1964 Mercury Monterey Super Marauder Rocks 425-HP R-Code V8, and a Big Secret Behind It

Still, buyers didn't seem to go for it. Hence, the R-code marauders are some of the hardest-to-find unicorns in classic Detroit.

Mid-year, during the 1963 model year, Mercury introduced the 'Marauder' moniker – essentially a two-door hardtop notchback body style for all its models. However, that launch was paired with the arrival of the 427 V8, a monstrous race engine adapted for the road, with either 410 or 425 horsepower from the get-go.

The new big-block pushed aside the 406-cube V8 and took the stage as the stalwart of FoMoCo high-performance, carrying the banner into 1964. Do you remember the 1964 Thunderbolts, the R-code Fairlanes? They came with the dual-quad 427 cubic inches of Ford muscle. But those weren't the only high-horse offerings from the Blue Oval.

Mercury also had a go at it and built a handful of these Frankensteins. By all accounts, sixty-four examples were assembled for the 1964 model year (pure numerical coincidence) with the 427 big-incher under their hoods. Twenty-two of those had the more subdued, 410-hp, 476-lb-ft single four-barrel carburetor.

1964 Mercury Super Marauder R\-Code 427
The remaining 42, however, were the full-fledged 425-horse, 480-lb-ft Marauder Super 427 V8, coded 'R' on their door tags. The lesser version, dubbed simply Marauder 427 V8, carried the Q-code designation. Ford fans are well familiar with these letters, as Ford kept them throughout the decade, even if displacements and motors changed. The R-code V8 was the top-of-the-line powerhouse, period.

There aren't set-in-stone documents that will attest how many of those 42 belonged to a specific series. In 1964, the Mercury full-size line consisted of the Park Lane, the Montclair, and the Monterey, in descending order of retail prices. It is believed that nine of those 42 R-coded Mercs were the highest-trim version.

That would leave 33 R-code Mercurys on the ballot, and one of them resides in California. It made a meteoric appearance at a Classic Car Cruise Night in San Diego, California. The YouTuber behind the CARFINDS channel who filmed this beauty mentions that it is a restoration, and the owner replaced the four-speed manual with a more comfortable, highway-friendly five-speed transmission. That would imply regular drives, and not just around the block or through the neighborhood.

1964 Mercury Super Marauder R\-Code 427
The license plate mentions 2020 as the last year this car was registered, which means it can't be driven on public roads. Maybe the conversion was done a long time ago when the car was still eligible for regular use. Still, it doesn't take away any of its magnificent aura. It is a super-rare sleeper from when everyone tried to capitalize on Sunday wins to get ahead in the Monday sales.

Mercury sold just shy of 300,000 vehicles during the 1964 model year, and the full-size line accounted for just over one-third of production (109,500 units). The Monterey series was the best-selling big Mercury in 1964, with almost 42,600 copies, spread across the six body styles offered by the company. However, the division also segregated its automobiles by their rear window architecture: those with a reverse-slant back glass were called Breezeway, and the semi-fastbacks got the Marauder moniker.

The Monterey series offered two- and four-door pillared sedans and hardtops, a two-door coupe, and a convertible. The two-door hardtop (Marauder), like the one featured in the video attached below, was the runner-up in the Monterey sales performance, with 8,760 units, trailing far behind the four-door sedan (Breezeway), which moved 20,234 units that year.