Queen For A Day - Free 2000 Mercury Grand Marquis

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Jan 2, 2007
131
Morgan 461 St. Thomas
Queen For A Day - Free 2000 Mercury Grand Marquis

Those of you of a certain age may recall a TV soap-opera-type show titled
Queen for a Day.

They'd have 4 women come in each time, and of the ones presented per show,
have the audience choose the one with the most compelling sob story. The
winner was feted with a throne, a robe and a crown for the show and got
loads of freebies in the bargain. Runners-up got lesser gifts.

So, while this isn't that at all, the concept is the same. To the greater
need, the gift...

Long time readers of my ramblings know that we gave away our van at the end
of our initial refit 6 years ago, immediately had a wreck, found a gifted
Suburban where we had our wreck, and then, after our rehab, passed it along
to another cruiser in similar circumstances - an extended refit from having
been afloat, with no home or vehicle, and needing transportation.

This one doesn't have the same utility as our prior giveaways, not being a
truck or variant, but it still holds a lot, and does a great job of parts
running and other transportation-dependent chores.

We bought this, and have kept it maintained since then, in the expectation
that we'd find a cheap car less expensive than renting for what we thought
was going to be 6 weeks before we left again. Life intruded, and we are
just now finishing a nearly-2-year refit surrounding about 8 months of
family visits over that time, so it's served us very well.

We bought it with 268,000 miles on it, and have just turned over 295,000. I
expect that it has another one or two hundred thousand miles in it, despite
my wife's expecting it to die literally every day since we bought it. Along
the way, we've done maintenance, receipts kept along with significant ones
from the original owner, among which is new moving parts in all the front
suspension, and an alignment at the same time recently. It has good rubber
and brakes all around, and icy air, as the one-owner we bought it from had
just had it all replaced the previous summer. It had, and still has, a
check-engine light which has not had ill effects other than, currently, the
need to slightly rev the engine before getting under way, else it stalls.
Once you've driven it for a few minutes, it stays running without attention.
The spare has a bent rim, cause unknown, discovered on the last
lube-oil-filter-rotate-balance so replacing that with a junkyard item and
tire would be a good move. If I were keeping the car, I'd do the emissions
and the spare, but for free, it's on you :{))

So, here's the deal, if you choose to accept it. I want to give away our
2000 Mercury Grand Marquis to some cruiser or other person if cruiser
doesn't fit. The candidate would be one who has no vehicle and is in or
entering a long refit during which they'll live aboard their only home,
their boat. After their refit, they'd commit to doing the same, assuming
the car was still running properly, and pass it along.

We currently hope to splash (and thence be gone) on the 26th, but that may
be extended if reality bites us on a couple of last minute things. So, it
would have to coordinate with our schedule.

Pictures can be seen in our 2011-2012 refit gallery (click the link below)
and the next step will be obvious :{)) The car is currently in Ft. Pierce FL

Please have interested parties email me directly (skipgundlach@gmail.com),
as I may not see responses otherwise.

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

When a man comes to like a sea life, he is not fit to live on land.
- Dr. Samuel Johnson
 
Sep 25, 2008
7,113
Alden 50 Sarasota, Florida
Not that it's responsive but my mother-in-law won Queen for a Day in 1957. Long boring story not worth repeating but she won a Pontiac Tempest or something like that rather than the Grand Marq (plus a bunch of other stuff)
 
Jan 2, 2007
131
Morgan 461 St. Thomas
Hi, All,

To date, we have no takers, and no direct inquiries, either, for our offer
of a free car. So, without fear of depriving someone, a modification of the
offer...

We're going to be shaking down both Flying Pig, the boat we've been working
on for the last two years, and ourselves, also off the water for that time,
for a couple of months. In early March, we'll return to a mooring in Vero
Beach, just down the street from where Lydia's mother is currently helping
out in a house her very best high school friends used to own before they
died some years ago.

Once ashore, we'll be doing the kids and grandkids circuit, as well as
attending a wedding of one of Lydia's kids, all made easier by having a car
available to us. We'll be back in Vero the second week in April, and after
some reprovisioning, leave again for the foreseeable future.

At that time, I will renew the offer so that folks don't lose sight of it.
However, in the meantime, we'll still take mail for who might get the car
when we've finished with it.

Meanwhile, for those who are interested (and I'll put up a bit more detailed
log posting just before we go), most of the pictures of our refit are now up
on our gallery. Just the last-minute stuff is more than 20 projects
completed...

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

When a man comes to like a sea life, he is not fit to live on land.
- Dr. Samuel Johnson
 
Jan 2, 2007
131
Morgan 461 St. Thomas
Queen for a Day update:

No more calls, we have a winner.

A couple bringing their boat back to FL from the Rio Dulce, full-time cruisers and homeschoolers (well, boatschoolers) but for the desire of their daughter to do her junior and senior years in public schooling, are the winners in our giveaway. They'll continue to live aboard, albeit probably in a marina.

Fittingly, they'd done the same sort of thing with their car, giving it away to a couple in the marina whence they departed when they left on their cruise, several years ago, from Bradenton, so this sort of closes the circle.

By the way, I've heard back from Wes Pratt, my original benefactor on the vehicle I did my first QFAD deal on 6 years ago, and he's both tickled that his vehicle was similarly passed along as well as thriving, and that I'm doing the same on this one.

I can think of no more fulfilling thing to do than to provide a fellow full-time cruiser who's sold everything, and gave away THEIR car than to put a ride under them when they return to shore for a couple of years :{)) They've assured me my car will (later) meet a similar fate, so perhaps you'll see them post here in a few years!

L8R, y'all

Skip, finished with the refit and the kids/grandkids/wedding trip, provisioning and shaking down Flying Pig for an East coast run this year

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

When a man comes to like a sea life, he is not fit to live on land.
- Dr. Samuel Johnson
 
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