#Mercury MERKUR XR4TI

[automotiveamerican]

The Same but Different, The Mercury Merkur v The Ford Sierra

[mrinstadotgram]

Flash Back Friday! In 1996 I took possession of my first ever import. A rehab project known as the 1986 Mercury Merkur XR4ti. Imported from Ford Europe this was the Americanized Ford Sierra XR4ti. Sierra sound familiar? It should. It's famously the detuned iteration of the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth rally car 😳. Truly ahead of it's time for America. Imagine this: a European rear wheel drive sports car with a 2.3L fuel injected 4cylinder turbocharged engine. All this in 1985. Formula sound familiar? It should. America is littered with turbocharged 4cylinders. This unique futuristic endeavor would be imported to the United States from 1985-1989. Then Ford Europe head Bob Lutz proposed the idea of bring the Sierra XR4ti to the U.S. under Lincoln-Mercury badge to compete with luxury brand BMW's 3 series and then SAAB's 900. Ford CEO at the time Pete Peterson approved. So begin the process of importing the German built coupe pronounced "mare-coor". In German "Merkur" means Mercury. Hilarious considered in America it was essentially called the Mercury Mercury...lol. Oh Ford! Instead of working to adapt the European Sierra's V-6 to American emissions Ford chose to either choose the Mustang SVO 2.3L turbo four with the intercooler removed (great idea right? Turbo with no intercooler?) or the Mustang GT's 5.0L V8. So because Ford engineers couldn't get the heavier V8 to work with the suspension the 2.3L turbo won out. In the end this gave the 3000 lbs coupe 175hp and 200 lb-ft of torque. 145hp w/ 3spd auto. With a MotorTrend tested 0-60 run of 8.3 secs, the Merkur outran both the European Sierra and the many V8's of the day. Ford had lofty goals of selling 20,000 units per year @ $16,361 ($43,998 in todays dollars). In the end the only moved 42,372 units over the 4yr run. Long live my first German-made American Euro 😂 #fastandfurious @tunerevo @ford @fordperformance @fordnewseurope #mercury #merkurxr4ti #mercurymerkurxr4ti @gli.only @vw #glisilverbullet #gli #vw #vwjetta #vwjettagli #vwjettamk7 #ea888 #volkswagen #volkswagenjetta #caranddriver #eurotuner #tunerevolution #carsandcoffee #thecarculture #motortrend #tunerevo #sportcompact #turbocharged #motortrend https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbz--oOrepA/?utm_medium=tumblr

[crazy4tank]

These Classic Fords Are Notoriously Underpriced | HotCars

New Post has been published on https://coolcarsnews.com/these-classic-fords-are-notoriously-underpriced-hotcars/

These Classic Fords Are Notoriously Underpriced | HotCars

There’s a certain distinction to using a classic car, period. Plus usually, one associates a classic vehicle with something expensive . Yet there are plenty of old geriatric wheels around that escape the attention of passionate collectors. This is why some of these vintage special gems end up on the classic car bazaar rather cheap .

And this can happen with any traditional car, including Kia classics. Right now, we’re not saying that you can get a T-bird or even a Mustang for peanuts, in case you look hard enough, the utilized market is filled with overlooked classics that are worth at least twice their own asking price.

Several traditional Ford cars also slip with the cracks, especially for some of their lesser-known or even respected model years. While an inexpensive classic may not bode well for any seller, it does make the world lighter for a buyer.

10 1985-89 Merkur XR4Ti: The particular Long-Forgotten Import

via Hagerty

The exactly what? If you haven’t heard of that Merkur (pronounced Mar-koor) XR4Ti, we don’t blame a person. This was Ford’s idea of getting the European stars, the Ford Sierra hatchback XR4i into the US, having a name that was basically German designed for Mercury. Ford played the name-change game well considering GMC Sierra’s existence.

via MOMENTcar

Only, to get this particular car certified for US sales, that they had to put it an additional 850 components , and no, we are not overstating the issue. Costs went up, passions went down and today, you can have one of these pertaining to as low as $2, 000-3, 000.

nine 1964-65 Ford Falcon Sprint: Trampled By The Mustang

via Mecum

The Ford Falcon was an awesome enough car, so much so that the Mustang, which debuted in 1964 mid-year, arrived riding on the Falcon’s underpinnings. To match up to the Mustang, Falcon was released with the Falcon Sprint at the same time, using a beefier suspension as well as the same OF V8 of the ‘Stang.

via ClassicDriver

Sadly, the particular Mustang trampled the Falcon along with nary a care and while the particular buyers flocked to get their muscle mass car, the Falcon was neglected and off the market by 1970. If you still are not convinced, it was the cool car of the first Mad Max movie.

8 1954 Ford Crestline Skyliner: An inexpensive Rarity

via Mecum

The Ford Crestline Skyliner was a single-year model, one which bore a glass-roofed hardtop, the top of the line trim for that year. As the Skyliner carried on, the trim relocated onto the Crown Victoria through 1955 onwards, leaving the Crestline to do other not-so-fancy stuff.

via Pinterest

It was popular for its year, several 13, 000 units being sold, much more than the Mercury Monterey Sun Area, yet another mouthful of a ‘50s vehicle. It came with a new V8 plus jetted 130 horses mated to some three-speed manual transmission. Today, it's simple to get one for $10, 000-15, 500, tops.

7 1970 Ford F-100 Ranger: For All Traditional Truck Fans

via GuideAuto

Long before the particular Ranger became a nameplate, it had been a trim on the Ford F-100 and came with a large OTT billet grille, a short bed, and a two-tone color job that made it look quite cool as a classic. And yet the particular 1970 model isn’t all that previous in tech too, especially for anyone that is a classic truck cognoscente.

via Autoblog

What’s even cooler is that you will get one in fairly good condition for less than $10, 000, making this quite the particular cool classic Ford buy. Plus honestly, nothing beats the benefit of the Ford F-100 in any case, particularly if it bears the Ranger title.

ASSOCIATED: 15 Coolest Images Of Altered Ford F-100s That Make Us 1

6 ‘70s Ford Ranchero: One Stylized Ute

via iCollector

Today’s vehicles are mainly crossovers, able to bridge gaps plus perform more than just one function, plus assuage the multiple needs of the buyers. It was, after all, a truck constructed on a station wagon, impersonating the muscle car under the hood. It might have met its end right at the end of the ‘70s but still has lots of takers.

via CarGurus

You can get some of these actually under $10, 000 but they will probably come well ridden or requiring some work. For mint situation models, $20, 000 is a cool amount to go up to, which in the traditional world is peanuts.

