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Topic starter
02/02/2025 1:27 pm
Back in 1969 the Mercury Marauder was quite definitely an eye-catching vehicle. Opinions about its merits varied at the time. Some car magazines dismissed it an overblown, overweight turkey. Others lovingly described it as a full-on, full-size muscle car with enough power to propel its considerable bulk in a pretty impressive fashion (provided you could live with it guzzling fuel at the rate of 6-7 mpg if you had a heavy right foot).
Minichamps modelled the car very nicely some years ago. The more recent Ixo version was discussed on this Forum a while back, and since I had the Minichamps I attempted a comparison purely on the basis of a couple of small pictures of the Ixo. Having now acquired the Ixo I thought the two models were worth another look.
They are actually extremely similar.
Although close inspection seems to show small subtle differences, you would be hard put to convince most people they don’t share the same casting, with maybe one or two very minor “tweaks” in an attempt to differentiate them. It isn’t usual for models of the same car from different makers to be quite such a close match in nearly every dimension and detail.
In the following pics, the Minichamps is on the left, Ixo on the right.
Length and width are the same to within fractions of a millimetre.
I think it was JK who looked at the pics last time around and thought the Ixo might be more accurate around the rear quarters, but with the two models in hand I really can’t see any differences, although Ixo put a fine chrome pinstripe around the rear window area which makes the casting look a little “sharper”, although it isn’t really.
The body side pinstriping as shown on the Ixo may have been an option, and is a matter of taste. but it is crisply applied and maybe adds a bit of emphasis to the body shape. The rear deck on the Minichamps is pure matt black (or “flat black” as you guys call it). It is semi-matt on the Ixo. From online pics it’s hard to be sure which is correct, but both look quite convincing.
The front ends are again very closely matched, with the finish on the Ixo grille being slightly “cleaner” but there’s not much in it.
The horizontal tail light unit on the Ixo is deeper and more clearly defined. It looks a little shallow and understated on the Minichamps.
From pictures, I thought the wheels on the Ixo looked a bit simplified and less 3-dimensional than the very nice Minichamps wheels, but in reality they are a pretty fair match. However, the wheels and tyres are noticeably larger on the Ixo. Hard to be sure from online photos of the real car but I suspect the Ixo may be more accurate in that respect.
If underbody details matter to you, Minichamps is the winner, because Ixo hardly bothered at all. But I doubt if that would be a deal-breaker for many collectors.
Other differences are trivial. The door handles on the Minichamps are inserts, on the Ixo they seem to be cast-in. The Minichamps has tidier wipers, but an ugly aerial. Ho hum. Overall, I think the conclusion is the same as before. They are both excellent models. Minichamps offered an alternative version in a darker maroon colour without the black rear deck, which some might prefer, but apart from that, if you have one version you very probably don’t need the other.
Not that stopped me, of course.
This topic was modified 1 year ago by Graeme Ogg
Graeme.M. Ogg
London U.K.
02/02/2025 1:35 pm
An excellent comparison. I have both of these models as well. I've not brought them together yet for a comparison. Thanks for doing that. My Minichamps version is in black.
John Merritt
South Lyon, Michigan - USA
02/02/2025 3:09 pm
Very nice and very thoughtful expose Graeme! Well researched and put together sir!
02/02/2025 3:29 pm
The Mercury Marauder was a great-looking and powerful automobile and makes for a sensational replica. The model I have is a 1/43 maroon version in the Ford 100 Year collection, that I believe is by Minichamps ?
Topic starter
02/02/2025 3:44 pm
Yes. Minichamps did a single-colour version in dark red and a more orangey-red version with the blacked-out rear deck (that was the X-100 Marauder option).
Graeme.M. Ogg
London U.K.
02/02/2025 5:15 pm
Ford 100 Year collection, that I believe is by Minichamps ?
Yep, MINICHAMPS was commissioned to do all 1/43 Ford 100 Year cars. Most were very well done!
02/02/2025 6:51 pm
@graeme-ogg Very nice review, Graeme - much appreciated. I've mentioned this on the forum before, my Dad purchased a 1969 Mercury Marauder in the fall of 1968. Alas, it was the rather "plain Jane" base model (priced something like $3,368) versus the much fancier X-100 at a little over $4,000 as I recall. There was no way my father was going to go for an X-100 at about $700 extra dollars, no matter how much his 14-year-old son pleaded. As a matter of note, the X-100 wasn't exactly an "option"; it was a separate model with separate base price, which of course included the bigger engine, bucket seats, the black-matte on the back end, nicer wheels, etc. And it is indeed the X-100 that both IXO and Minichamps have modeled here.
Which brings us back to the models themselves. As mentioned above, the actual X-100 car back in 1969 had a black-matte finish on the back (at least according to the brochure at the time, it was called "matte"). I was surprised when Minichamps brought out their maroon model (yes, I have it) that it did not reflect that black-matte back end, but in fact it was a "delete option" - if you didn't like it you could have it not applied, for which you received a credit on the sticker (I've forgotten how much you got back for that). So, Minichamps is accurate there, and for that reason is actually closer to replicating my Dad's base Marauder than the IXO.
I've done some measuring too (not as precise as you've done here) and you are right - the two are dimensionally pretty close. I was always somewhat disappointed in the Minichamps, as it just seemed smaller than other 1/43 cars of that era when I put it on the shelf, despite the accurate measurements at 1:43. Then came IXO (yes, I have it too), and voila - despite the similar measurements, it just seems to "fit in" on the shelf better than the Minichamps. The difference, in my view: those wheels. The larger IXO wheels seem better to me.
So, in the end, the IXO gets my vote in a very close contest. I've honestly thought about changing the wheels and putting the better wheels on the Minichamps, but given my skill set at such things, I've decided it's best to leave well enough alone.
This post was modified 1 year ago by Skip Johnson
Skip Johnson
Tonawanda, New York
02/02/2025 7:19 pm
Thanks for the comparison Graeme. I have the Ford collection with the dark red and the bright red both from Minichamps. I enjoy your evaluations and findings.
02/02/2025 10:43 pm
Back in 1969, as a 17 year old high school dropout (hated every minute of school, except the girls and sports), I worked as a grease monkey at the Mercury-Lincoln dealership and serviced that line of cars and trucks daily (Mercury trucks in Canada). I remember how surprised I was to see how much the Mercury had changed from the '68. The X-100 with the matte black rear deck really was something different. I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not....that is until I drove one! Man could that car haul. I understand the X-100 is a bit of a collector car now; I very rarely ever see one, even at shows.
My favorite color for this car was the metallic purple, a color called Dark Orchid Poly that seemed to polarize customer opinion at the time.
03/02/2025 2:18 am
Thanks to Graeme for an excellent comparo. You've convinced me they are more similar than different! Great pics!
John Kuvakas
Warrenton, VA