Check this out!

[SergntMac]

Marauder VINs began at 600000, but the line is shared with other panther products, so, the VIN is not sequential. Think of the stories you could tell if this were your Marauder. This car could be the 1st Marauder.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6882&item=2451828217

[dwasson]

That's the same place I bought mine. I bought mine used too. I wonder what they are trading for.

[jgc61sr2002]

Sarge - That is definitly one of the first Marauders built.

[RCSignals]

Sorry Mac. Everyone knows Sheriff has one of the first Marauders ;)

[RCSignals]

Maybe someone can look up the actual build date for that car

2MEHM75V63X600045

[Donny Carlson]

Originally posted by SergntMac
Marauder VINs began at 600000, but the line is shared with other panther products, so, the VIN is not sequential. Think of the stories you could tell if this were your Marauder. This car could be the 1st Marauder.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6882&item=2451828217

So, this car would be within the first 45 made after the 600000 designation? Am I making sense? It could be the first MM, or the somewhere between #1 and #45, depending on how many CV's and GMs were in the mix, eh?

Is there any way of knowing for sure just by the VIN number, or would it require checking the records at STAP?

[carfixer]

Originally posted by RCSignals
Maybe someone can look up the actual build date for that car


Checked the VIN, shows build date of 03/12/2002. Warranty start date on 04/17/2002.

Checking the warranty service history, it has had the rear end overhauled at 9k, 10k and 11k miles. Nothing else seems out of the ordinary.

[junehhan]

I think I would be afraid to own the first Marauder ever built, or the first of any car built!

[jgc61sr2002]

carfixer - Just curious. Where did that MM come from, state and dealer? The rear was rebuilt three times? That seems odd. IMO.

[carfixer]

I don't have enough access to find out where the car was purchaced, but I know which dealers it was serviced at.

5/28/03, first rear overhaul was done at Park Motor Sales in Detroit at 9,509 miles. Almost everything was replaced except the axles and axle bearings (see below).

7/1/03, second rear end repair was at Stu Evans L/M in Clinton Township, MI. I re-read it and it was just the left axle shaft and bearing. That was at 11,751.

7/19/03, third rear end repair was also at Stu Evans and it was the right axle shaft and bearing at 12,697.

It's last service visit for an "exhaust adjustment" was on 12/17/03 at 20,008 by the dealer that is selling it now.

[Donny Carlson]

Well, no mystery why the previous owner wanted to be rid of the car. Too many problems with the rear end. Probably soured him on the car, so he traded it in. And with no knowledge of it being an early production number.

[Donny Carlson]

This gets me about this deal. The dealer, who says he is the second largest Ford dealer in the country, lists it as "no known mechanical problems" under service history, yet OASIS shows the car has had serious rear end problems that required three warrantee visits to fix. If you don't want to reveal that to your potential buyers, fine, but in my book, you don't advertise under "service history" that it has had no known mechanical problems.

I note they offer a free CarFacts history search, but this doesn't show the service info availale on OASIS, does it?

[carfixer]

Sounds like 1 problem that took 3 dealer visits to get resolved. It has gone the last 8k miles without a significant repair. I personally wouldn't be afraid of this car.

I'm not defending this dealer, but it states "No Known Mechanical Problems". I would take that as current, it says nothing about service history.

Either way, buying a car over the internet is real scary thing. I know of a lot of people that have done it successfully but...
Late last week we had a guy that bought a 95 Continental on e-bay in Palm Beach stop by our shop on his way up north to have an air suspension light checked out. On my road test, it felt very loose. Once on the lift, I found the inside edge of the LF tire has exposed metal cords, the other 3 are not far behind. Both lower ball joints are shot, sway bar end links are shot, tie rod end shot... buyers beware!

[junehhan]

I personally don't think I could buy anything automotive related off of Ebay as it's lately become nothing but a haven for car crooks. Especially when it comes to vehicles, I would have trouble buying something without having a chance to look at and check it out first.

[RCSignals]

Sounds like the rear should have just had the axle and bearing fix done the first time around.

03/12/2002 is indeed an early build date. As I recall, back around April of '02 it was stated that no Marauders were produced before April 2002. Seems at least one was!

