Doing a journalism story on Mercury...

[MrBluGruv]

Alrighty guys,

I'm doing a story on Mercury and its closure for my journalism class. I'd like to talk to anyone who wants to share some details about their Mercury experience, and if anyone here has close ties within Mercury all the better, if you can give any extra insight about the subject.

I'd appreciate and like to hear anything you guys can offer me. :)

Let me know if you're interested in talking with me, then PM me and we can interview in depth.


Thanks guys, looking forward to hearing from you.

-Chris

[Motorhead350]

I'm good if you wanna hear anything I have to say.

[fastblackmerc]

Alrighty guys,

I'm doing a story on Mercury and its closure for my journalism class. I'd like to talk to anyone who wants to share some details about their Mercury experience, and if anyone here has close ties within Mercury all the better, if you can give any extra insight about the subject.

I'd appreciate and like to hear anything you guys can offer me. :)

Let me know if you're interested in talking with me, then PM me and we can interview in depth.


Thanks guys, looking forward to hearing from you.

-Chris

Maybe you can contact Steve Babcock aka Father of the Marauder.

[a_d_a_m]

Ask me about the '81 Lynx we used to have.

(spoiler alert: it was a great car)

[Krytin]

I bought my first car - a '68 Mercury - in '76.
I've owned a few more since then.....

[SpartaPerformance]

My daily driver is a 1993 Mercury Tracer with 198+ thousand miles on it.

[TFB]

I owned a '68 Cougar GTE with the 427 engine(wish I'd kept it)...

I only mention this because it's one that should be included in any Mercury history...

[Blk Mamba]

The first one I remember is a 56 "custom" my aunt had, I'll never forget that car, also, she at the time did powder puff racing, at the local circle track.

[cruzer]

First Mercury--1953--since then I've owned a New York Auto Show car (Right off the floor)--a Royal Canadian Mounted Police car (Delivered direct from factory--429ci--438 rwhp) ---a prototype P71 (delivered in April 1991 in a Mercury configuration--had dual airbags and the first performance and handling package--had it about 18 months before first deliveries to LEOs--unrestricted with top speed of 150+--put on 140,000mi before selling)--plus participating in "Operation Silver Shows"--had contact with Mercury management very early in the Marauder program. If interested, call me at 817-296-3819--anytime between 0800-2100 CST. It's been a lot of fun--call me, Maury

[TAKEDOWN]

Kirk knows a lot about the history of our cars from past to present!

[MrBluGruv]

Looks like I'll have a lot of experience to draw from here. :) Thank you guys.

I'll be getting together a proper set of interview questions and I'll get back to all you guys that have offered to speak with me. This is my "enterprise story" for my journalism class this semester, and I have the rest of the month to get together between 3 and 4 sources and finish a 1000 word story. EZPZ in my opinion, especially since I love the subject matter. :)

[kirk]

My grandad always bought Mercurys and I've had a few myself. Let me know if I can help.

[visionmercury]

my grandfather swore by mercury said" ford was cheap and lincoln was over expencive", i still have the last mercury he ownen and i have a few of my own if you need some help pm me

[MrBluGruv]

Alrighty guys, I have everything lined up for questions and details, will be PM'ing everyone that responded and indicated they would be interested in talking about it now...

[Krytin]

Got your PM.
Give me a day or two to put together some things - I might have some old pictures I can scan in.

[TAKEDOWN]

I'll be responding soon!

[cruzer]

What he said--a couple days to confirm dates--glad to help, Maury

[Bruce Wayne]

Don't forget the Mercury trucks, I had a "68 mercury Ranger half ton, 360 cu.inch 3 speed fast and cool. My first car was a '66 mercury Comet 3 speed in line 6 . Patched the cracked block with "thread lock" when working oil rigs in northern Alberta, Car was left in a snow lane in Calgary and I never saw it again. I've never seen another like it in30 years. It had a real short deck lid. Orig, dark green colour. My next Merc was a 66 Montcalm, sweet, black with red interior, had a 289 which I still have!. A 1980 Mercury Marquis was also very cool, it was dark blue with fender skirts, Now I have a '03 Canadian model black Marauder, low miles all stock. Did I mention I just scored another Marauder for $ 3000.00, tuned it up on the weekend, cleaned and polished, now it looks too nice to drive in the snow and salt. I love Mercury's

[MrBluGruv]

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you that have responded and those that are in the process of doing so. I know it seems like I haven't been responding back, but I'm swamped with the end of the semester. In a day or two I will have a LOT of load off my back, and I plan on personally thanking all that have responded (and at least one more question as well.)

