William Oliver has found a near-unicorn: a first or second year Ford Tempo, with the original non-aero sealed beam headlights. Near-unicorn, you say? Well, the reality is that all-new American cars invariably arrived less than fully-baked, something Toyota had been doing for decades, but the Big Three were slow learners. So yes, these early Tempos became increasingly rare a lot faster than their Cockroach of the Road™ successors. Of course, even they’re getting mighty rare, but that’s a different story.
Actually I did find one of these back in 2013, but…never wrote it up. But it did get written up along with a similar vintage coupe and some later ones in the definitive CC of the Tempo, by Perry Shoar. So if you want a more in-depth take on these, let your fingers do the walking.
Let’s just say that given that the Tempo is really nothing more than a stretched US-version Escort, with an aero body and two-thirds of an old Falcon six engine, it sure didn’t get the best start in life. Quite the contrast to the all-new Toyota Camry, that arrived one year previously in 1983. It was almost over-baked, if that’s possible.
Not surprisingly, the Tempo had a great first year in sales, cresting the 400k mark. Why is this such a common reality with new American cars? These first year pops never happened with imports, but then they didn’t have the ability to crank out massive volumes on short notice.
The problem with these first year sales pops is of course obvious: the first year cars were inevitably shaky, in terms of build quality and reliability (among other shortcomings), meaning that they quickly got a bad rep, thus holding down future sales, resale value and reputation.
Like the early years of the US-Escort, the Temp just didn’t seem properly fleshed out. Its handling, like the Escort, can best be described as wobbly. We had one as a rental for a week’s exploration of New Mexico, including lots of back highways and byways. The 2.3 L pushrod four with a carb was wheezy and agricultural, especially when teamed with the 3 speed automatic, as any pushrod four of this size that was essentially 2/3 of an elderly six cylinder engine without balance shafts inevitably would be. It was like so many cars of the era: one drove it with a very heavy foot. Positively dreadful. But it got us to lots of exquisite scenery including some mighty rough roads.
To answer the inevitable question as to why Ford didn’t use the SOHC Lima 2.3 L four in the Tempo (and Topaz). The answer is production capacity: Ford was sitting on a huge facility built to crank out the Falcon six, and they weren’t about to throw that away. Engine facilities, especially the huge and expensive transfer lines that machine the blocks, are very long term investments. To expand Lima production and ditch the Falcon facilities would have been very expensive, at a time when Ford was still clawing its way back from near bankruptcy. The early 80s were lean years at Ford, and it was betting the now-smaller farm on the upcoming Taurus and its new Vulcan V6. Tempo had to make do with the leftovers from the Escort and Falcon.
Anyway, it’s not like the Lima 2.3 was a paragon of smooth running or performance either, back then. It too needed balance shafts and some serious attention to its breathing other than just turbo-ing it.
Tempus fugit, not Tempo fugit. It’s been 35 years since that experience in New Mexico, and I’m looking forward to visiting the same spots this coming winter in our van, which could run circles around that poor wheezy Tempo.
Note: A rerun of an older post.
The Tempo came with a bad battery and it was several years before that was fixed. I had a 2003 Ranger that came with the Firestone tires that were banned. Ford told me I could take it anywhere and get whatever tire I wanted. Can’t believe they didn’t change the tires before they sold a vehicle. Just another example that caused buyers to go foreign.
considering nothing was shared, its interesting how much the side profile, particularly the upper glasshouse resembles the ford sierra (seen in USA as the Mercur)
Agree. Was immediately my thought when these were new. In fact, the young me had thought the Tempo was the U.S. version of the Sierra kind of like the U.S. Escort had been advertised as a “world car”.
This one’s an ’85, just by the wheels.
JFC what a horrible car. Cheap, noisy, constipated and out of breath at idle. A leading candidate for Stupidest Thing I’ve Ever Done in a Moving Vehicle was flogging a rented Tempo across New England at 90 to make a flight out of Logan. In retrospect, I’m amazed it would go that fast. You don’t get many stupid moves you don’t pay for, that was one of mine.
As a poor college kid in 1990, I bought an ’84 Tempo identical to the two-tone blue one in the picture (sans bug shield) at a bank auction for $600. With the 3-speed auto and the 1-barrel carb, lethargic doesn’t begin to describe its performance. Put way more money into it than I should have to nurse it along for a few years but when it left me stranded one too many times, it got replaced with a brand new ’93 Mercury Tracer. I miss the Tracer, but not the Tempo.
The one with the 2.0-liter Mazda diesel engine was indestructible.
A friend of mine from college had one back in the early 90s. Slow, a bit noisy, but it never broke down.
My 2 Aunts, who lived in Detroit, needed a new car. I was good friends with the Ford dealer in South Haven, MI and arranged a good deal for them on a 1984 Ford Tempo L that had been used as a driver education car. I hated it — the 84 HP 2.3 L I-4 was way, way too underpowered. However, for a car that was used almost exclusively in Detroit, my Aunts liked it — nice size, new styling, etc. I also bought their trade in, a 1976 Plymouth Gran Fury with only 50,000 miles but lots of dings and rust. My son and my best friend applied lots of bondo, sanded it and painted it like the Blues Brothers Cop car. He drove it thru college before it died. The ’84 Tempo was ultimately passed on to a nephew who drove it until it finally died.
The Tempo is one of those cars that fascinates me. Not because I think there’s something great in it, but because I want to believe that in the right spec, if you caught a good week on the assembly line, you might have ended up with a solid car. Maybe one of the later ones with a V6 and 5-speed could even be some fun.
