Wood Tv Trays

Scott Burgess

For 35 years, the Mercury Grand Marquis ruled the road.

Recently, I spent a couple of days in a 2010 Grand Marquis — the last Grand Marquis. Ford Motor Co. discontinued its Mercury brand last year and is slowly discontinuing the Grand Marquis' platform siblings, the Lincoln Town Car and Ford Crown Victoria.

The world has just gotten too small for these big motor cars.

Typically, a car that an automaker no longer makes for a brand that no longer exists doesn't warrant a review. But the Grand Marquis is no typical car. It's a time machine. It transcends most cars and has a trunk big enough — 20.4 cubic feet — to carry all of Detroit's baggage, both good and bad. It's worthy of a review because this car will be on the road for decades to come. Nuclear bombs cannot kill the vehicles built on the Panther platform — the longest-running platform in the history of cars.

The reason so many taxi drivers and cops have ridden on Panther platforms for literally billions of miles (a totally made up but possibly a real number) is because of this platform's toughness.

I could feel the Grand Marquis transporting me to another era as soon as I slid onto the bench-esque vinyl seat. The soft springs in the seat let me bounce a little, and the plastic-wrapped steering wheel felt two sizes too big. (Really, the two front seats are separate, but they're about as close as you'll get to a bench in any car today.) How many other cars can realistically fit three people in the front?

Ah, the pleasure of not a single bolster to hold me in place. No subtle reminder that I'm one Big Mac over the sport seat limit or a seat so low I need an elaborate pulley system just to get out of it. I'm not a race car driver; I don't need to sit like one. No, the Grand Marquis provides pure sofa comfort.

And the back seat, that huge area of the back seat. These are the seats on which brothers and sisters learned about centrifugal force. The younger brother in the middle learns how to build up momentum and crush the older sibling against the window.

There's a mechanical simplicity to the Grand Marquis that cannot be overstated. It's a just "drive" kind of car. So few other cars can offer that kind of experience. Just click down the steering column-mounted gear shifter to "D" and go. There, the 4.6-liter V-8 — another bulletproof Ford item being replaced — burbles to life, and the Grand Marquis is off.

Winsome Wood Bed Tray | Bed Tv Trays

Winsome Wood’s Bedtray with handles and folding legs makes it easy serve with and store when not in use. The natural finish on the solid wood legs and frame make it a sturdy serving piece. The legs can be folded for use as a serving tray. The white melamine serving surface is functional for serving and easy to clean with a damp cloth.

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