Again, thank you all. This community is wonderful. :)

[kirk]

Ran across this today, thought it might help. It came from "Michigan An Illustrated History of The Great Lakes State" by George S. May, though I've seen it elsewhere also.

[MrBluGruv]

Alright guys, sorry for the delay, but I finally have the article I wrote for the class here to upload. :) I partly blame the holiday season for the delay, but I also didn't want to submit it here before I submitted it to my professor because the last thing I'd need is to have it run through an online plagiarism scanner and then have to explain how I 100% "plagiarized" the paper that I wrote myself.

Have mercy, this was my first semester in any academic journalistic ventures. :P

It is attached below to this post.

[Blk Mamba]

Very nice write, you should be proud, despite the mark given by a professor.

[cruzer]

What can I say ??? I didn't write myself a post-it note to attach to my computer and I just screwed up and let time pass too quickly.Really sorry. You did a great job of summing up the emotion attached to Mercury's by dedicated owners. Bought my first Merc in 1953--then '55, '65 (NY Auto Show Exibition car--new), '70 RCMP Special Police Car (438 RWHP), '73 Montego, '78, '84 , '92 Prototype P-71 Police Package in Grand Marquis Body ( 1 of 5) 2 air bags, delivered Apr '91, '99 GM w/ P&H Package, '03 Marauder changeover A/B model----feels like I may have missed a couple--over 800,000 miles total. Never had a lemon and have always been extremely satisfied with quality and performance--the reason I got special editions--had a friend in high places at Mercury;) I have 117,000 fun miles on my Marauder--and at a young 82 years, I still challenge anyone with a stock MM to beat me dragging, road racing or on the oval( did 10 laps at Texas Motor Speedway in the drivers seat in an all-out race against 9 other drivers in a 800 hp Nascar Sprint Car--started on the pole--lapped 3 cars and finished 2 car-lengths behind the winner--only restriction was a 150 mph speed limiter--on my 80th birthday) . The Marauder is the best handling 4-door I have ever driven and the most versatile car I ever owned. If Mercury had aggressively marketed the 3 planned versions of the Marauder, I think we would be reading a different story now. My MM.net # is 92 and I had been following the concept idea for years before MM.net was started by Logan. It has been a great time meeting many of you in person and many more here---hope I have many more years here--I'm gonna drive the Marauder until the wheels fall off or I die--if I have to, I'll buy a used one if this one dies--no other car for me--well, enough rambling--Nite all, Maury

PS--I'm really sorry I didn't answer like I promised:o

[PurdueRifleman]

It was a good, concise write-up on a topic that you and obviously most of us are passionate. I really appreciated how the essay kept moving towards a conclusion and not shooting off on a tangent like so many are tempted to do in their early writing ventures. There's just so much information you'd like to present! I didn't see much in the way of grammatical errors, but I also didn't look for them carefully since by the time you've made it into college you should know better.

However I do have some issues with this. In terms of quality, this is about first draft material. There were several colloquialisms/cliches, especially towards the end, that would automatically relegate this to the "B" level. Also, the essay as a whole felt somewhat disjointed. Next time, make better use of transitions! Most academic writing formats also require you to indent the first line of each paragraph.

Based on a one time reading of what you have, I'd give this a solid C+. I know you've already submitted this, but at least what I've identified as weak points are easily correctable. If a re-write is offered, I see no reason this couldn't be A material.

*Disclaimer. I'm a writing nazi. I spent 4.5yrs studying this stuff and even have a small published history. My professors were relentless in their criticizing of my work. Naturally, it's easy for me to do this as well, though I do try to curb my enthusiasm with newcomers. So before you get upset or discouraged, please, refer to my sig line :beatnik:

[MrBluGruv]

What can I say ??? I didn't write myself a post-it note to attach to my computer and I just screwed up and let time pass too quickly.Really sorry. You did a great job of summing up the emotion attached to Mercury's by dedicated owners. Bought my first Merc in 1953--then '55, '65 (NY Auto Show Exibition car--new), '70 RCMP Special Police Car (438 RWHP), '73 Montego, '78, '84 , '92 Prototype P-71 Police Package in Grand Marquis Body ( 1 of 5) 2 air bags, delivered Apr '91, '99 GM w/ P&H Package, '03 Marauder changeover A/B model----feels like I may have missed a couple--over 800,000 miles total. Never had a lemon and have always been extremely satisfied with quality and performance--the reason I got special editions--had a friend in high places at Mercury;) I have 117,000 fun miles on my Marauder--and at a young 82 years, I still challenge anyone with a stock MM to beat me dragging, road racing or on the oval( did 10 laps at Texas Motor Speedway in the drivers seat in an all-out race against 9 other drivers in a 800 hp Nascar Sprint Car--started on the pole--lapped 3 cars and finished 2 car-lengths behind the winner--only restriction was a 150 mph speed limiter--on my 80th birthday) . The Marauder is the best handling 4-door I have ever driven and the most versatile car I ever owned. If Mercury had aggressively marketed the 3 planned versions of the Marauder, I think we would be reading a different story now. My MM.net # is 92 and I had been following the concept idea for years before MM.net was started by Logan. It has been a great time meeting many of you in person and many more here---hope I have many more years here--I'm gonna drive the Marauder until the wheels fall off or I die--if I have to, I'll buy a used one if this one dies--no other car for me--well, enough rambling--Nite all, Maury

