The Mercury Marauder is the name of three different automobiles that were made by Mercury. During the 1960s, the Marauder was introduced as the high-performance model of the full-size Mercury line; its Ford equivalent was the Galaxie. From 2003, the Marauder nameplate was revived as a high-performance variant of the full-size Grand Marquis. After lower than expected sales, the Marauder was discontinued at the end of the 2004 model year.
The Marauder name first appeared in 1958 on one of two MEL (Mercury, Edsel, Lincoln) engines sold by the division in the Montclair sedan and Colony Park station wagon. A 383 cubic-inch Marauder V8 was exclusive to the division, producing 322hp or 330hp depending on carburetion. As an option, the 430 cubic-inch Super Marauder V8 was also available; with two four-barrel carburetors, the Super Marauder V8 was the first American production car to break the 400-horsepower mark.
In both 1959 and 1960, engine output was gradually reduced, and in 1960, the Marauder V8s became an option in Park Lane, Monterey, and Commuter models.
As Ford reorganized the Mercury line for the 1961 model year, moving the brand away from Edsel-based models and closer to the Ford brand, Mercury discontined the Marauder/Super Marauder V8s; the Mercury Monterey adopted the Ford FE engines used by the Ford Galaxie.
As a vehicle nameplate, the Mercury Marauder made its debut as a "1963½" model. Designating Monterey, Montclair, S-55 (1963 only) and Park Lane models equipped with a forward-slanted "fastback" roofline, the Marauder was essentially the direct opposite of the Lincoln-inspired "Breezeway" roofline also available on the same Mercury models at the time. Marauders also featured bucket seats, central consoles, and other trim items similar to those in the Ford Galaxie 500/XL.
In 1964, the Marauder became available in a four-door hardtop sedan, also with a fastback roofline.
This fastback roofline was developed for both the Mercury Marauder and the Ford Galaxie for NASCAR competition, and may have helped with the many 1963–64 Ford Mercury victories.
For the 1966 model year, the Marauder was discontinued, although the role of the performance-oriented full-size Mercury would live on in a revived S-55, which was dropped in 1967 as Mercury began reorganizing its full-size cars as luxury-oriented. The Marauder name would again be used to brand the most powerful V8 engines sold in Mercurys until the 1968 model year.
In 1969, the Marauder was reintroduced into the Mercury lineup, largely as a replacement for the S-55. As a part of a shift from a performance model to a full-size personal luxury coupe, it was based upon the recently introduced Marquis, sharing its front clip and much of its interior. From the windshield rearward, the Marauder wore a separate body from the Marquis. In a design similar to the Ford XL and Ford Galaxie 500 SportsRoof, it wore a "fastback" roofline with a tunneled rear window. To distinguish it from its Ford counterparts, the Marauder wore non-functional louvered side air intakes in the quarter panels. A performance trim level of the Marauder was sold as the Marauder X-100. Largely for appearance purposes, the X-100 wore bucket seats with a floor console housing a U-shaped automatic transmission shift handle. On the outside, X-100s were fitted with sporty Kelsey-Hayes stylized road wheels complete with rear fender skirts.