Got the Merkur....here's pics

[1990Coupe]

A: that thing is friggen awesome

B: How the F did you find one? they had one at a carshow in englishtown and nobody knew what it was.. i laughed hahaa

C: how did you score it soooo cheap?? did the guy not know what he had??

 

[Flavadave4]

Sweet deal, I envy you for that one.

There is a guy on the other side of town that has a really nice one, near mint but he wont let it go for less than $5000......no thanks!

 

[Busted07]

I like it alot dude! Its definately not a primered heap


Hell of a buy man!

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Thanks guys....i'm in love with it....trying hard not to get caught up in it though 'cause i've gotta start on my engine for the coupe.


I found it actually by going to this place to look at another Mustang with a friend of mine, and it was parked behind a service/repair shop behind the Mustang. I said hey man that's a really nice Merkur...he says yeah do you want it? I laughed and said i do but i probably can't afford it...he said you'd be surprised. Long story short i ended up trading the Cobra R's that i had planned for my 5 lug swap and $550 for it...so i sort of have more into it than $550 but i didn't have a dime into the R's so money wise that's all.

He definitely knew what he had....he just said that between him and his wife they had 6 cars and two of his were Mustangs and he just didn't have time for it. He said i reacted so highly to it that he knew i'd take care of it so he passed it along to me. He said he got it for next to nothing too (said he's making profit with the $550!). Pretty much all i'm going to do as far as mods is an intercooler, manual boost controller and 3'' exhaust and maybe tint and wheels just to make it my own. I'm gonna try to get some interior shots today, i spent yesterday vacuuming it out and cleaning it up some.



By the way, here's the spread from Car and Driver in Sept. '84:
Page 1
http://www.merkurtech.com/merkurtec...rkurtech/magarticles/cd-sep84/cd-sep84-02.jpg
Page 2
http://www.merkurtech.com/merkurtec...rkurtech/magarticles/cd-sep84/cd-sep84-03.jpg
3
http://www.merkurtech.com/merkurtec...rkurtech/magarticles/cd-sep84/cd-sep84-04.jpg
4
http://www.merkurtech.com/merkurtec...rkurtech/magarticles/cd-sep84/cd-sep84-05.jpg
5
http://www.merkurtech.com/merkurtec...rkurtech/magarticles/cd-sep84/cd-sep84-06.jpg

This page in particular (GTO you might wanna look over this part )

I was way off on the price so i'll eat my words on that....it was a tad more expensive than a 3 series BMW....but it DID out accelerate everything in the comparison save for the Z28 (and likely the '85 5.0). I don't even care to argue the cars price back in whatever year....that's completely irrelevant since i only paid $550 for it. There may very well have been better performing cars for the price or cheaper at the time (duh the Mustang 5.0) but the point is, it's not a POS econocar by any stretch.

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

15.5 @90MPH 1/4??? That is pretty damn good.....a few mods some cars gotta watch out for that thing!!

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

15.5 @90MPH 1/4??? That is pretty damn good.....a few mods some cars gotta watch out for that thing!!

My buddy has one that runs 12.90s and keeps up with Terminators on the highway

 

[GTOreturns]

Not bad shape I guess!

As for all the dummies telling me what it was and wasnt,,SHAT AP!!!!!!

ITS SLOWER THE A 5.0 AOD!!! 16 seconds in the 1/4 is SLOW. I was around when they were new. Dude, its a Ford!

You paid a fair price and its in decent shape, have fun with it!

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Not bad shape I guess!

As for all the dummies telling me what it was and wasnt,,SHAT AP!!!!!!

ITS SLOWER THE A 5.0 AOD!!! 16 seconds in the 1/4 is SLOW. I was around when they were new. Dude, its a Ford!

You paid a fair price and its in decent shape, have fun with it!