PS--I'm really sorry I didn't answer like I promised:o

Maury, it didn't hurt my feelings at all. I can definitely understand getting wrapped up and busy with things, I know in my case a lot of people that can attest to me being impossible to get a hold of at the end of this just-ended semester. :P

But as a matter of fact, I'd consider it a privilege to be able to meet in person one of these years at Centerville or another Texas Marauder meet. I just have to find time first. :(

[MrBluGruv]

It was a good, concise write-up on a topic that you and obviously most of us are passionate. I really appreciated how the essay kept moving towards a conclusion and not shooting off on a tangent like so many are tempted to do in their early writing ventures. There's just so much information you'd like to present! I didn't see much in the way of grammatical errors, but I also didn't look for them carefully since by the time you've made it into college you should know better.

However I do have some issues with this. In terms of quality, this is about first draft material. There were several colloquialisms/cliches, especially towards the end, that would automatically relegate this to the "B" level. Also, the essay as a whole felt somewhat disjointed. Next time, make better use of transitions! Most academic writing formats also require you to indent the first line of each paragraph.

Based on a one time reading of what you have, I'd give this a solid C+. I know you've already submitted this, but at least what I've identified as weak points are easily correctable. If a re-write is offered, I see no reason this couldn't be A material.

*Disclaimer. I'm a writing nazi. I spent 4.5yrs studying this stuff and even have a small published history. My professors were relentless in their criticizing of my work. Naturally, it's easy for me to do this as well, though I do try to curb my enthusiasm with newcomers. So before you get upset or discouraged, please, refer to my sig line :beatnik:

I can appreciate this info a lot actually, ANY source of criticism, so long as it isn't meant maliciously, is something I consider a valuable resource. So indeed thank you for your comments. :)

The thing that made writing this weird is that this was an enterprise news story, not an essay. It took me a while to get used to the standards that they want adhered to for writing in a journalistic style, and that's where my non-indenting rigidly-formatted (opening-quote-interjection-quote-interjection-quote-end) style comes from. I'm hoping in the future we'll be able to expand on this format to make our articles more interesting, because in that sense I can understand people being bored with print news if this is the only style in which one can try to write interesting news stories in.

(conversely, after being taught what essentially the industry standard is for formatting, it is kinda sad to see how many news outlets ignore it or don't know it, and that almost always comes coupled with extremely poor writing technique to boot.)

Anywho, again thank you. :)

[PurdueRifleman]

I can appreciate this info a lot actually, ANY source of criticism, so long as it isn't meant maliciously, is something I consider a valuable resource. So indeed thank you for your comments. :)

The thing that made writing this weird is that this was an enterprise news story, not an essay. It took me a while to get used to the standards that they want adhered to for writing in a journalistic style, and that's where my non-indenting rigidly-formatted (opening-quote-interjection-quote-interjection-quote-end) style comes from. I'm hoping in the future we'll be able to expand on this format to make our articles more interesting, because in that sense I can understand people being bored with print news if this is the only style in which one can try to write interesting news stories in.

(conversely, after being taught what essentially the industry standard is for formatting, it is kinda sad to see how many news outlets ignore it or don't know it, and that almost always comes coupled with extremely poor writing technique to boot.)

Anywho, again thank you. :)


No problem. If you'd like anything else critiqued in the future, I'd be interested in taking a look. I can't promise that I'll always have time, especially with a cross country move coming up, but I always enjoy doing peer reviews.

[cruzer]

In your journalism career. I realize what it takes to write for publication--I have 2 books completely outlined and , in 5 years, haven't been able to get past the first 20 pages. Everyone seems to think that retirement means you are available at all times ,but, I guess quality time with your family is priceless. Hope things slow down a bit and give you some time to relax. Anytime you see a break coming up, give me a call a 817-296-3819 and I'll try to get some of the folks together for a bull session. Hard work and devotion to a dream pays off--I know from personal experience. Happy New Year--hope to see you soon, Maury:beer::burnout: