Merkur fans, we know you’re out there. Thousands of posts on the Merkur Club of America forum prove it. So come hither: we have a survivor-quality, 1985 Ford Merkur XR4Ti listed here on facebook Marketplace for only $1500. Located in Owings Mills, Maryland, this first-year example clocked 75,000 miles before entering storage twenty years ago. Ok, it doesn’t run and it needs a thorough cleaning, but the price is right and if it can be revived, the new owner will have a spunky, unusual ride. Thanks to Mitchell G. for the tip!
The Merkur was a performance-oriented version of the Sierra, which was being built in Europe to replace the Cortina and Taunus. The sedate mechanicals of the Sierra wouldn’t do, so the XR4Ti was equipped with Ford’s 2.3 liter Lima four-cylinder breathing through a Garrett AiResearch turbocharger and tuned for 175 hp when paired with the available five-speed manual. The kit was detuned to 145 hp if the buyer ordered an automatic; our subject car is saddled with an auto. Independent suspension all around, front discs/rear drums, and variable ratio power steering were becoming standard in the day but assembled together with the turbocharged four, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That said, federalizing the car for the US caused a 280 lb weight gain, holding the zero to sixty time at eight seconds.
The seller confesses to mold all ’round, and that’s apparent in the cabin – the steering wheel is about as furry as I’ve ever seen. The hooded instrument panel is the epitome of ’80s style. These cars came with air conditioning and power mirrors; a long list of extra-cost options included cruise control, heated seats and a moon roof.
Dressed with a double-decker spoiler and advertised as an import, the Merkur was designed to woo customers from BMW and Mercedes, but Ford made a strategic error: rather than assigning the car to import dealers – who might understand the market – the car was given to Lincoln-Mercury. Despite fawning reviews of the car by the automotive press, sales started slowly and remained moribund. Only 42,464 sold through 1989, the last year of production. Outstanding manual-shift examples sell for around $10k and occasionally more; driver-quality XR4Tis can be had for mid four figures. If you know your way around Merkurs, this car might be worth the price.
These are good-driving cars when they’re right,
but I think that you’d have a small fortune into it after
you fixed everything.
Alas, I think you are right. I had an acquaintance who owned 3 of these at once – he drove one and fixed the others, rotating, rinse and repeat perpetually. The cars weren’t good examples to begin with, but he did manage to keep them running on the cheap. Of course that was 25 years ago!
Owings Mills Maryland.
Tune into Motorweek 📺 🏁
First thing I thought of when I saw the location too!
No Title is a big issue
These were interesting, reasonably competent, fairly attractive cars for their day. I agree, the Lincoln-Mercury marketing was an impediment to their success. So, in hindsight, what might have worked? Using only Ford dealers which had a strong performance reputation? Ford dealers which were part of large dealer groups of other marques (not as common as today) who could leverage expertise with import or performance buyers? It seems Ford was between a rock and a hard place as to how to market them.
In hindsight, Ford probably should have just canceled or renamed the Fox-body Mercury Capri, so they could revive using Capri as a well-recognized submarque for sporty imported Euro Fords sold through Mercury dealers, rather than inventing the hard-to-pronounce Merkur brand with zero name recognition. They could even use the same Lincoln-esque logo they designed for Merkur and have it simply say Capri instead.
Then, as with the original Capri imports, this model would have started out badged as simply a Capri (no other marque or model), then later they might give it more specific model designation (maybe just XR4, as XR4Ti was too much alphabet-soup) when they added a sedan model as the Capri Scorpio. Or maybe a Capri Sapphire, based on the 4-door notchback model of the Euro Sierra, would have been a better bet?
Then later, Mazda-built captive-import Mercury models such as the first-gen Tracer and the final Capri roadster (badged as, say, a Capri Barchetta or XR2?) could have slotted in as well, to expand Capri into a full-line captive-import marque.
Great cars. Had a bone stock 88. These can be expensive endeavors to get involved with. Rapido and Jeff Herson (Merkur Parts Midwest) are excellent resources for repro, NOS, and hi quality refurbs. Jeff does restos too.
I bought an 85 leftover in 86 and got a great deal. (About $4500 off with rebate etc) Other than a warranty repair and fuel pressure issue (easy fix) it was trouble free. Way ahead of most cars at the time. I bought 3 more, one of which had 175,000 miles on it. I still have all of them. Unfortunately none have run in years. (My fault). I think seller is optimistic with the price.
I bought an 85 leftover in 86 and got a great deal. (About $4500 off with rebate etc) Other than a warranty repair and fuel pressure issue (easy fix) it was trouble free. Way ahead of most cars at the time. I bought 3 more, one of which had 175,000 miles on it. I still have all of them. Unfortunately none have run in years. (My fault). I think seller is optimistic with the price.
They are still used for Rally racing in Europe in lower classes.They do well but are not allowed much mods on motors, and when you add in all the extra weight from roll cage, not bar full cage, spare tire, and all other safety equipment you have added quite a bit of weight to a car, that wasn’t that light in first place.Got to drive one in fun rally in Ireland, fantastic fun.If closer might buy it, still have friends who could buy parts, and ship to me as gifts, to avoid TARIFFS.Well time to see how much trouble I’ll be in if I do this.
No title, moldy, price is down to $1,200.
This is more of a parts car than project.
Aw why are they always soo fafr from me… it would cost twice that to have it shipped !!!
Had two XR4Ti’s and a Scorpio. Loved them all. But the correct price for this car is “free to a good home”.
I had an ’85 with a manual transmission that either needed to be rebuilt or replaced several times in my brief ownership. I didn’t beat on it, it was just a weak spot on these cars. Many electrical gremlins, on top of all that.
It was an expensive endeavour, although it was a blast when it was running properly.
Ran across one at a track day. It was completely gutted and no windows and only bumper covers. (No steel behind the covers.) He had the boost cranked up to slightly less than 20psi and was having a blast. The car looked really good out there on the track. I don’t know what it weighed with all the stuff removed. But my guess would be on the 2,000 pound area. With pushing the 200-225 horse range. That would make it fun on the track! (No cage required for a track day car!)
Owings Mills, MD. Home of “MotorWeek”. =)
I bought one of the first ones in the country. Ford imported the training batch that were hand-built at Karmann and mine was the first one in my local dealer shop. The only thing the sales guy knew about the car was how to look up features in his little book. Black, with a 5 speed and several a/c failures. They sent 1 (one) mechanic to service training and no one else in the shop would touch it!
The manual trans was the French-built 4 speed they put in the Capri and tacked a 5th gear on the back like an overdrive, but it wasn’t designed for the formidable (!) power.Mine used to pop out of fifth on lift-off and I rigged up a bungie cord to hold it in fifth. Another dealer rebuilt the trans but it didn’t help. Russ Harness at Rapido was putting together an upgrade and I got a replacement bell housing, better clutch and most of the hardware to install a BW T-5 that made all the difference. His wife, Renata started the first Merkur owners’ club. BTW, Ford Motorsports made a rebuild kit for the turbo. My bushings cooked up, even with good oil and timely changes.
I remember Russ,back when I raced a Fiesta at Portland International-Raceway.Russ had Quikor Engineering,which made some really good
suspension parts,& drove a 3 litre Capri.
I drove the hell out of the Sierras when I was stationed in Europe. 140 klicks on the autobahn was not unusual, with very little maintenance
No Merkur post is complete without mentioning Jim Rome
Awesome looking car. I remember when the Merkur XR4ti was first intro’d back in the 1980s. While I loved its styling, I remember wondering “What the hell is a “Merkur?””