The crude engine means there’s little fun to be had revving it out, but at least it’s relatively big, so there’s not much need to. With the automatic that far too many came with, they definitely needed as much torque as possible. Everything about this car is utilitarian, and the styling pretty well matches the engine. Not everybody has the need to drive something special, and I feel like the Tempo had just enough to it to not offend the sort of person to whom their car is just another appliance.
I suspect the biggest problem with the Tempo is the iffy quality that’s been mentioned. I know Ford tried harder with the Taurus; maybe they learned something from the boom and bust on the Tempo, although the Taurus was only better, still not great. Still, I occasionally see one of these (or the Mercury variant) running around, so it seems to have been a reasonably robust design – if you got a good one or worked the kinks out. So maybe it did prove to be a solid car for some people. That said, I feel for the frugal die-hard Ford man who bought one of these for their last car when a couple years later they could have bought a Taurus and finished out on something revolutionary and all-new. It’s not a disaster, but a stretched-out Escort with a thrashy engine isn’t the makings of a car easy to be proud of either.
My aunt almost bought a “90”. Couldn’t for , for some reason, reconcile to the “auto on the floor” arrangement.
For her purposes , it would have worked out.
Wound up with a “91, Cutlass Ciera”.
Kept it till “2003”.
Had a friend who was a Ford diehard who seemed to buy every crappy car that ever Ford built. At one time his family fleet consisted of a ‘81 Tbird, a ‘85 Tempo and a ‘88 Probe. Later on he had a Windstar. With the exception of the Probe, all were quite troublesome. Of course he finally went Asian about 20 years ago and enjoys his Hyundai’s a lot more.
My first thought when looking at the Tempo was this thing looks like a melted jelly bean. Then I noticed how similar the roof line is to the Civic parked next to it. The Tempo must have been quite the shock to people used to the box shaped cars that came before.
Controversially styled cars eventually become mainstream.
The 1984 Mercury Topaz sedan looked much better as it did not have that hideous side window on the C-pillar, which cheapened the look of the car. If it was there for visibility purposes, then why didn’t the Mercury have it?
One of Ford’s stranger decisions about the Tempo and Topaz was redesigning the dashboard after only one year. The dashboard on ’84 models was hard-edged and vertical, while the ’85 dash (seen on this car) was more rounded.
Another way to tell the first two years apart is that ’84 4-door models have seatbelts anchored to the roof behind the B-pillar, while ’85s have seatbelts anchored directly to the B-pillar.
Yes, and I think the 84’s had carburetors and the 85’s were throttle-body FI.
It’s easy through 2025 eyes to look back on something built in the 1980’s critically. All the faults and shortcomings are well known. These were built to sell at a price point, and make a profit for Ford. A 1984 ad lists new 1984 Tempo’s for $7695, which is equivalent to $23808 today, so a pretty cheap car. Just a few years later, Ford was bailing out of small cars like the entry level Escort to focus on much higher profit trucks.
Sounds like I’m lucky I never had nor worked on one of these .
-Nate
I think the first rental car I ever rode in as a kid was a Ford Tempo. Even though it was a later model, this 11 year old could tell how bad that car sucked.
The carburetor cars were terrible runners. The fuel injected ones were at least tolerable.
I had an 88 2 dr. Before it was out of warranty it need a head gasket, throttle position sensor, and inner and outer tie rod ends, rust repairs at the quarter panel rocker arm seams.
Later it melted the wiring when the EGR sensor hose leaked and shorted out the sensor.
Used a HVAC control button and the controls fell into the dash.
One piece of junk.
I liked the look of the early 6 window Tempo, with the right trim it almost looked like a Sierra. I only drove some 93 or 94 ones and hated them because a bar in the seat frame hurt my shoulders. I’ve driven and owned lots of other Fords and never had comfort issues, but those Tempos were awful.
For those who just have to have one here is your chance. I haven’t seen one since the end of the 80s, and the Topaz is much rarer, but here is one on Facebook with supposedly 32,000 miles. From what I see it is quite likely right although maybe $500 too high. It is a dealer after all. Clean BAR history all the way from 1996-2025.
We had a 1984, 85, and an 88 Tempo in my family. They were all good. We liked them. They were appliances that did their job. What’s not to like?
A former coworker of mine, upon getting hired for the position, bought a brand new 1984 Tempo from the Ford dealer in town. He wanted to have reliable transportation. So for his first day on the job, the Tempo wouldn’t start. He had to call in and explain “yes I should have reliable transportation, it’s a brand new flippin car!” I think he said it ended up being a bad computer or something. He still had the job, and retired a year and a half ago after almost 40 years.
A older girl in high school had a red 4 door Tempo. When she went into 7-11, she came out to see it in flames.
A girl in my class had a gray 4 door Tempo. Took a corner too fast and went into the ravine. She didn’t get hurt too bad thankfully.
My buddy in my class had an 85 Topaz gray 4 door. We went all over the state with it, and road tripped from Michigan to South Carolina (summer with no AC) and Pennsylvania. Never a lick of trouble with it. Other than overheating the brakes because he thought I was full of BS when I told him to downshift in the mountains. But after a few years, driving on a hilly local road (same road the one girl ditched hers), something major blew in the engine. The local mechanic said something along the lines of “it had been compensating for a long time, and it couldn’t compensate anymore”. I wasn’t there at the time. He ended up buying an 87 Olds Calais, which was quite an upgrade.
Another coworker’s son had one of the AWD Tempos. I asked to see it sometime, because I’d never seen one of those in person. She said they “had the AWD removed”. Never did see it.
It’s like a less intelligent Sierra.
I agree the glasshouse and doors look like Sierra components/pressings.