1963 Mercury S-55 and Marauder: the fastback arrives

Over-Drive Magazine describes the fastback "Marauder" hardtop as a mid-year 1963 release offered across every trim level: Monterey and Monterey Custom with bench seats, and S-55 with bucket seats. It gives 7,298 Monterey and Monterey Custom Marauders and 2,317 S-55 Marauders, the fastback roofline arriving as a body-style option across the line rather than as a separate model of its own.¹

The S-55 line also added a four-door hardtop for 1963, with every S-55 body style equipped with bucket seats and a console rather than the bench seating carried on the plainer Montereys. Over-Drive gives 3,863 Breezeway two-door hardtops, 1,203 four-door hardtops, and 1,379 convertibles, and Wikipedia's own S-55 table independently gives the same three figures alongside list prices ranging from $3,650 to $3,900 depending on body style.^1,2

Two production figures are genuinely disputed rather than simply thin. The 3,863 figure is attributed in the production table to S-55 Breezeway two-door hardtops specifically, but Wikipedia's separate Marauder article uses the same 3,863 number for "Marauder two-door hardtops at $3,650" instead; this record's own conflict entry carries the S-55 attribution from the table while showing the Marauder article's use of the identical figure as a conflicting claim rather than silently picking one. A second conflict concerns the base Monterey Marauder specifically: Over-Drive's own table note states that base Monterey fastback production is folded into the 7,298 Monterey Custom Marauder figure with no separate count given, while a conceptcarz specification page instead lists 4,143 base Monterey fastbacks separately; this record's own conflict entry shows both but adds no row for the 4,143 figure, since conceptcarz also prints that same number for 1964 Monterey four-door fastbacks, raising the possibility that the figure is simply misplaced on the 1963 page.^3,4,5

All 1963 full-size Mercurys together, across Monterey, Monterey Custom, S-55, and Colony Park, total 120,046, a figure this record's own production note treats as the denominator against which the smaller Marauder and S-55 figures sit. The full 1963 Marauder population across every series sums to 9,615, combining the 7,298 Monterey and Monterey Custom cars with the 2,317 S-55 cars; this record's own note explains that the Marauder fastback roof was offered only on the Monterey, Monterey Custom, and S-55 in 1963, since it did not reach the Park Lane until 1964, so this sum represents the complete 1963 Marauder count rather than a partial one.^3,1,6

Prices are documented for five separate body-and-series combinations: $3,650 for the S-55 two-door hardtop, $3,715 for the S-55 four-door hardtop, $3,900 for the S-55 convertible, and $3,083 for both the Monterey and Monterey Custom Marauder fastback hardtops, which share an identical price despite the trim difference between them. Five engines are documented: the standard 390 two-barrel at 250 hp and 387 lb-ft on Monterey and Monterey Custom; the 390 four-barrel at 300 hp and 427 lb-ft, standard on the S-55; the optional 406 four-barrel at 385 hp and 444 lb-ft; the optional 406 with triple two-barrels at 405 hp and 448 lb-ft; and the optional 427, offered with either a single four-barrel or two four-barrels, at 410 hp and 476 lb-ft, though this record's own engine note flags that Wikipedia gives the 427 as either 410 or 405 hp while Over-Drive lists 410 hp for both induction versions rather than distinguishing them.^2,3,1

Three transmissions are documented: a four-speed manual at $188, with gear ratios of 2.36, 1.78, 1.41, and 1.00, and this record's own options list notes it was required with the 375-hp or 401-hp V8 options as printed in the source, figures that do not match any of the ratings carried in this record's own engine entries; the Merc-O-Matic automatic, with ratios of 2.40, 1.47, and 1.00; and a three-speed manual, standard on the Monterey, with ratios of 2.42, 1.61, and 1.00. A long list of individual options is documented down to the dime, from a $106.20 power steering option and a $360.90 air conditioner with heater through an Equa-Lock differential at $39, a swing-away steering wheel at $50, and dozens of smaller convenience items covering radios, seat belts, tinted glass, and trim. Fourteen exterior paint colors are charted with their own factory codes, from Black through Glacier Blue, and specifications include a 120-inch wheelbase, 215-inch overall length excluding wagons, 80-inch overall width, and separate shipping weights for each Marauder and S-55 body style, ranging from 3,875 lb for the Monterey Marauder hardtop up to 4,049 lb for the S-55 convertible.^1,3