[MapleLeafMerc]

Maybe it was a prototype. I haven't seen a lot about owners here going in two and three times for rear end work.

And what's an exhaust adjustment? Mufflers falling off?

[RCSignals]

The prototypes we have been told were not certified for sale, and were all destroyed. Most would have been made long before March 2002, and were probably all special assembly.

The factory was closed down in early 2002 for assembly line and tooling changes because of all the changes made to the cars for 2003 model. Maybe this car was from one of the early assembly line trial runs?

[SergntMac]

Relative to the exhaust, there is a repair TSB on ALL 2002-03 panther platform cars for incorrect exhaust components (I suspect cats) that affect emmisions. Read up here...

http://www.blueovalnews.com/2003/cars/cv.recall.exhaust.072803.htm

Now consider this. That TSB would not be a TSB without one of two things taking place. 1) a customer complaint, or, numbers of customer complaints, or 2) The design team's long term project test car shows a failure.

With respect to the repair history on this specific Madauder, the bearings failed one at a time, until they were all fixed, most likely before the publiccation of a TSB and the assembly of a repair kit that replaces everything in one visit.

I'd say this is an unusual car, something a collector may be interested in. We were told in press releases that the first Marauder rolled off the aqssembly line 13 May, 2002. But, the OASIS says otherwise, so this may be #1. At least, it's #45...

[SHERIFF]

Originally posted by RCSignals
Sorry Mac. Everyone knows Sheriff has one of the first Marauders ;)


The dealer received my car as their "third" Marauder. The other 2 were reserved and sold ahead of me. The owner of the dealership bought the first, but we know it is titled as a demo and runs demo license plates. :) The service manager bought the second arrival. I took delivery of mine on March 27, 2002. It was indeed one of the first delivered to dealers on the East Coast.




Originally posted by carfixer
Checked the VIN, shows build date of 03/12/2002. Warranty start date on 04/17/2002.


That's impossible. The kiddies on Blue Oval News and Crown Victoria net said no Marauders were ever built that early and I was lying about having one. :D


Bottom line...... Thank You for running that carfax. :D

[Bigdogjim]

Originally posted by carfixer

Either way, buying a car over the internet is real scary thing. I


It is being advertised over the Internet and yes you are bidding over the Internet.

But the difference is it a Ford dealer not a private sale where the seller can not back up what he said.

Last year I won the bid on a older Marauder and after I agreed to buy it I found out the passenger side was "hit" whereas the "damage" was "missing" from the description?

I would feel better buying from a dealer than a private party:)

But what the hell I know dealer that would pull the wool over your eyes if let 'em:):):)

[RoyLPita]

I knew about this long before. One dead saturday at work I found out the VIN to the 1st 2003 MM: 2MEHM75V43X600027. Built 1/24/02, start date 6/4/02. Warranty was cancelled by "district request". It could have been the one that was shown on Blue Oval News a while back (in pieces). As for the low VIN not available for sale, these were preproduction units for tests. Reps drove these around for a while. They may have those "baffle-less exhaust tips. BTW, here's a bonus: the 1st 2004 MM 2MEHM79V34X600001. Built 4/22/03, start date: 5/21/03.

[RCSignals]

BTW, here's a bonus: the 1st 2004 MM 2MEHM79V34X600001. Built 4/22/03, start date: 5/21/03.

who owns that one? (and as with the '03, that build date is quite a bit before the start build date for '04s I saw posted before! )

[RCSignals]

One dead saturday at work I found out the VIN to the 1st 2003 MM: 2MEHM75V43X600027. Built 1/24/02, start date 6/4/02

1/24/02 is during the time the plant was closed for updates. Must have been a "test production run" car? Maybe wasn't meant for sale?

[SergntMac]

All this flotsam and jetsam blows the snit out of more than a few posts here.

It also challenges what a lot of us believed to be truth.

Guess none of us will ever really know, eh? So...On to something 10x easier to agree upon...




Who killed JFK?

[RCSignals]

Originally posted by SergntMac

Guess none of us will ever really know, eh? So...On to something 10x easier to agree upon...




Who killed JFK?

Everyone knows he's invalided in a hospital in Austria all these years......

[Donny Carlson]

Nah, that aint so. I sat between him and Elvis on the UFO last week.