Merkur Scorpio?

How bad are they? I have seen a few for sale for very, very cheap running and registered, and they look kinda cool. I know its not really a sports car, but can you still get enough parts to keep one running? I see them in the junkyard sometimes, thats about it.

All I remember about them is that they had an adjustable back seat.

My dad had a Merkur when I was a kid. I thought it was the fastest car in the world for awhile. Don't remember what kind it was though.

I remember they had that Funky ignition key. I forget what euro model they really are

mad_machine wrote: I remember they had that Funky ignition key. I forget what euro model they really are

Ford Scorpio.

I think ford offered a buyback for them because they did not want to supply the parts to support them.

My father had two...an '88 and an '89. His were great cars and I loved to drive them. The weak points seemed to be the window switches and the HVAC motor speed control. Don't know what the part situation is now, but they were pretty common overseas (I believe they were called Ford Scorpions).

You can get parts both in the US and overseas, body panels and such are getting rarer to find, especially since most have been scrapped by now. Switches and such will need to be sourced from the UK, the easiest way being to buy them, and have a friend that travels to england bring them back for you, otherwise you'll be raped on shipping.

Another alternative is wiring in different switches, I know some people that have had success wiring in hotrod style aftermarket chrome switches, and or rigging up later style ford switches. But anything can be done with a 5 gallon bucket of bondo.

Andrew

Hmm, so if im used to an alfa milano it probably wont be any worse than that to keep running? One other question, does anyone know about windshileld availability? Im not really planning to buy one right now, but there are 2 running ones, one for $250, one for $600 on the local cl, but both have cracked windshields.

Depends a little on which Ford Scorpio model you're talking about (the later bug-eyed one or the earlier one) but as Andrew said, most parts to keep them on the road seem to be readily available over here in the UK. Don't know about sheetmetal though...

One issues that seems to come up with them over here is that the slush box can grenade after 60k - supposedly they have a bit of a reputation for that. Actually, they're mostly seen as an engine donor - well, the Cosworth V6 one is .

well, we never got any of the Hot Euro models.. anything with performance to rival the mustang never made it to our shores.

Consider this boxhead.. they stopped importing them around 90

OK, that means at least you were spared the bugeyed fugly ones. Pity that you never got the 24V V6, that's supposedly a pretty good engine even though it was always bolted to a slushbox. Oh well, in that case it's probably not such a brilliant idea to buy one.

5.0s were an easy bolt in iirc.

They do tend to be cheap enough for a donor car, and if your handy with a welder you should be able to piece together the body parts that are missing. On a side note, if you need rambler parts they tend to be in abundance, lol. I even worked for a guy that owns a junk yard that is a rambler whore, having 8-10 in his yard at any one time, lol...

Andrew

I always wanted an Merkur, either model. The XR was such a good looking car to a kid in his early teens, man I wanted one. The Scorpio looked like a great touring car. How are these cars to drive?