At $10,000, Could This 1988 Merkur XR4Ti Make You Wish Mercury Had Risen?

There is no '80s car quite as weird as today's Nice Price or No Dice Merkur. Let's see if such eclecticism comes with an equally unique price.

It seems like looking back isn't looking all that good these days. While we used to have TV shows like "The Wonder Years," "Freaks and Geeks," and "That '70s Show," today retro shows seem like themselves a thing of the past. It's the same case in the automotive world. While we once had all sorts of cars and trucks dredging up past glories for their inspiration, that's now mostly in the rearview.

The 2005 Chevrolet SSR pickup that we looked at on Monday was one of that flurry of retro-style vehicles that seemed all the rage 20 or so years ago. Its bodylines aped those of Chevy's "Advanced Design" trucks of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Aside from that, the SSR offers modern amenities, including a Corvette-sourced V8 and a six-speed stick. While an intriguing combo, that wasn't enough for most of you to justify the seller's set $39,995 asking price. "Too goofy," many of you opined in the comments, which led to an unsurprisingly high 89% 'No Dice' loss in the voting.

When it was new, yesterday's SSR was a textbook case of a model calculated to sell in numbers that would allow it to eke out a profit, but failing to live up to those modest expectations. The 1988 Merkur XR4Ti that we're looking at today is yet another example.

Ford introduced the XR4Ti to the North American market in 1985, basing it on the European-market Sierra XR4i. That Sierra debuted three years earlier as a replacement for Ford of England's Cortina and Ford Germany's Taunus. That line was available in estate, five-door hatchback and, oddly, two three-door body styles. For the XR4Ti, Ford chose the most unique of the two doors as its exclusive body style, making substantial changes to meet U.S. emissions and safety regulations. One of the biggest changes, however, was in the model's name. Ford couldn't use Sierra in North America because General Motors had already claimed that name for GMC's pickup truck. Instead, the cars were sold through Mercury dealers under the Merkur name (Mercury in German). 

The XR4 gained the Ti appendage befitting the turbocharged Lima four found under the hood. Ford initially projected sales of the XR4Ti to be around 18,000 a year, but confusion with that Merkur moniker and increasingly unfavorable exchange rates between the dollar and the Deutschmark dimmed the model's prospects. When Ford killed off the line in 1989 after a short five-year run, just a little over 42,000 had been sold.

In this Rosso Red over gray mouse fur XR4Ti, that 2.3-liter SOHC four makes 175 horsepower and 200 pound-feet of torque. That's due to its five-speed manual transmission, as automatic-equipped cars were saddled with lower boost and 30 fewer ponies so as not to blow up the transmission.

Being a 1988, this XR4Ti also has a monoplane rear spoiler on the hatch, as the uber-cool biplane spoiler of the first three model-year cars was given the heave-ho. Another late-in-the-game change for the model was the monochromatic bodywork. On earlier cars, the only option was gray plastic cladding for the lower half of the body and bumpers, something that was all the rage in the '80s. Whether you like that look, or prefer this car's more cohesive style is a personal matter. 

Regardless, this car, with just 47,441 claimed miles under its belt, looks to be in excellent condition. It's also averred to have been well-kept, recently enjoying a fresh battery, new suspension components, as well as spark and fuel system updates. Additionally, it may have received a new exhaust, as the undercarriage pic shows the exhaust pipe cut off ahead of the rear suspension.

According to the ad, this car has been garage-kept, never smoked in, and is free of road rot. The seller also promotes the car as running "Powerfully," and says it's as "mint as it gets."

That shows in the ad's pictures. The red paint still gleams, showing no signs of any marring or fading. The handsome 15-inch BBS alloys also appear to be in excellent shape, with no evidence of curbing and still wearing their locking center caps.

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The cabin benefits from having cloth upholstery, as pretty much all these cars clothed in leather have had their cows give up the ghost. In this car, the gray patterned upholstery looks to have a couple of minor wrinkles here and there, but is otherwise in as-new condition. So too are the dash and door cards. Everything looks to be '80s stock in here, right down to the factory AM/FM/cassette stereo.

The XR4Ti is one of those cars that was an interesting proposition when new, but eventually ended up consigned to the island of misfit toys. The model remains one of the cooler cars to come out of the '80s, and for fans of the brand, finding one in this nice of shape is becoming an increasingly rare occurrence. What we'll need to decide is whether or not this cool new-wave Ford from the '80s is worth the $10,000 price tag set by its seller.

What's your take on this Merkur asking that kind of money? Does that feel fair given the car's evident condition, its rarity, and its arguable coolness factor? Or is that too much for a failed experiment?

You decide!

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Hat tip to Ben Young for the hookup!

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