5 1964 Ford Thunderbird: The particular Oft-Ignored Model

via Pinterest

So the ‘60s Ford Thunderbird did not impress everything much. It was stylish and comfy, yes, and came with enough OF V8 power, to the tune of three hundred horses. While this was also a movie vehicle and featured in Goldfinger , this was the car from the Bond villain.

via Hagerty

The fourth era of the Ford Thunderbird was A-okay back then and some 100, 000 of such were made. Enough numbers in order to get one rather cheap today, approximately $10, 000-15, 000, a little higher if you prefer a convertible.

RELATED: Here's Why The Last Kia Thunderbird Was Ahead Of Its Period

4 1962 Ford Galaxie 500: Unnoticed But Not Overpowered

via GalaxieClub

Before the Kia Taurus SHO, there was the Galaxie 500 SHP, one that came with the 6. 6-liter V8 that jetted more than 400 horses. A larger rad, beefier suspension, and specialized consumption worked hand-in-hand to launch this particular biggie to 60 mph in a matter of six. 1 seconds.

via BringaTrailer

A quarter-mile was done in 14 seconds, creating this one of the most powerful cars of its occasions, and also one cool contender contrary to the Chevrolet Impala SS. But the Galaxie was not that well known a brand now, you can have one of these beauties for under 20 dollars, 000.

RELATED: 10 Things You Didn't Learn about The Ford Galaxie

3 1958-1959 Kia Fairlane: The Sidelined Beauty

via Pinterest

The ‘50s and even the ‘60s were mostly ruled by Chevy and even Chrysler for that matter, so the majority of classic car aficionados still turn to the Bel Air or the Imperial when it comes to the late ‘50s. The particular Ford Fairlane gets passed as well as although it did look sleeker compared to its contemporaries, it still experienced the ‘50s design flair.

via Pinterest

Somehow, these models can be got for cheaper than the others, but their performance is more than sufficient with 1959 models getting a 350-horsepower V8.

2 1966 Ford Country Squire: Fancy The Land Yacht?

via Mecum

The 1966 Ford Country Squire Wagon was your soccer mom vehicle of after that, and more of a road barge than the usual car. At the time, they really produced these big, enough to require some serious garage or entrance space for parking.

through Mecum

You will discover many pretty good examples of this place wagon for under $12, 500 and it manages to perform well for its V8 engine using a four-barrel carburetor and a three-speed automated transmission. A ‘60s model is going to be affordable, go earlier than that and the particular classics get a little pricey.

one 1983-1986 Ford Mustang 5. 0: Finally, The Stallion Too

via Pinterest

The 1983 Kia Mustang was a big one for the time, coming as a convertible design after a decade’s gap. Now whilst we call this model the four-eyed fox, it did have sufficient things to boast about, including a brand new transmission.

via Pinterest

Once the Mustang prettied up and came in special GRAND TOURING models and more, the prices went upward and remain on the high side for that classics as well. But if you elegant a classic Mustang, this is the one to obtain, especially because you can have it for under $10, 000…

Resources: CaradnDriver, BringaTrailer

NEXT: These Stunning Mercedes-Benz Cars Get No Love Within the Used Market

[trdizifilm]

Ford-BMW – 1985-1989 Merkur XR4Ti Für das Modelljahr 1985 Ford überrascht performance Auto-fans durch das Angebot eines BMW-Dal-performance-Auto für Verkauf mağara seiner Lincoln-Mercury-Händlernetz genannt der Merkur XR4Ti.

[eddiejpoplar]

Last Rides: The Last Cars Built by Now-Dead Car Brands

The end of the road. It comes for all of us, and it has come for many automobile brands. The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805–1942 lists 141 brands as having operated just in Connecticut, historically not exactly a hotbed of the automobile industry. Locomobile you may have heard of, but probably not Swan, which hailed from Middletown, or Clapp, the pride of New Haven. The early days of the auto industry were littered with failed brands, and more than a few have expired in more recent years, too. Some went out in a blaze of glory, others skulked off into history in ignominious defeat. Mostly it’s the latter, as we will see in this examination of the very final cars ever built by now-dead automobile brands.

Pontiac It’s a long, long way from the pavement-scorching GTO and the swaggering Grand Prixs and Bonnevilles of Pontiac’s 1960s heyday to the soulless appliance that was the G6, the final product of the division that once boasted “We Build Excitement.” Characteristically, the last G6 was a white sedan and it was part of a fleet order. It rolled off the line in April 2009. If you count foreign markets, however, the last Pontiac built was a G3 Wave—a subcompact never sold in the U.S. That model was made in Mexico until December 2009, although that isn’t really a happier ending.

Oldsmobile There was no Rocket V-8 engine in the last Oldsmobile made, nor was there a “Cutlass” nameplate anywhere on the body. The last car from a brand that once defined middle-class aspiration was an Alero, a far from aspirational and totally forgettable compact. GM didn’t want to forget it, though, so the Dark Cherry Metallic four-door went to the GM Heritage Collection. Thinking better of it later, GM sold off the car in December 2017, and it fetched an entirely un-Alerolike $42K.

Hummer The original, ex-military Hummer H1 is the model that captivated Arnold Schwarzenegger and many others, but that ultra-Hummer was long gone from the lineup when the brand was retired during the GM bankruptcy. The last Hummer built is believed to be a black H3T, the pickup version of the smaller, Chevy Colorado–based H3. Its trip down the assembly line was broadcast on the Today Show, in a segment that should have included Arnold Schwarzenegger, so he could have delivered his signature line as a hopeful message for the brand’s devotees: “I’ll be back.”

Mercury The final Mercury produced was a Grand Marquis in 2011—fitting, since that was the last new car for so many of the brand’s customers. Sadly, it was part of a fleet order. The final models of the Grand Marquis got an “Ultimate Edition” badge and were commemorated with special plaque.

Plymouth The Neon, a car that introduced itself with “Hi.” ended up being the last Plymouth to say “Bye.” The final Plymouth ever built was a silver 2001 Neon LX with a five-speed manual, and it sold to a Chrysler VP with a collection of vintage cars.

AMC It could be argued that AMC went out on a high note. Its all-wheel-drive Eagle coupes, sedans, hatchbacks, and wagons—adapted from the humble Concord and Spirit—are seen by many as pioneering crossover vehicles. The last-ever AMC was an ’88 Eagle wagon in dark blue with woodgrain, built on December 11, 1987. An AMC enthusiast, Alan Strang, seeking to buy the last Eagle built, states that he called the assembly plant, tracked to car to a dealer in Oklahoma City, and brought that Eagle home to California.

Saturn Tremendous fanfare greeted Saturn’s debut—GM chairman Roger Smith’s grand experiment that was supposed to change both the auto-buying experience as well as the worker/management relationship. But when the end came for the brand, GM brought the curtain down hard. After a proposal to hand off the Saturn brand to Roger Penske fell apart, GM shut down production the next day, October 1, 2009. There was no time for any Final Edition or Collectors’ Series models, and no wistful Hal Raney and Partners TV footage of the final Saturn rolling off the line. What that car was exactly, we do not know, but it’s possible that you’ve driven it. All 2010-model-year Saturns were sold to rental-car companies.

Saab Much like the brand itself, Saab’s demise was a little weird. A white 9-3 sedan is recognized as the last Saab ever built, and that car is enshrined in a museum in Sweden. Production of the 9-3 was later restarted, however, although those cars were EVs and badged as NEVS not Saab. Then there were the handful 9-3 convertibles that were unfinished when the line shut down but were completed later, two months after the factory closed. One of those 47 convertibles likely is the actual last Saab built. At least until some other auto-industry hopeful applies the paddles to Saab’s moribund corpse.

Eagle Eagle, the brand—as opposed to Eagle, the model—spent almost the entirety of its forgettable existence as a nameplate stuck onto someone else’s cars, eithers Renaults or Mitsubishis. The most successful of those rebadging attempts was the Talon sports coupe, a version of the Mitsubishi Eclipse that was available with all-wheel drive. It’s fitting, then, that the last Eagle built was a second-generation, 1998-model-year Talon.

Merkur Ford wanted in on the Yuppie-fueled import boom of the mid-1980s, so it imported two European Fords, giving them the vaguely German-sounding nameplate, Merkur. The Merkur XR4Ti, née Ford Sierra, was a sporty two-door hatchback. It was joined in 1988 by the larger four-door Scorpio, also a hatch. Neither was terribly effective at enticing suspenders-wearing strivers away from the Saabs, Bimmers, and Benzes of the day. The XR4Ti lasted through 1989, while the Scorpio limped into 1990.

Sterling A Rover-built variant of the Acura Legend, the Sterling sedans (and later hatchbacks) might have combined British luxury with Japanese reliability. They might have, but didn’t. Launched in 1987, Sterling almost immediately earned a reputation for poor quality, which torpedoed sales. 1991 was the final model year. The sedans were the 827S and 827SL; the hatchbacks were the 827Si and 827SLi. The British announced their departure in August of 1991, but they did so with a stiff upper lip, running a print ad that equated the Sterling with “some things America was not ready for,” such as King George and a punk rocker with a rainbow mohawk.

Scion “Hope I die before I get old” could have been the motto for Scion, Toyota’s obsessively youth-focused division that didn’t live to see its 20th birthday. The brand was born in 2003, and the last new model Scion introduced was the 2016 tC Release Series 10.0, unveiled at the 2016 New York auto show. It’s not known whether the tC ended being the last car built to wear a Scion badge, however. It could have been a Scion iA, iM, or an FR-S coupe. The tC died with Scion, however, while the other three morphed into Toyotas.

Geo Could import intenders be enticed into a Chevrolet dealership if the small cars they were shopping had a globe logo rather than a Chevrolet badge? That seemed to be the thinking behind Geo. The brand introduced itself in the 1980s with the tagline, “Get to know Geo,” but after 1997, the brand’s final model year, the thinking seemed to be, “Forget you know Geo.” The Metro, Prizm, and Tracker all became Chevrolets for 1998. The Metro lived on until 2000, the Prizm through 2002, the Tracker survived until 2004.

The post Last Rides: The Last Cars Built by Now-Dead Car Brands appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

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[jesusvasser]

Last Rides: The Last Cars Built by Now-Dead Car Brands

The end of the road. It comes for all of us, and it has come for many automobile brands. The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805–1942 lists 141 brands as having operated just in Connecticut, historically not exactly a hotbed of the automobile industry. Locomobile you may have heard of, but probably not Swan, which hailed from Middletown, or Clapp, the pride of New Haven. The early days of the auto industry were littered with failed brands, and more than a few have expired in more recent years, too. Some went out in a blaze of glory, others skulked off into history in ignominious defeat. Mostly it’s the latter, as we will see in this examination of the very final cars ever built by now-dead automobile brands.

Pontiac It’s a long, long way from the pavement-scorching GTO and the swaggering Grand Prixs and Bonnevilles of Pontiac’s 1960s heyday to the soulless appliance that was the G6, the final product of the division that once boasted “We Build Excitement.” Characteristically, the last G6 was a white sedan and it was part of a fleet order. It rolled off the line in April 2009. If you count foreign markets, however, the last Pontiac built was a G3 Wave—a subcompact never sold in the U.S. That model was made in Mexico until December 2009, although that isn’t really a happier ending.

Oldsmobile There was no Rocket V-8 engine in the last Oldsmobile made, nor was there a “Cutlass” nameplate anywhere on the body. The last car from a brand that once defined middle-class aspiration was an Alero, a far from aspirational and totally forgettable compact. GM didn’t want to forget it, though, so the Dark Cherry Metallic four-door went to the GM Heritage Collection. Thinking better of it later, GM sold off the car in December 2017, and it fetched an entirely un-Alerolike $42K.

Hummer The original, ex-military Hummer H1 is the model that captivated Arnold Schwarzenegger and many others, but that ultra-Hummer was long gone from the lineup when the brand was retired during the GM bankruptcy. The last Hummer built is believed to be a black H3T, the pickup version of the smaller, Chevy Colorado–based H3. Its trip down the assembly line was broadcast on the Today Show, in a segment that should have included Arnold Schwarzenegger, so he could have delivered his signature line as a hopeful message for the brand’s devotees: “I’ll be back.”

Mercury The final Mercury produced was a Grand Marquis in 2011—fitting, since that was the last new car for so many of the brand’s customers. Sadly, it was part of a fleet order. The final models of the Grand Marquis got an “Ultimate Edition” badge and were commemorated with special plaque.

