After helping a friend move into her new house, I was doing some exploring on the twenty or so wooded acres around their family farm, and came across my very own white whale....err green to be exact. Behind an old shop sat a metallic green 1968 Mercury Monterey four door hardtop with a Y code 390, highway gears, and ancient Ford automatic tranny. The sheer gravitational force of five thousand pounds of american luxury tank drew me in like a moth to a flame. My wife is skeptical, but if all else fails I can park it in the garage and use it as a spare bedroom. The international astronomy convention has already declared it to be the new ninth planet in our solar system.

Post me some ideas (Real or fantasy)for this leviathan

Idea #1
Paint the whole thing grey, mount a gun turret on the top and paint "US NAVY" on the side.  

Just remember moving that much mass will shift the gravtity of the Earth.  So move it wisely.

Idea #2 Not so highway friendly gears with posi (you'll need the positraction for traction believe me I own a peglegged 5,000+lbs boat too ) to get that tank moving and a beefed up Overdrive transmission.  

jgroody:
After helping a friend move into her new house, I was doing some exploring on the twenty or so wooded acres around their family farm, and came across my very own white whale....err green to be exact. Behind an old shop sat a metallic green 1968 Mercury Monterey four door hardtop with a Y code 390, highway gears, and ancient Ford automatic tranny. The sheer gravitational force of five thousand pounds of american luxury tank drew me in like a moth to a flame. My wife is skeptical, but if all else fails I can park it in the garage and use it as a spare bedroom. The international astronomy convention has already declared it to be the new ninth planet in our solar system.

Post me some ideas (Real or fantasy)for this leviathan

Idea #1
Paint the whole thing grey, mount a gun turret on the top and paint "US NAVY" on the side.

That's what I was thinking where's the Mercury Forum?
I picked up a 1963 Mercury Monterey a few years back.  My husband and I were wandering through a junkyard on an unrelated mission one day when this massive rear bumper caught my eye.  When I backed up I saw this vision that had been sitting for 30 years, and the breezeway window.  What can I say I had to have it.  My 16-yr old son has decided it's going to be his junior year project at high school.  This will be a challenge.  There is much rust but the body is straight and all it is missing is the antenna and the air cleaner.  My husband wants to put a jacuzzi in the massive trunk.  We'll call that Plan Y.  As for Plan A.... Getting the remaining brake shoe unfused from the drum so that we can make it roll.  That's important right now.

Good luck with your Monterey  

mercurys are great! i got a 78 marquis from a car dealer for 300 bucks cuz it had spun bearings. it is all original, except for a busted taillight and two chrome trim pieces that are missing. jgroody, there are several ways to go with your car, however none of them can involve 24" wheels. leave those to the 80's model caprices and crown vics/ltds. you could restore it, you could go rat rod with primer, pinstripes, and pie pan wheels, or ill let you have my original idea for the 78. land speed racer! imagine a 7.3 powerstroke w/ twin turbos goin down the salt flats...it would be killer! silver buick, if you're out there, whats the better motor to go with after chucking the 400m? a stroked out 351w (408 maybe?) or a stock 460? im looking for good street manners, but want the power there if i need it.  

My personal opinion is that a tank needs cubic inches, but Ford Engines aren't my speciality and I don't know the full capabilities of either engine     My 5,000+lb Buick runs a stock Buick 455 with a TH400 and a 2.73 non-posi rear end, it gets about 15mpg on the highway, 12 around town and 15.58sec in the quarter with no traction.  I'm sure the 460 could match that and better but I don't know what it takes (probably just a cam change, intake and headers at most) but there are others around here that know more than me for specifics.