Co-branded cars sometimes make sense, but it’s clear that the buying public never really “got” the Mercury Villager Nautica special edition. These were around for a few years and with a couple color schemes, all involving blue and white with a yellow stripe (of course!). We here at Oddimotive HQ really like white wheels, which were definitely a “thing” for a while. Unfortunately, given the two-tone nature of the Nautica paint scheme, we can’t quite call this fully monochromatic.
With or without Nautica livery, these vans were the result of a JV between Ford and Nissan, such that the Quest is basically the same van and all are powered by the nearly-ubiquitous-in-higher-end-US-market-Nissans-at-the-time Nissan VG30 V6 engine. The Quest, however, lacked the Nautica coolness and wasn’t part of a now-orphaned brand; so this is the one to get today!
In fact, if you can put up with a slush box, this is a pretty good family hauler for the money, given the 100ish thousand mile VG is hardly broken in and the condition is quite amazing. You’d just have to explain to millennials over and over that not all vans always had two sliding doors…
Click for Craigslist ad
Calabasas, CA, USA
$2,950
The thick chrome above the grill is a bit much, but the rest of the style is pretty anonymous and doesn’t look too dated, despite this van’s age. This has certainly aged better than the Uplander/Relay/Terraza/Montana, which were ugly from birth.
Nothing offensive here. Yes, one can utilize the roof rack for additional capacity/toy hauling and, yes, that’s a moon roof wind deflector (dealer installed and still attached?).
The interior is benign enough not to have aged terribly, too. Double-din stereo means a modern, aftermarket navigation/Android Auto/CarPlay unit will fit…
Note fancy, two-tone leather with Nautica logos.
Why yes, all three rows have those logos!
Ad text:
1998 Mercury villager NAUTICA EDITION ,,like new condition, one owner, runs great,low miles 102k, INTERIOR IS like new !!captain chairs, Moonroof, Rear Air,, .new tires this is a one-of-a-kind minivan is just in great condition , no dents no scratches current registration clean title priced to sell $ 2950 call