Plymouth The Neon, a car that introduced itself with “Hi.” ended up being the last Plymouth to say “Bye.” The final Plymouth ever built was a silver 2001 Neon LX with a five-speed manual, and it sold to a Chrysler VP with a collection of vintage cars.

AMC It could be argued that AMC went out on a high note. Its all-wheel-drive Eagle coupes, sedans, hatchbacks, and wagons—adapted from the humble Concord and Spirit—are seen by many as pioneering crossover vehicles. The last-ever AMC was an ’88 Eagle wagon in dark blue with woodgrain, built on December 11, 1987. An AMC enthusiast, Alan Strang, seeking to buy the last Eagle built, states that he called the assembly plant, tracked to car to a dealer in Oklahoma City, and brought that Eagle home to California.

Saturn Tremendous fanfare greeted Saturn’s debut—GM chairman Roger Smith’s grand experiment that was supposed to change both the auto-buying experience as well as the worker/management relationship. But when the end came for the brand, GM brought the curtain down hard. After a proposal to hand off the Saturn brand to Roger Penske fell apart, GM shut down production the next day, October 1, 2009. There was no time for any Final Edition or Collectors’ Series models, and no wistful Hal Raney and Partners TV footage of the final Saturn rolling off the line. What that car was exactly, we do not know, but it’s possible that you’ve driven it. All 2010-model-year Saturns were sold to rental-car companies.

Saab Much like the brand itself, Saab’s demise was a little weird. A white 9-3 sedan is recognized as the last Saab ever built, and that car is enshrined in a museum in Sweden. Production of the 9-3 was later restarted, however, although those cars were EVs and badged as NEVS not Saab. Then there were the handful 9-3 convertibles that were unfinished when the line shut down but were completed later, two months after the factory closed. One of those 47 convertibles likely is the actual last Saab built. At least until some other auto-industry hopeful applies the paddles to Saab’s moribund corpse.

Eagle Eagle, the brand—as opposed to Eagle, the model—spent almost the entirety of its forgettable existence as a nameplate stuck onto someone else’s cars, eithers Renaults or Mitsubishis. The most successful of those rebadging attempts was the Talon sports coupe, a version of the Mitsubishi Eclipse that was available with all-wheel drive. It’s fitting, then, that the last Eagle built was a second-generation, 1998-model-year Talon.

Merkur Ford wanted in on the Yuppie-fueled import boom of the mid-1980s, so it imported two European Fords, giving them the vaguely German-sounding nameplate, Merkur. The Merkur XR4Ti, née Ford Sierra, was a sporty two-door hatchback. It was joined in 1988 by the larger four-door Scorpio, also a hatch. Neither was terribly effective at enticing suspenders-wearing strivers away from the Saabs, Bimmers, and Benzes of the day. The XR4Ti lasted through 1989, while the Scorpio limped into 1990.

Sterling A Rover-built variant of the Acura Legend, the Sterling sedans (and later hatchbacks) might have combined British luxury with Japanese reliability. They might have, but didn’t. Launched in 1987, Sterling almost immediately earned a reputation for poor quality, which torpedoed sales. 1991 was the final model year. The sedans were the 827S and 827SL; the hatchbacks were the 827Si and 827SLi. The British announced their departure in August of 1991, but they did so with a stiff upper lip, running a print ad that equated the Sterling with “some things America was not ready for,” such as King George and a punk rocker with a rainbow mohawk.

Scion “Hope I die before I get old” could have been the motto for Scion, Toyota’s obsessively youth-focused division that didn’t live to see its 20th birthday. The brand was born in 2003, and the last new model Scion introduced was the 2016 tC Release Series 10.0, unveiled at the 2016 New York auto show. It’s not known whether the tC ended being the last car built to wear a Scion badge, however. It could have been a Scion iA, iM, or an FR-S coupe. The tC died with Scion, however, while the other three morphed into Toyotas.

Geo Could import intenders be enticed into a Chevrolet dealership if the small cars they were shopping had a globe logo rather than a Chevrolet badge? That seemed to be the thinking behind Geo. The brand introduced itself in the 1980s with the tagline, “Get to know Geo,” but after 1997, the brand’s final model year, the thinking seemed to be, “Forget you know Geo.” The Metro, Prizm, and Tracker all became Chevrolets for 1998. The Metro lived on until 2000, the Prizm through 2002, the Tracker survived until 2004.

The post Last Rides: The Last Cars Built by Now-Dead Car Brands appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

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[jonathanbelloblog]

Last Rides: The Last Cars Built by Now-Dead Car Brands

The end of the road. It comes for all of us, and it has come for many automobile brands. The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805–1942 lists 141 brands as having operated just in Connecticut, historically not exactly a hotbed of the automobile industry. Locomobile you may have heard of, but probably not Swan, which hailed from Middletown, or Clapp, the pride of New Haven. The early days of the auto industry were littered with failed brands, and more than a few have expired in more recent years, too. Some went out in a blaze of glory, others skulked off into history in ignominious defeat. Mostly it’s the latter, as we will see in this examination of the very final cars ever built by now-dead automobile brands.

Pontiac It’s a long, long way from the pavement-scorching GTO and the swaggering Grand Prixs and Bonnevilles of Pontiac’s 1960s heyday to the soulless appliance that was the G6, the final product of the division that once boasted “We Build Excitement.” Characteristically, the last G6 was a white sedan and it was part of a fleet order. It rolled off the line in April 2009. If you count foreign markets, however, the last Pontiac built was a G3 Wave—a subcompact never sold in the U.S. That model was made in Mexico until December 2009, although that isn’t really a happier ending.

Oldsmobile There was no Rocket V-8 engine in the last Oldsmobile made, nor was there a “Cutlass” nameplate anywhere on the body. The last car from a brand that once defined middle-class aspiration was an Alero, a far from aspirational and totally forgettable compact. GM didn’t want to forget it, though, so the Dark Cherry Metallic four-door went to the GM Heritage Collection. Thinking better of it later, GM sold off the car in December 2017, and it fetched an entirely un-Alerolike $42K.

Hummer The original, ex-military Hummer H1 is the model that captivated Arnold Schwarzenegger and many others, but that ultra-Hummer was long gone from the lineup when the brand was retired during the GM bankruptcy. The last Hummer built is believed to be a black H3T, the pickup version of the smaller, Chevy Colorado–based H3. Its trip down the assembly line was broadcast on the Today Show, in a segment that should have included Arnold Schwarzenegger, so he could have delivered his signature line as a hopeful message for the brand’s devotees: “I’ll be back.”

