Hello everyone, just became a happy new owner of a 2002 Mercury Villager Estate. We purchased the vehicle from the original owners, so we got some extra goodies including dealer brochures and paperwork. The van is is nice condition, true blue with platinum gold and tan leather seats. This is a replacement for our Chrysler Town & Country, which met an untimely death at the hands of a passerby who though it was a great idea to dump ice cold water into an over heated engine, and warped the heads. Boilover was caused by a defective aftermarket radiator.

Anyway, I'm a former racing mechanic who likes to tinker and mod, but will be leaving the Villager stock. I retired from racing after a run at the 1983 Grand Nationals at Detroit Dragway, but have played with road course racing and road rallies. Interestingly, this is our first Mercury despite a long family history with Ford. My father and son worked at the Rouge plant for a few years, my grandfather was on the Thunderbird design team, and my great grandfather was a gear maker for Henry Ford himself.

Other cars in the family at the moment are the above T&C which will get rebuilt, a 1994 Chrysler GTC, a race-prepped PT Cruiser (odd, yes, but that's part of the fun!), and a 1970 Karmann Ghia coupe which looks stock, but is considered to be a land speed record contender in the SSSBB class at Bonneville and Wilmington.

Favorite car was a 1964 Ford Falcon we had when I was a kid: I was so upset when my parents sold it that they had to keep me home from school. Fortunately, it was sold to a Ford employee who rebuilt the engine and kept it on the road. Five years later they bought the closest thing they could find to the Falcon, which was a Maverick in the same colors and similar drivetrain (straight six, three on the tree).

On the Villager, there are a few things that need attention (134,000 miles), but nothing major aside from a small exhaust leak just before the rear wheel, and new struts/shocks. Engine runs strong and is quiet, but I can tell the valves need a little freshening. Seems like it was used for short trips, so perhaps it's just carbon build-up on the intakes.

Well, I'm just rambling now, so I'll check back. Are newbie pics required here like most other forums?

 

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