The Mercury Marauder nameplate made its debut as a trim package on each of the four Mercury full-size series. For the first time for a mid-year introduction, the Marauder was introduced as a "1963½" model (as was an entire line of new, "sports" models from Ford in many of the existing series). All 1963½ Marauders were two-door hardtops. In sharp contrast to the distinctive reverse-slant "Breezeway" roofline option of recent Mercurys, the Marauder hardtop coupe was styled with a sloping notchback rear roofline; matching the same roofline that was introduced at the same time on the contemporary Galaxies. This roofline was optimized to make the large sedan more competitive for stock car racing. Along with the "sportier" roofline, the Marauder trim package included bucket seats and central console, similar to its Ford counterpart. A 390 cubic-inch Marauder V8 was standard, with a 427 cubic-inch Super Marauder V8 replacing a 406 V8 in 1964. Along with 3-speed and 4-speed manual transmissions, a 3-speed "Multi-Drive Merc-O-Matic" automatic transmission was offered.