6 hours and counting

[Dan]

Hello All,

At 5:30 EDT I am on a plane to Iowa to pick up my "new" blue Marauder. I am totally stoked about this.

Here are my travel plans... I will be in the Madison, WI area on Thursday 4/22 in the AM. From there I am heading on over to Dearborn to visit Jerry at Trilogy. I should be at Trilogy on Friday the morning of the 23rd.

After that I plan on motor on home. Odds are I will head up along the north side of the lake (Erie?) and cross the river into Buffalo. From there I will cross NY and go all the way across to Rt. 91 South in MA and then it is a short trip to home from there.

There is a slight chance that I will come down Rt. 22 in NY and cross into NE in the Wingdale/Sherman area at the state line. Rt. 7 south of Gaylordsville has some of the most awesome twisties.

I wish I could take more time to schedule visits with the Marauders guys here but I do need to be back by Monday and I would like to arrive home during the day so I will need to make tracks, as they say.

I don't know what 'net access I will have. If I get any I will pop in, otherwise I'll see you when I get back. :banana2: :banana2: :banana2:

Best,

Dan

[PhkinQk]

There is a slight chance that I will come down Rt. 22 in NY and cross into NE in the Wingdale/Sherman area at the state line. Rt. 7 south of Gaylordsville has some of the most awesome twisties.Best,Dan


We had our last North East Marauder meet in Fishkill off Rt84. We're leaving for Florida tomorrow and won't be back till next week, but check the board for our meet's love to have another Blue......:)

[O's Fan Rich]

Go, Blue!
Have a nice safe easy enjoyable trip, Dan.

[ParkRanger]

Hello All,

At 5:30 EDT I am on a plane to Iowa to pick up my "new" blue Marauder. I am totally stoked about this.

Here are my travel plans... I will be in the Madison, WI area on Thursday 4/22 in the AM. From there I am heading on over to Dearborn to visit Jerry at Trilogy. I should be at Trilogy on Friday the morning of the 23rd.

After that I plan on motor on home. Odds are I will head up along the north side of the lake (Erie?) and cross the river into Buffalo. From there I will cross NY and go all the way across to Rt. 91 South in MA and then it is a short trip to home from there.

There is a slight chance that I will come down Rt. 22 in NY and cross into NE in the Wingdale/Sherman area at the state line. Rt. 7 south of Gaylordsville has some of the most awesome twisties.

I wish I could take more time to schedule visits with the Marauders guys here but I do need to be back by Monday and I would like to arrive home during the day so I will need to make tracks, as they say.

I don't know what 'net access I will have. If I get any I will pop in, otherwise I'll see you when I get back. :banana2: :banana2: :banana2:

Best,

Dan

Do your thang, Dan! Go baby.

PR

[merc406]

Hello All,

At 5:30 EDT I am on a plane to Iowa to pick up my "new" blue Marauder. I am totally stoked about this.

Here are my travel plans... I will be in the Madison, WI area on Thursday 4/22 in the AM. From there I am heading on over to Dearborn to visit Jerry at Trilogy. I should be at Trilogy on Friday the morning of the 23rd.

After that I plan on motor on home. Odds are I will head up along the north side of the lake (Erie?) and cross the river into Buffalo. From there I will cross NY and go all the way across to Rt. 91 South in MA and then it is a short trip to home from there.

There is a slight chance that I will come down Rt. 22 in NY and cross into NE in the Wingdale/Sherman area at the state line. Rt. 7 south of Gaylordsville has some of the most awesome twisties.

I wish I could take more time to schedule visits with the Marauders guys here but I do need to be back by Monday and I would like to arrive home during the day so I will need to make tracks, as they say.

I don't know what 'net access I will have. If I get any I will pop in, otherwise I'll see you when I get back. :banana2: :banana2: :banana2:

Best,

Dan



Wow! That is really cool, have a Great Time!! :bounce: :rock:

[jgc61sr2002]

Dan - Congrats. :up: Have a safe enjoyable trip. :)

[woaface]

Don't get any tickets on the way back!

[Bigdogjim]

Hella of a "test" drive:)

Ear to ear grin:):):):)

Be safe, godspeed

[Patrick]

Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[MikeC]

My wife and I met Dan at the airport in Moline last night and he was as excited to get the Marauder as I was a year ago. If he was anymore wired I think he could have drove back to Conn. last night without sleep. Enjoy the car Dan and keep in touch. Mike

[jaywish]

Hi Dan,

It sounds like a great trip in the making.

Welcome.

Jay

[Haggis]

Dan have a safe and enjoyable trip.

[Dan]

I'm BACK!

All I can say is OH MY GAWD!!!! I have so much to say so here goes. In order I will start with a thank you, move on with a trip description and close with some of my experiences with the drive as in my FIRST KILL, my top speed and what I call, "The Crown Vic Effect."