LOL well YEAH man....it is still a 4 banger You've gotta admit though for a stock 4 banger 16 seconds ain't all bad right? I will add though that as fun and perky as this car is to drive, one drive in my coupe today was enough to bring me back to my senses....it's nowhere near as fast as the coupe



Oh and here's an interior pic...the floor mats are a little wore and you can see the cig burn in the driver's seat, but that's about it except for the shifter boot, and that's getting replaced with leather. I don't know why the seats look so light in color....i couldn't get them from being so bright without the lighting on the dash going too dark to see any details.

 

[QUICK91LX]

LOL well YEAH man....it is still a 4 banger You've gotta admit though for a stock 4 banger 16 seconds ain't all bad right? I will add though that as fun and perky as this car is to drive, one drive in my coupe today was enough to bring me back to my senses....it's nowhere near as fast as the coupe



Oh and here's an interior pic...the floor mats are a little wore and you can see the cig burn in the driver's seat, but that's about it except for the shifter boot, and that's getting replaced with leather. I don't know why the seats look so light in color....i couldn't get them from being so bright without the lighting on the dash going too dark to see any details.

how has it done on gas for you? I have had 2 turbo 2.3 cars, a carbed 79 mustang and an 88 LX with a turbo coupe swap and neither was that good on gas. the 79 had an SROD with 3.45's plus carburetor and got me straight up 18 regardless of where i drove. the 88 had a T5 and 3.45's and if i was nice to it i would get 24-ish, but i was always into boost and usually saw 19-20.

Here was the motor in my 88...

They really are alot of fun. Not horribly fast but its a great daily driver. I was trying to find a decent turbo coupe thunderbird recently but ended up with my ZX2. Not a bad choice but i have a soft spot for 2.3T cars...i guess it doesnt hurt that my buddy has a ridiculous nasty 2.3T that he open tracks...too bad u cant see the T3/T4 hybrid turbo in this pic...but you get the idea...actually, the very first motor he ever swapped into this car was directly out of an 87 XR4Ti

 

[KAILUAZ]

Some inspiration:

 

[Tasandmnm]

Wow man that is a hell of a nice find! For some unknown reason I have always had a soft spot for those cars...maybe part of it was the mysteru becasue until now I never knew a damn thing about em!

 

[BlooDReigN]

Here's a pic of mine. I just got rid of it 1 week ago.

 

[Skoobie]

Wow thats a cool sleeper. I had never heard of this car until now. Looked it up in the Seattle craigslist and found a white 89 for $550. Its has a little damage to the lower front bumper and a small leak in the turbo oil line but looks good other then that. Makes me wish I had an extra $500 laying around, sounds like a fun commuter car

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Wow thats a cool sleeper. I had never heard of this car until now. Looked it up in the Seattle craigslist and found a white 89 for $550. Its has a little damage to the lower front bumper and a small leak in the turbo oil line but looks good other then that. Makes me wish I had an extra $500 laying around, sounds like a fun commuter car

That's ultimately what it boils down to. I like driving something you never see on the road...i love the reaction people give it. Plus ya know how it is when some idiot import driver is being stupid and you're in your DD and think "DAMN if i was just in my Mustang i'd show him what's up"....well if you have a turbo 2.3 under the hood on 15-20psi then the chances of you doing just that are pretty good


In the end though it is just a fun DD....i'd never trade my coupe for one no matter how fast it was.

 

[ReefBlue93]

Sweet ride, I was at a car show at the beginning of the summer and a guy show up with one. I hadn't seen one in years. It drew more attention than anything else there. telling my age, but I remember going to see those when they first came out.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I remember seeing them every now and then when i was younger but i didn't really know anything about them until a few years ago when i started taking an interest in SVO's and Turbo Coupes. Then about 2 years ago my buddy got one and i rode in it and was really surprised at how fast it was (his was lightly modded). At the time my coupe was running 14.50s and it would've gave it a run for its money.

I'm chasing my tail right now with an idle surge issue and a slipping clutch. I can't mat the gas without the clutch slipping hard so i really don't know how fast it is. It feels like it's going slower than it is...every time i try to get on it, even with the clutch i end up looking down at like 90mph on the speedo