The seller has this one listed as a 1995 Tobaz, and if there’s anything I know about, it’s typos. They’re pointed out fairly often here. Ford didn’t offer the Tempo in 1995, so naturally, there was also no Mercury Topaz, so I’m listing it as a 1994 Mercury Topaz GS. It’s posted here on craigslist in Tukwila, Washington, and they’re asking just $1,850. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Rocco B. for the tip!
1994 seems pretty new to me, still, even though it’s been 32 years already. A lot of Barn Finds readers aren’t even 32 years old yet, so for those of us who may grumble about “new” cars being shown here as if this were some regular used car lot, think back 32 years and what was going on in your life. I’d go back in a heartbeat, even if I was still in college with no money. Here is a 1994 Mercury Topaz brochure to check out.
On the other hand, an Oxford White four-door Topaz on a website normally showing dusty muscle cars? Ok, I get your point, but I still like this car. Ideally, it would be a very rare AWD model, although they were discontinued in 1991. At one time, not that long ago, if you wanted to fit in or to go away, visually, you drove a white Tempo or Topaz four-door sedan. Today, this car sticks out more than a Ferrari, or at least as much.
The only buzzkill related to this car for me is the aggravating automatic seatbelt system. I always wear my seatbelts; I don’t need a car to tell me to wear my seatbelt. I’d have to figure out a way to disable or modify this system. Otherwise, I would love to have this one. The Ford Tempo/Mercury Topaz line of cars was made from 1983 for the 1984 model year until the end of 1994. This is a second-generation car, which would have been made from 1988 through 1994. This car appears to have the Preferred Package 353A with power windows and locks, and many more nice features that are standard on pretty much everything today. The seats look perfect, both front and rear, for a car with 97,000 miles on it.
The engine is cleaner than I thought it would be, and this is Ford’s 2.3-liter HSC (High-Swirl Combustion) OHV inline-four with 96 horsepower and 126 lb-ft of torque when new. Backed by an FLC (Fluid-Link Converter) ATX automatic transmission sending power to the front wheels, the seller says this is a one-owner car, it was never in an accident, and it runs and drives like new. The AC even works. For $1,850, I don’t know how you could go wrong here. This may not be an exciting car, but I’d bet anything you would have people coming up to you asking questions about it almost every time you were at a gas station. Would any of you daily drive this $1,850 Topaz? I sure would.
Great find on a perfectly dull car! There’s a lot to be said for flying under the radar in an analog vehicle. Nice catch, SG.
For the price, I’d drive it, even if the Tempo/Topaz twins were perhaps the dullest cars in the history of dull cars. They were strictly from Snooze City.
That said, they were reliable, and in this price range that’s really all that counts.
Haven’t seen one on the road in many, many years.
Good write-up SG. Car looks to be in good shape. Cheap.
Typos: sure, we all make them. But doesn’t it seem important to at least have the model and year correct in the ad? Of course Craigslist and Marketplace are not renowned for their finely-crafted write-ups. Power seat’s…….
Even in US dollars it’s a great deal to me. I would hope mechanically it doesn’t need much maintenance. It appears to have been given a lot of love over the years.
The irony of those motorized seatbelts is that Tempo featured one of Ford’s first driver’s-side airbags back in the late ’80s! Always puzzled me why Ford reverted to belts to meet the passive safety requirements. (Of course, this is a ’94, and the mandate that year was dual passive restraints, so I guess it’s a moot point)
The one thing that would keep me from buying this right off the bat is the automatic seat belts. One of the worst ideas to ever come out of Detroit (until the auto stop/start and the lane keep assist!). GM’s version with them attached to the door was even worse.
They made about 3 million of these Tempos and Topaz through their run, and probably a couple thousand tops are left on the road. These rusted pretty bad in salt states and nobody thought to preserve them. That is amazing to think about.
Typos? Well, just beware of “The Filter”,,,it takes seemingly innocent letters, that could be confused as something else, and WHAM, no comment for you,,,oops, dang, that probably set the darn thing off,,,,What? Oh, yeah, the Tospaz. Another of the cars the ex cooked, but was my fault really, I had no business putting her in this. It was a Tempo, but same thing. An okay car, couple hundred bucks, I don’t recall the seat belt thing, my Saturn had those, and as much as we kvetch about them, they probably saved lives of people that would not normally wear one. I don’t remember anything special about it, in fact, proof that America wanted a US car they knew nothing about, instead of an import, and sadly, THIS is what they had to buy. I don’t know who would have bought one new. I doubt many bought a 2nd one, and probably turned more people to imports after just one. One car I had no regrets junking.
It needs red. pin stripes along the body side molding , that and an intercooler and a turbo.AWD was an option you say? Interesting. These didn’t have to be boring cars, with a stick shift this could be fun, and stylish in a nineties kind of a way. I would have to get seat covers though. That mouse fur velour just catches farts.
Never mind the turbo comment. I just did some research and the HSC engine is not the same as the 2.3 l engine in the SVO Mustang or the Turbo coupe.
My wife had a 83′ 4-door Tempo GLX with 19 k miles on it at the time a old lady ran a stop street and hit her.It needed a front clip and the battery exploded spraying acid over the entire car resulting in a complete bad job.After several months went the paint smell went away I traded in on a new 86′ Couger.My wife was slightly hurt and we sued as the lady was driving a car illegally at the time off her son’s car lot.
I owned a 1992 Ford Tempo. No automatic seat belts as I recall. The best part was that it was a standard 4 speed in the floor. It was a fun car to drive. When people got into the car for the first time and saw me drive it they would do a second take and realize that it was a stick shift car. It was the LX model.
Same here, Paul.
Mine was an ’84 black coupe. Not a single option, and had the 3 speed floor shifted manual. That manual at least made that bare bones car interesting to drive.
If you need simple transportation thissssszsZzzxzxphhfffffffthpt……..mmmmmmmmmmmdsfZxcCCC
*gasp-snort*
Sorry, I must’ve gotten bored and dozed off there for a moment
Listing update: this one is gone. Did one of you grab this Topaz?