THANKS
First of all, I really do have MM.net and all of the guys here. What a bunch! If it weren't for this forum I probably would not own an MM today. I found this forum, it turned up my desire to own one and then, when I finally decided to pull the trigger someone here referred me to a car listed here and I bought it. Isn't that cool?

THE TRIP
I covered a lot of miles. >1400 miles in all. My flight was delayed an hour so I didn't get to the car until 9:45 at the Molene IN airport. Mike and his wife were there and we got right to delivery. The car came with everything one would expect from buying at a dealer, including the Marauder Jacket. I got on the road by 10 and made it to Rockford, IL sometime after midnight.

Thursday I cruised up to Waunakee (suburb of Madison) and visited the NMA until 11. Then I hit the road again and was in Dearborn by 7:30 pm. I don't know the exact #of miles but it felt like a lot. I will be posting stats later.

Friday morning was spent with Jerry Barnes from Trilogy. What a morning it was!!! We went to breakfast and did some light to light stuff. Of course, the Trilogy S/C car took me in every way but then we hit some traffic and I was able to slice and dice a bit and that evened us up a bit although Jerry was probably dialing it back. As we were tooling along this one thought came into my head, "Here I am, in a Mercury Marauder, in Dearborn, MI, in the shadows of Ford World HQ doing burnouts and racing down Michigan Ave with the owner of a supercharger manufaturer. How lucky am I?"

Yes, life was good.

After breakfast Jerry gave me the grand tour of his shop and then took me out to Lidios dyno shop for intros. Lidios shop is a modern day version of a 50's speed shop. On the way back Jerry llet me drive the Trilogy SC and I could not believe it. I never felt anything push as hard and for as long as that car does. Jerry and I spoke at length about our philosophies on car building and we are very sympatico in our ideas. Needless to say, the Trilogy SC will probably be my next mod.

At noon I headed back towards home and drove through OH and PA. This morning I drove the remaining 140 miles to home.

MY FIRST KILL
I was between Cleveland and Youngstown on i-80 east when I saw what looked like someone "slicing and dicing" up in the distance. It took a while to catch up to the guy but when I did I found it to be an Impala SS. I have heard about the performance of these cars and their bottom end advantage over the MM so I was a little hesitant to try anything with this guy. He, on the other hand, wanted to play and he made that clear right away. So as to not play all of my cards I let him do his thing, each time sticking with him. I wanted to get him to put it all out there while I figured if I would be able to take him at the top end. As we went along our average speed went from averaging 80...then 90... then 100. What I learned was that we were nearly neck and neck with with the MM having a slight edge at 80 and on which grew increasingly. At 120 either the car of the driver trailed off and the MM just kept going.

For about 15 miles we took turns until I was fairly sure that a good top speed run with the MM would take him out. It was his turn to over take me and as I saw him coming I dropped out of OD and spun the car right up. At 100 we were neck and neck but I began edging past him above that. At 120 he really started to recede and when I tapped 125 he wasn't even trying.

Ahh, my first kill! And what a first kill it was.

TOP SPEED
At the point where the Implaa guy stopped trying I turned my attention to testing the top end of the car. I kept it in it until 137. At that point the acceleration builds a lot less impressively than it does between 80 & 120. At 137 I reigned it back down to about 83 and let Mr. Impala lead the way (and act as a radar catcher if the need arose.)

I think that every driver has a set point where their comfort zone ends. I am glad that my set point does not exceed that of the car. Dialing back at 137 was more of a decision that I made based on my nervousness at that speed. That and the fact that it was more like roll-on speed than outright acceleration made me think that getting down to a lower speed was a wise idea. (NOTE: All high speed driving was done on open highway and in the gas between other cars. No high speed passing was undertaken at speeds above 100.)

THE CROWN VIC EFFECT
For a while I began thinking that drivers in the mid west are just nicer. I was astonished that so many would respectfully pull to the right and just let me pass. I have never experienced more drivers observing the "Slower Traffic Move Right" law in my life.

In IL I began suspecting that this was more due to the look of the car than anything else so I waited until I got to CT (where I know the true nature of the drivers) to confirm my suspision.

Sure enough, if you drive in just the right way and position your car just so the "Crown Vic Effect" occurs. In some cases the drivers pull right with more than a 1/4 mile distance between us. I guess they suspect that they have an unmarked car rolling on them.

Trucks delay passing. Lines of cars stick the slow lane until after the car goes by. It is awe inspiring.

IN SUMMARY
Buying the Marauder is tied for first place in the catgory of "Smartest Automotive Decision I Have Ever Made."

The only question about buying the Trilogy SC is when.

Jerry Barnes is the bomb. So is his company.

Lidio is a go fast gear head who really knows his crap.

Driving a Marauder is cool.

IMPALA SS KILLS RULE.

The Crown Vic Efect is key. All MM owners should experiment with it until they have the right rolling attitude to make it work in their favor.

