A two-door Tempo is somewhat unusual to see here on Barn Finds. Or actually, any Tempo is. We’ve seen a few of them over the years, but this is the first 1993 Ford Tempo Coupe that’s crossed our collective cyber desk. Those are pretty dark windows for a city that has an average summer temperature in the low 70s! The seller has it posted here on craigslist in Flagstaff, Arizona, and they’re asking $3,500. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Tony P. for the tip!
As with most rules or laws, it’s rare that anyone gets pulled over anymore for having window tint that’s too dark. My wife got pulled over once in my Saturn that I bought used as a winter car, and the previous owner went one shade darker than what was legal. It was a $130 fine almost 20 years ago, ouch. Now, even though we still have the same window tint laws, I see dozens of vehicles every day with pitch black windows driving around without a care in the world. Not that people who don’t signal lane changes get tickets, or speeders, or going through red lights, or, or, or…
Enough of that, back to this Tempo Coupe. Ford made the second-generation Tempo from 1988 through 1994, and it only came in a four-door and two-door body style. I recently did a couple of quick modifications to show a Tempo station wagon and a Tempo convertible. I’m not sure if either works, but I also did a Tempo notchback that I like for some odd reason. As always, these Photoshop creations aren’t meant to be some big idea on what a manufacturer should have done; it’s only to show what possibly could have been done, so please don’t take them too seriously. This website is supposed to be fun!
You can see a dash pad in this car, and I’m hoping it’s there to protect a perfect dash rather than covering up a cracked dash. The light gray velour seats look great, other than some possible softening of the side bolsters on the driver’s seat. And, you already noticed the automatic shift on the console area; this one has a three-speed automatic rather than a five-speed manual.
The clean engine compartment is where Ford’s 2.3-liter OHV inline-four lives. It sends 96 horsepower and 126 lb-ft of torque through that automatic to the front wheels, and the seller says it runs and drives like a new car, with no smoke, no leaks, no issues at all, and has ice-cold AC and hot heat. It’s hard to go wrong for $3,500 here. What do you think about this Tempo Coupe: good deal or no?
Well done Scotty, you are staying ahead of the peanut gallery on this one. I always thought that these would make a nice mini Ranchero.
Thanks much, Pat! I’m sure that if I’ve made a dumb mistake, someone who knows everything about everything will rudely point it out, as always.
At you know that you have that consistency, writing for this site!
People will always make mistakes.
Otherwise we’d’ve never seen the Pacer hit the market..
Whoever is calling you out for mistakes, Scotty, undoubtedly has made a truckload of their own but won’t ever admit it.
This sounds like a good deal,and it should be gone shortly.
I almost bought a new Tempo Sport model in 1987,but after
test driving one for a couple of hours,my lower back started
to ache.It do have great brakes,however.
I knew a Ford salesman who gave me a price quote on
a Sport,& I wasn’t sure he was giving me his best deal until I
talked to another dealer who told me they couldn’t go that low.
Another very clean and well preserved car that used to be everywhere. Until it wasn’t. I’m thinking to automatic trans is partially responsible for it still being around. This is one of my favorite Ford colors from that time and it still looks good. You can’t get much for $3500 these days. And this looks like a great deal. That wagon looks great along with the drop top version and coupe too Scotty. I like how you do that. I know it takes time, but it’s nice to see things from a different perspective. A ” what if” kind of situation. The wagon would have gone head to head with GM wagons and the K car wagons too if they made it. ( Ford made an Escort wagon, and a Taurus wagon, why not a Tempo wagon?)
Heat 🔥 is the enemy of the automatic transmission. 🏜
Scotty I like those photoshops. They look particularly believable, including the wagon. I assume Ford figured that between tooling costs and the fact that it would cannibalize Escort and Taurus wagon sales, it wasn’t worth the effort.
That’s a good point you make about the wagons Bob. I didn’t think of it quite like that. The tooling was done for the Escorts and you have a Taurus, I guess why bother with a mid size? But Scottys really does look believable.
You guys are way too nice, thanks much! Some are more for the comic effect, but some maybe look a little real’ish, sort of, maybe, if you squint.
One of my early favorites was done as a joke: a 1947 Talbot-Lago Prius.
OMG, Scotty-George Barris, Stan Mott and Big Daddy Roth got nuthin’ on you!
😆👍🏻
Now that’s just plain wrong on all levels!
Gone baby gone. It was pulled by th seller so who knows if it sold or what.
I can understand why the windows wear dark tint. Who wants to be seen driving a Tempo? Sure, we appreciate seeing it here, but the general public will assume that you park it in the dirt driveway in front of your mobile home. Despite being 30+ years old, these are still firmly in the “cheap wheels” category.
I remember when i worked for an auto parts chain in the 80’s and 90’s the only thing we really kept in stock save for tune up parts were the outer tie rods and the long extension pipe following the catalytic and mufflers. They were not glamorous cars but fairly reliable
We made a lot of money selling parts for Tempos–still remember the part number for the pipe and muffler–Walker 48263 and 22342
Ford sold enough 2-door Fairmonts late in the run to sign off on this one body style to replace both but it was always far, far rarer than the 4 door and sales declined over the run. By the time the Escort was redesigned on the Mazda 323 platform the 2 door Tempo’s only reason to still exist was because the tooling was paid off and it allowed them to advertise an artificially low base price .
We had a Tempo exactly like this one back when they were new. We traded in our 87 Broncos II. I liked that car very much. I hated to see it go, for a ’95 Contour in Bhimini Blue. These were all the wife’s cars. Her car requirements are #1 color, #2 whatever else it comes with. As you can imagine, she’s not a happy camper with car choices these days!
My dad traded in a 78′ Granada for what would be his last car,a 83′ 2-door Tempo, never had a problem with it.He drove it till we had to take the keys away,he gave it to my brother’s daughter who never did any maintenance and ruined it.
After my dad passed away in August of 1983, the first 1984 Tempos were introduced. The family car at the time was a 1979 Chrysler New Yorker that I helped my mom trade in on an ’84 Tempo 2 door with an automatic. It was a brown color with gold metal flake paint. She was only 5’4″ tall and needed a car that was a better fit. The dealership added gold Enkei custom wheels to some of their new cars, and the one my mom bought had them. She wanted a 2 door coupe, and those wheels transformed the car.
Certainly one of the better colors when every third one was Calypso Coral. The power train is similar to my Plymouth Acclaim with the automatic so it should carry it along nicely. Remove the tint so I can see out and I’d drive it.
Even .more rare is a door with a 5 speed like the one that lives down the street from me. Just as an aside. The 2.3 HSC engine in this car is the same block as thec 1.6 OHC engine from a early (hemi head) Escort. (0.40 over bore on the pistons) I grabbed one of these short blocks and built a killer engine fir an Escort wagon that I had. It could fry tires like crazy. Another car I should have kept. ked F competition competition
Back in the 90s as a Lincoln Mercury dealer we sold huge volume with the Topaz, based on price. In a relative way, a 2 door Topaz with V6 5 Speed was a fun car!
times must be getting tough if we are seeing ford tempos here