1996 Mercury Grand Marquis The last of the traditionals. By Ray Thursby, New Car Test Drive .com

Each year, fewer and fewer customers line up for traditional full-size American

cars. These rear-drive behemoths are being replaced in the public's affections by a

new breed of smaller, lighter, more fuel-efficient cars. Most people think these

time-honored all-American sedans are on their way out.

Chrysler and GM certainly do. It's been years since the former has built any

body-on-frame passenger cars, and this year will mark the end of production for the

Chevrolet Caprice, Buick Roadmaster and Cadillac Fleetwood, the General's final

entries in this class. Which leaves Ford's Crown Victoria and the Mercury Grand

Marquis as sole occupants of a dwindling market.

However, there are people who still appreciate cars like these. Taxi fleets and

government agencies, for example. Body-on-frame construction, which entails separate

sub-construction for the chassis and body with the two mated in final assembly, is

generally heavier and better suited to taking a beating than the near-universal

unitbody approach. That's why most trucks and sport-utilities are still body-on-frame

designs.

Custom coachbuilders like separate frames because they can stretch them easily.

Police forces like the high-mileage reliability of rear-drive powertrains, a roomy

back seat for passengers likely to be wearing handcuffs and a big trunk for emergency

gear. And large families still enjoy filling that large trunk with luggage and setting

out, six at a time, on long trips.

Ford figures that's a big enough market to warrant continued production of Marquis

and Vic, and to make continual improvements to them. Given the appeal of the current cars and the ever-dwindling number of competitors, they're probably right.