THIS CAR HAS BEEN TRADED IN. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE TRUNK SETUP, AS I HAVE KEPT THE BOXES AND EQUIPMENT!
This is my '04 Grand Marquis. I bought it back in '06 with only 24,000 miles on it and I thought it was an amazing deal at only $12,000. At first, I wasn't going to do much to it, but then I kinda changed my mind...unlike previous cars I've had though, I didn't want to go for the huge wheels, loud exhaust, flip screens, or a rattling sound system. I wanted to create something that could pass for somewhat of a factory look and could still be my daily driver. Let me know what you think!
Pics of the car from the dealership's website that I bought the car from
Of course when I got it home and washed it, I took my own pictures. So here's a comparison of then and now! First thing I added was tint.
Next came wheels & tires. This car rides better than any other car I've been in, and it was too new to mess up the suspension on, so I went with 18" Incubus wheels to give it sort of a Marauder look.
Before & After 18" Incubus Shylock wrapped in Kumho Ecsta SPH 235/50ZR/18
The next thing to come was the head unit. I went with a Pioneer AVIC-F700BT. I would recommend anyone with a basic factory double DIN radio get one. It adds so many features to your car for about $500, MUCH less than it would cost for these to be factory options. Here's some of what you get:
-Touch-screen GPS Navigation with voice guidance and built-in Yellow Pages
-Bluetooth Handsfree Phone with phone book
-iPod Connectivity
-SD media slot
-MP3 CD compatibility
-Satellite Radio compatibility (Sirius, XM, and HD Radio)
-MPEG and DivX playback
And finally, my most recent addition wich came as a graduation present to myself for finishing college, I did a sound system that not only sounds good, but fits into the car perfect. As you can see below, I had PLENTY of trunk space to work with. This was my first time doing my own system, and my friend Eddie really helped me get this together and helped me to learn the ins and outs of sound systems.
I went with Kenwood Excelon insides, and I actually made a sizing error in the rear speakers. They were supposed to be 6x8's but I ordered 6x9's. Compared to the factory speakers, these 5 ways were monstrous! 3 way 5 1/4's went in mounting brackets in the front door.
I had to retrofit these 6x9's into the back deck, which I really didn't want to do because I was trying to keep a factory look to the car, but these were too beautiful to send back, so I cut into the deck and made them show. I was kind of skeptical about how it would look but I was quite satisfied. Here's the before and after:
And finally, the coup de gras, the trunk! This took 16 hours to do. I went with 2 Alpine 12" Type S subs so I could make a false floor across the bottom. There are two separate sealed boxes here laid in the deepest part of trunk, each covered with a special fit piece of plywood to make everything flush. The amplifier is a Hifonics Brutus BXi 610, rated at 600 watts RMS. The subs are rated at 300 each, and I am running a 1 ohm load. The capacitor is nothing special, but as part of a wiring kit for $80, it gets the job done pretty well!
The trunk is partially Dynamatted, and on the sides behind the carpeting in these pockets, there is cotton pillow stuffing to help keep the rattle down. This setup is definitely one for SQ and not SPL, but it gets plenty loud enough for me to enjoy as I please. This setup took about 16 hours to do between me and a friend out of a garage, and I think it turned out excellent!
The object in the middle is a toolbox I use quite frequently and could not do without in my car. The piece with the knob is a small storage compartment where I can keep other loose things that I carry on a regular basis. All I have left to get are some grills so that I can utilize the rest of my trunk space as needed without messing up my subs.
Thanks for looking and please let me know what you think!
