CC Cohort Eric Clem has not just found a very rare Merkur Scorpio, but it’s the ultra-exotic pickup version. And it even has its original safety net in place, to keep children from tumbling out the back during rapid acceleration.
All the side window glass is missing too. Even the sunroof is open. Maybe this was heavily de-contented version to meet a price point or a lower weight EPA class?
The Scorpio’s handsome profile is still intact. It’s aerodynamic shape and high stubby tail foreshadowed the proportions that all sedans would take soon enough
Friends did this to a 89 Ford Laser oldest son rolled it down an embankment once towed out it still ran and drove so the hatchback got removed and it went to work hauling firewood on their property, zero chance of it being roadworthy ever again.
Perhaps this is a rare example of the obscure “Parade ” version for German leaders were visiting the USA?, to make them feel more at home.
It’s a little league mobile batting net
Returning to the Depot Hack. Or in international terms, a jitney.
Once commonplace here (UK, so called ‘Granada’) but now few and far between. Did see one last year, but that Merkur example has fallen a long way since the type appeared on the cover of Ford’s July/August ’85 ‘Cars’ brochure.
Modern sedan proportions but with decent-sized windows and rear headroom (esp. with no hatch).
I don’t dislike the first generation Taurus (just to get that out of the way) but I find this in its original form to look significantly better and more “refined” somehow, even though both were launched at around the same time. It just looks more expensive, although there really aren’t many more bits hanging off of it and there are likely members of the general public that can’t tell them apart.
To me, this is an excellent but more mass-market simile of the Mercedes W124 but with perhaps a little extra width. Perhaps it’s all in the shoulder-line that I’m liking that the Taurus doesn’t have.
Eric Clem actually took those photos! I’ve love to take credit for it, but credit goes to Eric.
Oddly enough, I’ve photographed that same car a few years ago, before it was converted.
Oops. Fixed now.
These cars received a lot of disdain for the way they were driven. Often tailgating on the highway, rare use of the seemingly optional turn signals, and frequently taking two or more spots in the parking lot.
A guy I knew had one. His personality fit the bill to a tee. Abusive, loud, obnoxious, backstabber. At the time anyway. Later he became more reasonable, somehow, when he got a small CUV. I think becoming a Dad helped him grow up. And getting rid of the Merk.
I wonder if it’s the early stages of a Gambler 500 car.
I remember the very first time I saw one of these was at Brainerd International Raceway at an SCCA sanctioned Sports Car Race. It was headed from the area where race tires were mounted, with a whole set of new sticky rubber piled in back with hatch sticking upward. As it slowly crept thru the ardent race fans crowding pit road, I glanced over to see who was in the car besides the precious wheels and tires. It was none other than driver/competitor Paul Newman riding shotgun on the way to his Nissan race cars in the Paddock. It was obviously a rental pressed into trackside service ……..