Mercury The final Mercury produced was a Grand Marquis in 2011—fitting, since that was the last new car for so many of the brand’s customers. Sadly, it was part of a fleet order. The final models of the Grand Marquis got an “Ultimate Edition” badge and were commemorated with special plaque.

Plymouth The Neon, a car that introduced itself with “Hi.” ended up being the last Plymouth to say “Bye.” The final Plymouth ever built was a silver 2001 Neon LX with a five-speed manual, and it sold to a Chrysler VP with a collection of vintage cars.

AMC It could be argued that AMC went out on a high note. Its all-wheel-drive Eagle coupes, sedans, hatchbacks, and wagons—adapted from the humble Concord and Spirit—are seen by many as pioneering crossover vehicles. The last-ever AMC was an ’88 Eagle wagon in dark blue with woodgrain, built on December 11, 1987. An AMC enthusiast, Alan Strang, seeking to buy the last Eagle built, states that he called the assembly plant, tracked to car to a dealer in Oklahoma City, and brought that Eagle home to California.

Saturn Tremendous fanfare greeted Saturn’s debut—GM chairman Roger Smith’s grand experiment that was supposed to change both the auto-buying experience as well as the worker/management relationship. But when the end came for the brand, GM brought the curtain down hard. After a proposal to hand off the Saturn brand to Roger Penske fell apart, GM shut down production the next day, October 1, 2009. There was no time for any Final Edition or Collectors’ Series models, and no wistful Hal Raney and Partners TV footage of the final Saturn rolling off the line. What that car was exactly, we do not know, but it’s possible that you’ve driven it. All 2010-model-year Saturns were sold to rental-car companies.

Saab Much like the brand itself, Saab’s demise was a little weird. A white 9-3 sedan is recognized as the last Saab ever built, and that car is enshrined in a museum in Sweden. Production of the 9-3 was later restarted, however, although those cars were EVs and badged as NEVS not Saab. Then there were the handful 9-3 convertibles that were unfinished when the line shut down but were completed later, two months after the factory closed. One of those 47 convertibles likely is the actual last Saab built. At least until some other auto-industry hopeful applies the paddles to Saab’s moribund corpse.

Eagle Eagle, the brand—as opposed to Eagle, the model—spent almost the entirety of its forgettable existence as a nameplate stuck onto someone else’s cars, eithers Renaults or Mitsubishis. The most successful of those rebadging attempts was the Talon sports coupe, a version of the Mitsubishi Eclipse that was available with all-wheel drive. It’s fitting, then, that the last Eagle built was a second-generation, 1998-model-year Talon.

Merkur Ford wanted in on the Yuppie-fueled import boom of the mid-1980s, so it imported two European Fords, giving them the vaguely German-sounding nameplate, Merkur. The Merkur XR4Ti, née Ford Sierra, was a sporty two-door hatchback. It was joined in 1988 by the larger four-door Scorpio, also a hatch. Neither was terribly effective at enticing suspenders-wearing strivers away from the Saabs, Bimmers, and Benzes of the day. The XR4Ti lasted through 1989, while the Scorpio limped into 1990.

Sterling A Rover-built variant of the Acura Legend, the Sterling sedans (and later hatchbacks) might have combined British luxury with Japanese reliability. They might have, but didn’t. Launched in 1987, Sterling almost immediately earned a reputation for poor quality, which torpedoed sales. 1991 was the final model year. The sedans were the 827S and 827SL; the hatchbacks were the 827Si and 827SLi. The British announced their departure in August of 1991, but they did so with a stiff upper lip, running a print ad that equated the Sterling with “some things America was not ready for,” such as King George and a punk rocker with a rainbow mohawk.

Scion “Hope I die before I get old” could have been the motto for Scion, Toyota’s obsessively youth-focused division that didn’t live to see its 20th birthday. The brand was born in 2003, and the last new model Scion introduced was the 2016 tC Release Series 10.0, unveiled at the 2016 New York auto show. It’s not known whether the tC ended being the last car built to wear a Scion badge, however. It could have been a Scion iA, iM, or an FR-S coupe. The tC died with Scion, however, while the other three morphed into Toyotas.

Geo Could import intenders be enticed into a Chevrolet dealership if the small cars they were shopping had a globe logo rather than a Chevrolet badge? That seemed to be the thinking behind Geo. The brand introduced itself in the 1980s with the tagline, “Get to know Geo,” but after 1997, the brand’s final model year, the thinking seemed to be, “Forget you know Geo.” The Metro, Prizm, and Tracker all became Chevrolets for 1998. The Metro lived on until 2000, the Prizm through 2002, the Tracker survived until 2004.

The post Last Rides: The Last Cars Built by Now-Dead Car Brands appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

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[itsworn]

Trans-Am – The Stock Car Racing America Deserves

While Trans-Am has morphed into several forms, today’s spread of classes represents a spectrum of modern stock cars in every stretch of the phrase. We caught up with the Burton Racing team as they were campaigning in the penultimate race of the 2018 season at the Circuit of the Americas to take a deeper look at stock car recipe used by Trans-Am.

Burtin Racing grew out of owner Claudio’s love affair for the series after picking up the wheel of a Roush Mustang in 1993 for his first Trans-Am race at the Long Beach Grand Prix circuit. Burtin launched his racing efforts out of his father’s polyurethane shop in Compton, California. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Burton is the guy who started a little truck bed coating company known as Line-X, but his racing career started in 1982 after picking up a complete 1960 Austin-Healy Sprite for SCCA road racing. A Datsun 510 he had started building snowballed into a slow-moving project, so the little British bomb was ready-to run for the cost of the 510’s suspension and transmission parts, alone. The little 1,100cc Sprite worked well in his earlier years in SCCA schools and racing, but it was well beyond its mechanical limitations, needing a heavy rebuild and maintenance routine.

Burtin eventually sold everything and moved into Formula Fords with a Royale RP33 chassis, but he soon realized that, being built like the Jolly Green Giant, there wasn’t a practical future for him in a svelte Indy Lights series chassis. It was then that he picked up an ex-Roush Racing Trans-Am Mustang and began a 20-year career in touring car racing, picking up the 1998 SCCA South East GT championship before going on to race Vipers, Panozes, and Porsches in various series. Later, he converted his own Corvette-bodied, Riley & Scott Trans-Am TA chassis into the Camaros driven by Lawrence Loshack and Tommy Drissi.

Where Trans-Am has been: Golden Era Boom to Growing Pains Bust

The early history of Trans-Am is basically tattooed into every car-fiend’s skull: hard-knock racers like Parnelli Jones and Mark Donohue making bar fights look like civil discourse while mad scientists like Roger Penske and Bud Moore were picking every ounce of speed they could out of the rulebook. The SCCA launched the “Trans-American Sedan Championship” in 1966 as a manufacturers’ race. It featured a pair of classes that split the field at 2.0 liters of engine displacement, with the small-cube Alfas, Volkswagens, Lotuses, Minis, and BMWs sharing space with the comparatively large V8s of Ford, Chevrolet, AMC, Mopar and Pontiac. Even with the 305ci limit, there was a stark attraction to the visual and vocal violence displayed by the Over 2-liter Class– enough to the point that where it’s the only contingency most remember when looking at Trans-Am’s roots.

But who could blame them? The Big Three were pouring cash into the program and its homologation specials, with Trans-Am becoming as much of a “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” tool as NASCAR and the NHRA. The Camaro Z/28, Mustang Boss 302, AAR ‘Cuda, Challenger T/A, and AMC Javelins were clear indicators that the OEMs were hell-bent on knocking each other out on-track at any cost, which the drivers bore in their hunger for position. By 1970, it created a fervor in the Big Three’s skunkworks to develop lighter-weight chassis and higher-revving power plants necessary for road racing, and the 305ci cap in the series meant that horsepower had to come from RPM and not cubic inches, retooling how the Big Three approached their programs with engines that were three-fourths the displacement of the NASCAR and NHRA homologated examples that were rampant in the era.

As the story always goes, 1973 pushed motorsports and performance to the curb as fuel prices skyrocketed during OAPEC’s oil embargo, while The Man came down hard on the auto industry with restrictive emissions and fuel economy requirements. Horsepower was dead, and the domestic OEMs quickly pulled their coffers out of organized motorsport and into production R&D to meet these increased regulations. Despite this, Trans-Am begrudgingly pushed on with a shrunken calendar and consolidated classes; but like the muscle cars that the series was built for, it managed to survive the malaise era.

Things started to change by the late ‘80s for the series’ production car roots. Years prior, the SCCA finally allowed tube-chassis silhouette cars in order to reduce costs, because with dwindling factory support, the showroom cars were just too far gone to affordably prep. While the Chevrolet Camaro or Mercury Capri – at a glance – looked like something you could bolt-together yourself, they really only shared the silhouette of the original car’s styling. With these production formalities out of the way, Trans-Am saw a resurgence in car-count and momentum through the early eighties with rules aligned with IMSA and other international series, allowing more variety in the entries with machines built to other rulesets. With the aid of early computer simulation, wild fender flares and sky-scrapping wings became the norm as burgeoning turbocharger technology put the infamous, thundering V8s on notice.

Manufacturer interest, at least in the variety of badges seen in the grid, grew to include brands like Nissan, Buick, Oldsmobile, Merkur and Audi – of which the latter two dominated the later years of the decade. The turbo-fours of the Mercury-imported Merkur XR4Ti, campaigned by Roush, managed to knock down the entire field in 1987, only losing one race to Elliot Forbes-Robinson’s turbocharged Porsche 944 at Brainerd International Raceway. Audi even used the series as a conscious effort to display their (then novel) all-wheel-drive 200 Quattro, a car that was promptly banned after the 1988 season when SCCA determined that the drivetrain gave the turbocharged, five-cylinder terror a woefully massive advantage, with essentially only Roush’s aforementioned XR4Tis giving the rally-bred Germans a real run for their Marks.

1988: Hurley Haywood wins the TransAm Championship with the Audi 200 quattro

The ‘90s would be marked by technological stagnation, in short. International manufacturers had pulled out, often for more lucrative FIA and IMSA racing, after four-valve heads were banned at the start of the decade. The series had consolidated to three basic bodies with the contemporary Chevy Camaro, Ford Mustang, and Dodge Daytona (then based on the K-car chassis). Engines were a spec 310ci combo, but with the odd displacement, costs continued rise as every bit of the long block was unique to the series’ rulebook. The tube chassis from the eighties had plateaued in development during this period while sharing similarities with SCCA’s GT1 ruleset, which helped to keep the costs reasonable.

The decade would close with SCCA re-opening the series to four-valve heads, in a bid to pull Jaguar into the mix, while also allowing the NASCAR Cup Car-spec 358s (which had been retired)) to be used in lieu of the aging 310 combinations — but little would change for the series until its eventual short-term demise after the 2006 season, in which only two races were held. At the time, it was considered the end of Trans-Am – a dark way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of America’s lovable and still exciting, but withering, road racing series.

Interestingly, 1978 Trans-Am Category II champion, Greg Pickett, helped relaunch the series with what it needed most at the time: sponsorship investment. Pickett had founded Muscle Milk, a protein supplement, and picked up the title sponsorship for Trans-Am in order to help relaunch the series for 2009. Another prolific Trans-Am racer (and current team owner), Jim Derhaag, was instrumental in pulling the series back together based on SCCA’s GT1 club rules.

Initially, the series was a single class, but 2011 marked the introduction of the structure seen today with the additions of TA2 and TA3. The SCCA eventually sold series rights over to the newly-formed Trans-Am Race Company, which began to experiment with the lower production classes. TA and TA2 would remain fairly consistent in this era, still utilizing tube chassis and differing mostly in their motor programs (TA2 allowed for EFI and production-based blocks), while Trans-Am toyed with a myriad of formats for the production-based TA3 category – the true successor to the series’ sedan racing roots.

The Recipe as We Know it Today

Unlike NASCAR, which moved away from production-like bodies, resulting in the stickered-up soap bars seen in the 2000s, Trans-Am’s headliner classes stick close to the production cars with four classes: TA, TA2, TA3, and TA4. While TA3 and TA4 are strictly based on production chassis (and for all intents and purposes, are basically the same classes with delineations made for quicker FIA GT3 in TA3), TA and TA2 retain their tube chassis roots, but with bodies that heavily mimic their production inspirations. If you took your average Camaro, split it at the belt-line, and widened it by a whole foot, you get the basic dimensions of a current TA car. They’re the natural spin-offs of the series’ evolution thus far, and still loosely based on the SCCA GT-1 chassis rules.

The Challenger, Corvette, Camaro, and Mustang are currently legal in the headliner TA class. While they are radical, wide-body interpretations of the street cars, stock locations must be used for air-inlets and tail lights, and the green houses are kept remarkably faithful.

For TA and TA2 up front, a tubular dual-wishbone suspension hangs a set of six-piston calipers with iron rotors that are a tick over a foot in diameter. Center-lock wheels are the standard in TA (TA2 uses traditional studs and lugs nuts for cost-control), and measure up to 12-inches-wide up front, and 13 inches in the rear on a 16-inch diameter wheel – though there’s talk about upping the diameter in future seasons to improve tire wear, which would even allow for larger brakes. In back, teams are allowed to use three- or four-link (with a Watt’s link) setup, with their choice of quick-change or fabricated 9-inch. What’s progressed over the years is weight and suspension geometry, with the move to longer arms that allowed for better control of the suspension through its travel while raising the roll-center closer to the center of gravity. For the production TA3 and TA4 classes, the usual GT-racing rules apply where performance upgrades, like coil-overs, brakes, and suspension links can be updated, but must essentially maintain stock pick-up points.

Up close, you can see the data logging harness for the brakes’ thermal probe. The rope is there to catch the suspension in case of an accident that rips the control arms from the frame – a standard practice that you rarely notice on a race car.

The carbon-kevlar bodies used in TA are spec-built by suppliers, including Advanced Composites, Derhaag Motorsports, and Katech. TA2 also uses spec-built bodies, but keeps near-stock dimensions overall (especially the C7 Corvette). Both classes are aero-balanced by Trans-Am to ensure that there’s a similar level of drag and downforce, but there’s still strengths to each. Burtin, having campaigned both the C7 and the Sixth-generation Camaro bodies, noted that the C7s tended to lack downforce – an advantage at high-speed tracks like Daytona, but less ideal for more technical tracks, like Mid-Ohio. These differences sound minute, but each body having its own strengths and weaknesses is what creates exciting passing on-track as the various makes are better suited for different sections of a course. What Trans-Am gets right here is that the cars are tied closely with the dimensions and aesthetics of their showroom counterparts, especially in TA2, despite their brutal bones underneath.

The drivelines in TA are based around ex-NASCAR 358ci combinations (though the rules cap displacement at 366ci), as the current Cup Cars are on a later-generation long-block, which made the 358s affordable powerhouses. Ford’s D3, Dodge’s R5 and Chevrolet’s SB2 are familiar sights in the headliner TA class, but TA2 uses production-based blocks, like the LS3, Gen III Hemi, and Windsor – the Coyote’s 4-valve head currently keeps it out of the upper classes of the series. Transmissions are either four or five-speeds, H-pattern or sequential, with different weight breaks for the quicker sequentials, like Burtin Racing’s Xtrac-built units.

The result is a relatively simple and effective road racing missile, with lap times competitive with FIA GT-LM cars seen in Le Mans racing, despite the lack of their advanced ABS, traction control, and more advanced engine controls. What Trans-Am gets right in stock car racing is their accessibility.  – not just to racers and teams, but with the fans and spectators, too. The cars cost nearly a tenth of those aforementioned GT-LM machines, in a conscious effort at cost control to focus on bringing up newer talent. Tickets are affordable, and with the current relationship with SVRA, vintage Trans-Am racing can be found on the same weekend as the current machines. Keeping the headliner classes tied tighter with their production variants, despite the tubular under-pinnings, goes a long way in maintaining the “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” attitude of Trans-Am – and the TA3 and TA4 classes maintain the direct lineage to the days of yore.

The post Trans-Am – The Stock Car Racing America Deserves appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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[crazy4tank]

These Classic Fords Are Notoriously Underpriced | HotCars

New Post has been published on https://coolcarsnews.com/these-classic-fords-are-notoriously-underpriced-hotcars/

These Classic Fords Are Notoriously Underpriced | HotCars

There’s a certain distinction to using a classic car, period. Plus usually, one associates a classic vehicle with something expensive . Yet there are plenty of old geriatric wheels around that escape the attention of passionate collectors. This is why some of these vintage special gems end up on the classic car bazaar rather cheap .

And this can happen with any traditional car, including Kia classics. Right now, we’re not saying that you can get a T-bird or even a Mustang for peanuts, in case you look hard enough, the utilized market is filled with overlooked classics that are worth at least twice their own asking price.

Several traditional Ford cars also slip with the cracks, especially for some of their lesser-known or even respected model years. While an inexpensive classic may not bode well for any seller, it does make the world lighter for a buyer.

10 1985-89 Merkur XR4Ti: The particular Long-Forgotten Import

via Hagerty

The exactly what? If you haven’t heard of that Merkur (pronounced Mar-koor) XR4Ti, we don’t blame a person. This was Ford’s idea of getting the European stars, the Ford Sierra hatchback XR4i into the US, having a name that was basically German designed for Mercury. Ford played the name-change game well considering GMC Sierra’s existence.

via MOMENTcar

Only, to get this particular car certified for US sales, that they had to put it an additional 850 components , and no, we are not overstating the issue. Costs went up, passions went down and today, you can have one of these pertaining to as low as $2, 000-3, 000.

nine 1964-65 Ford Falcon Sprint: Trampled By The Mustang

via Mecum

The Ford Falcon was an awesome enough car, so much so that the Mustang, which debuted in 1964 mid-year, arrived riding on the Falcon’s underpinnings. To match up to the Mustang, Falcon was released with the Falcon Sprint at the same time, using a beefier suspension as well as the same OF V8 of the ‘Stang.

via ClassicDriver

Sadly, the particular Mustang trampled the Falcon along with nary a care and while the particular buyers flocked to get their muscle mass car, the Falcon was neglected and off the market by 1970. If you still are not convinced, it was the cool car of the first Mad Max movie.

8 1954 Ford Crestline Skyliner: An inexpensive Rarity

via Mecum

The Ford Crestline Skyliner was a single-year model, one which bore a glass-roofed hardtop, the top of the line trim for that year. As the Skyliner carried on, the trim relocated onto the Crown Victoria through 1955 onwards, leaving the Crestline to do other not-so-fancy stuff.

via Pinterest

It was popular for its year, several 13, 000 units being sold, much more than the Mercury Monterey Sun Area, yet another mouthful of a ‘50s vehicle. It came with a new V8 plus jetted 130 horses mated to some three-speed manual transmission. Today, it's simple to get one for $10, 000-15, 500, tops.

