Biplane Wing: 1987 Merkur XR4Ti
The Merkur XR4Ti was a European Ford Sierra XR4i (yes, no âTâ in the Ford of Europe version) imported into the US Market — an idea often attributed to Maximum Bob Lutz (chairman of Fordâs German operations at the time). The XT4Ti came with a 2.3 liter turbocharged Lima inline-4, a Mustang SVO-ish size, and a mysterious and confounding Merkur badge. It didn’t help that this new brand was sold at Lincoln-Mercury dealers, where unsuspecting car shoppers would stumble upon something they assumed was just another example of quality control gone amok (hah, the Y letter fell off the badge on the way to the showroom). Find this 1987 Mercur XR4Ti offered for $6000 in Mesa, AZ via facecury market4ti.
From the seller:
1987 Mercury xr4ti
$6,000
Listed
14 weeks ago
in Mesa, AZ
About this vehicle
Driven 180,914 miles
Automatic transmission
Exterior color: Blue · Interior color: Grey
Fuel type: Gasoline
Very good condition
Clean title
This vehicle has no significant damage or problems.Seller’s description
The Merkur XR4Ti is a very rare vehicle. One of the most notable design features of the car was the factory installed dual element rear wing.
The XR4Ti was manufactured by Ford of Europe and sold at their Mercury Dealerships from 1985 to 1989. Powered by the same 2.3 liter Turbo engine as found in the SVO Mustangs, Thunderbird TurboCoupes and Cougar XR7.
Original Paint and interior. Cold AC from a new Compressor. New fuel pump. New window tintAdded a clip of video showing the underside of the car on the Drivers side to show no rust, etc.
Last year the most popular vehicle at the SEMA car show was an XR4Ti fitted with an EcoBoost motor.
NOT interested in Trades. If the Ad is up the car is available. Low ball offers will not be considered.
Car ad is cross posted to other for sale sites too
See a better way to drive something blue? tips@dailyturismo.com
This was a great example of the very rare ‘forbidden foreign fruit’ actually making it into American showrooms. This is so rare that outside of the Fiat 500 Abarth, I’m drawing a blank on other examples.
What’s even more amusing is that Europeans got annoyed that we got these with a turbo and they didn’t. Which led to the Sierra Cosworth so they could get in on the boost game.
Ahh, forgot about that Cosworth tuner special, sublime.
Upon further thought, I dredged up the 2004-06 Pontiac GTO (a rebadged Holden Commodore ), the 91-94 Mercury Capri (which wasn’t that special in retrospect) and the ’79 to ’86 German-manufactured Mercury Capri. Hey while I’m here, the Pantera which graced Lincoln-Mercury dealers in the 70’s might also qualify.
Some of these examples are pretty fringe and that’s all I got. Americans usually get shafted on the cool Euro cars, like this Vauxhall that we absolutely didn’t get.
https://imgur.com/gallery/america-got-penalty-box-chevette-uk-got-something-cool-vauxhall-hs2300-lKEaqUn
In hindsight, IMO Ford probably should have just canceled or renamed the Fox-body Mercury Capri, allowing them 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 the retired Fox Capriâs handsome boxflared fenders could move to the Mustang for its â87 facelift to add some visual brawn and help recoup/extend their investment in those stampings.
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 a more specific model designationâmaybe just XR4, as XR4Ti was too much alphabet-soup, or maybe Sapphire as some versions of the Sierra abroad were calledâwhen they added the larger sedan model as the Capri Scorpio.
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.