And last, but NOT least, I am ultra appreciative to all of the fellow MM fans who have made this journey (just the beginning) so much of a pleasure.

Best,

Dan

[ultravorx]

The crown vic effect is key here in CT. EVERYONE seems to move over for me!!! ITs a great feeling. Im sure we'll see eachother around town soon. Enjoy your marauder,
Frank

[Jerry Barnes]

Dan,

I am glad to hear that you made it home safe! It was a real pleasure meeting you and I look forward to seeing you at some of the upcoming events. Lidio and I both enjoyed meeting you and your enthusiasum is contagious!

For all that don't know Dan yet, after you meet him there will be no doubt in your mind that this guy is a Marauder nut!

I want to sincerely welcome you to the best car group on the planet!

Be careful and stay in touch!

Jerry

[Dan]

You guys had a meet while I was away?!!!! NO FAIR.

I was in Fishkill this morning at 8:30. Right there on Rt. 84. DOH! I am so oblivious sometimes. I was so wrapped up in getting the car that I didn't even think that I might be able to attend a meet. Oh well.

Jerry, what is this with "be careful" all the time?http://jonfund.com/ubb/graemlins/cheesy.gif When we got on the Southfield Expressway and you took us from 0 to a buck-thirty in under 60 seconds I would have told you to be careful too but I was too busy yelling, "Ohhhh SH!!!!!!!!T!" :)

Thanks for identifying me as a Marauder nut. I think you got me nailed down pretty good. More proof? I got home and took the car through a touch less wash, I bought about fifty bucks worth of car detailing supplies (the usual stuff, Mothers, MacGuires, Zymol-nothin' fancy), I swept my driveway and my garage floor, I drove it around a nearby mall for no reason and I have given rides to anyone that I know that wants to go. Oh, and I have a guy coming over tomorrow for a full detail job.

If it weren't for the car detailing stuff, Jerry, someone could mistake me for you. (DOH) :) -minus the SC.

There are two guys in HHNB (Hard Hittin' New Britain) that have Marauders. Frank is one and another guy in my 'hood (not on the net) is another. I have a feeling that HHNB might become MM Central for CT. We shall see.

After I meet Frank I plan to put together a meet.

Best,

Dan

[PhkinQk]

The Crown Vic Efect is key. All MM owners should experiment with it until they have the right rolling attitude to make it work in their favor.
Dan, all of us that own a Marauder know all too well that we get a wide birth case we look like a COP CAR. And when you come up on someone doing close to or over 100 and look like a cop car, the move real quick, lol.

Glad you've had fun, if you're in CT look for BillyGman on here, he's in CT, he'll point you in the right direction... Good luck.

[knine]

My wife and I met Dan at the airport in Moline last night and he was as excited to get the Marauder as I was a year ago. If he was anymore wired I think he could have drove back to Conn. last night without sleep. Enjoy the car Dan and keep in touch. Mike


<DD class=hwrd>dé·jà vu http://www.merriam-webster.com/images/audio.gif (http://javascript%3cb%3e%3c/b%3E:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?deja_v01.wav=deja vu')) <DT class=pron>Pronunciation: <DD class=pron>\ˌdā-ˌzhä-ˈvü, -ˈvue\ <DT class=func>Function: <DD class=func>noun <DT class=ety>Etymology: <DD class=ety>French, adjective, literally, already seen <DT class=date>Date: <DD class=date>1903 1 a: the illusion of remembering scenes and events when experienced for the first time <DD class=date>b: a feeling that one has seen or heard something before <DD class=date>2: something overly or unpleasantly familiar :lol:
Enjoy your "new BLUE "
</DD>

[MikeC]

Better than deja vu! This time I had no second thoughts or remorse just adrenalin! Man did you do a lot of digging to find this old thread.

[knine]

Man did you do a lot of digging to find this old thread.
As Killjoy says: "Search is your friend"

So how is the new Blue? Tell us! :cool:

[MikeC]

New blue is great. It had 19,809 miles on it when I picked it up Thursday. Got a chance to get familiar with it on the 10 hour drive home. It ran great. It is originally from the Buffalo, NY area. Does anyone on here know the car or original owner? Had clear roads on the way home, it was too cold to get in any slush. Trying to decide on mods, have plenty of time now that winter has arrived in Iowa.
<img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t236/mike2c/PC050316.jpg">
<img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t236/mike2c/PC050312.jpg">
Can't wait til good weather and mods.

[jdando]

Congrats on the new blue to you! Bring it up to the cities for Car Craft in 2009!

[centexmarauder]

137mph? am i missing somthing here, pedal to the carpet on MILES of straight highway, i feel the transmission not letting the car do tick over 125mph. Did the same exact thing in my ranger at 95mph. Got a tune, whats up? BTW gorgeous car, gotta love Blue on birch. Dont roast off your BFG's... there impossible to find.

[SC Cheesehead]

Another Blues Brother! :welcome: