appreciated.

[Dragcity]

An area of concern for all full sized Fords from that era is the frame. Particularly the rear 1/2, from the doors back.

Every Ford/Mercury we had from '64 - '72 had a cracked frame.

Now, My Father DID have FIVE (5) Sons.....

[stanchfi]

You may want to print a identification list to check with the panel on the drivers door, to see if everything is orgional

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~stanchfi/1966-mercury-id.html

-James

[Bigdogjim]

Hope is a nice car. I had a '66 monterey conv., blue/white top/red inside. Only had the 390 V-8:)
If you bye it please post pictures. :)

[merc406]

Take a magnet with you to check the body and trunk out, lift up the interior carpet, don't buy it with out doing so, and 60,000 miles means it has set for long periods of time, brake seals, valve seals, hell any seals will be of concern here, trans leaks and rearend leaks. Ask him or look where he parks it to see some of what may or maynot be going on. Ten grand seems like alot, but if it is a creampuff it may be worth it. Good luck.

[Mach1]

Thanks for the help guys. Well I checked it out. It looked great, it had been repainted once but all the body panels were said to be orginal, no rust or repairs were apparent on the door bottoms or wheel wells, I took everything out of the trunk and everything there looked great, no evidence of quarter replacement etc. I couldn't believe how good it ran since it is over 40 years and the engine was still original other than a carb rebuild and normal service. The interior was perfect. However the news wasn't very good when I looked underneath. The frame was rusted out in all for corners at the body mount points...(torque boxes?). I felt bad for the owner, because he took what he though was such good care of it. But from what I saw, the only way to correctly fix it would be to remove the frame and have it rebuilt. The funny thing too was the cars floor was original but in great shape, it must be because Mercury didn't paint the frame, it was just bare metal.

[Dragcity]

Sorry to hear it didn't work out. Frames were the demise of all our 60's cars...

I remember my Dad and oldest Brother welding patches in every year. Seemed it was always a night, when the arcs lit up half the neighborhood...

[Mach1]

When I looked under the hood, I noticed a small glass bottle with a metal cap clipped onto the driverside wheel well. The word Rotunda was on it.
Does anyone here know what that was for? It looked factory, but I've never seen anything like it before.

[Glenn]

Glass Bottle was Windshield Washer cleaner fuild.

Glenn