7 1970 Ford F-100 Ranger: For All Traditional Truck Fans

via GuideAuto

Long before the particular Ranger became a nameplate, it had been a trim on the Ford F-100 and came with a large OTT billet grille, a short bed, and a two-tone color job that made it look quite cool as a classic. And yet the particular 1970 model isn’t all that previous in tech too, especially for anyone that is a classic truck cognoscente.

via Autoblog

What’s even cooler is that you will get one in fairly good condition for less than $10, 000, making this quite the particular cool classic Ford buy. Plus honestly, nothing beats the benefit of the Ford F-100 in any case, particularly if it bears the Ranger title.

ASSOCIATED: 15 Coolest Images Of Altered Ford F-100s That Make Us 1

6 ‘70s Ford Ranchero: One Stylized Ute

via iCollector

Today’s vehicles are mainly crossovers, able to bridge gaps plus perform more than just one function, plus assuage the multiple needs of the buyers. It was, after all, a truck constructed on a station wagon, impersonating the muscle car under the hood. It might have met its end right at the end of the ‘70s but still has lots of takers.

via CarGurus

You can get some of these actually under $10, 000 but they will probably come well ridden or requiring some work. For mint situation models, $20, 000 is a cool amount to go up to, which in the traditional world is peanuts.

5 1964 Ford Thunderbird: The particular Oft-Ignored Model

via Pinterest

So the ‘60s Ford Thunderbird did not impress everything much. It was stylish and comfy, yes, and came with enough OF V8 power, to the tune of three hundred horses. While this was also a movie vehicle and featured in Goldfinger , this was the car from the Bond villain.

via Hagerty

The fourth era of the Ford Thunderbird was A-okay back then and some 100, 000 of such were made. Enough numbers in order to get one rather cheap today, approximately $10, 000-15, 000, a little higher if you prefer a convertible.

RELATED: Here's Why The Last Kia Thunderbird Was Ahead Of Its Period

4 1962 Ford Galaxie 500: Unnoticed But Not Overpowered

via GalaxieClub

Before the Kia Taurus SHO, there was the Galaxie 500 SHP, one that came with the 6. 6-liter V8 that jetted more than 400 horses. A larger rad, beefier suspension, and specialized consumption worked hand-in-hand to launch this particular biggie to 60 mph in a matter of six. 1 seconds.

via BringaTrailer

A quarter-mile was done in 14 seconds, creating this one of the most powerful cars of its occasions, and also one cool contender contrary to the Chevrolet Impala SS. But the Galaxie was not that well known a brand now, you can have one of these beauties for under 20 dollars, 000.

RELATED: 10 Things You Didn't Learn about The Ford Galaxie

3 1958-1959 Kia Fairlane: The Sidelined Beauty

via Pinterest

The ‘50s and even the ‘60s were mostly ruled by Chevy and even Chrysler for that matter, so the majority of classic car aficionados still turn to the Bel Air or the Imperial when it comes to the late ‘50s. The particular Ford Fairlane gets passed as well as although it did look sleeker compared to its contemporaries, it still experienced the ‘50s design flair.

via Pinterest

Somehow, these models can be got for cheaper than the others, but their performance is more than sufficient with 1959 models getting a 350-horsepower V8.

2 1966 Ford Country Squire: Fancy The Land Yacht?

via Mecum

The 1966 Ford Country Squire Wagon was your soccer mom vehicle of after that, and more of a road barge than the usual car. At the time, they really produced these big, enough to require some serious garage or entrance space for parking.

through Mecum

You will discover many pretty good examples of this place wagon for under $12, 500 and it manages to perform well for its V8 engine using a four-barrel carburetor and a three-speed automated transmission. A ‘60s model is going to be affordable, go earlier than that and the particular classics get a little pricey.

one 1983-1986 Ford Mustang 5. 0: Finally, The Stallion Too

via Pinterest

The 1983 Kia Mustang was a big one for the time, coming as a convertible design after a decade’s gap. Now whilst we call this model the four-eyed fox, it did have sufficient things to boast about, including a brand new transmission.

via Pinterest

Once the Mustang prettied up and came in special GRAND TOURING models and more, the prices went upward and remain on the high side for that classics as well. But if you elegant a classic Mustang, this is the one to obtain, especially because you can have it for under $10, 000…

Resources: CaradnDriver, BringaTrailer

NEXT: These Stunning Mercedes-Benz Cars Get No Love Within the Used Market

[robertvasquez763]

The Missing Lynx: 1983 Mercury Econocar Wins C/D’s Major Award in Ann Arbor

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More than 300 cars turned out for the annual Rolling Sculpture car show, a summer fixture in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan—and we couldn’t let such a thing happen right under our noses without diving in headfirst. As the event’s name suggests, it celebrates the pretty and the artful. So why did we choose to give our Editor’s Choice award to a 34-year-old economy car? Because, heck, they just don’t make ’em like this anymore.

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“Marilyn Hill’s 1983 Mercury Lynx may not be the sort of thing most enthusiasts think of when they say ‘collector car,’ ” explained Car and Driver features editor Jeff Sabatini, “but it was clear from the moment she started talking about her prize possession that she loves that car as much as any of the guys with Corvettes or Mustangs.”

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It’s also a time capsule, complete with period car phone. This well-preserved example is even an orphan car, the mildly flashier Mercury-badged version of the Ford Escort, a two-door hatchback that many regarded as throwaway cars at the time. And many still do. But look at it! You can’t buy a new Mercury for love or money, but here’s one that’s as good as new just driving around in traffic. Hill told us she inherited the car and used it as a daily driver only briefly before deciding it was better to preserve it than to use it up.

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“We’re a new-car magazine, website, and buyer’s guide,” said Sabatini, “and there was no vintage vehicle parked in downtown Ann Arbor Friday night that looked more like it had just rolled out of the showroom.”

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Jeff Sabatini presents our major award to Marilyn Hill, owner of this 1983 Mercury Lynx.

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Retro News: Ford Announces End of Mercury Brand in 2010

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Name That Shifter: No. 131

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Archived Specialty File Test: 1985 Rapido Merkur XR4Ti

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“We were also attracted to the Lynx because it fit in with Car and Driver’s long-running Save the Manuals campaign,” said Sabatini. “It even has a ‘5-Speed’ badge on its decklid.”

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These Classic Fords Are Notoriously Underpriced | HotCars

New Post has been published on https://coolcarsnews.com/these-classic-fords-are-notoriously-underpriced-hotcars/

These Classic Fords Are Notoriously Underpriced | HotCars

There’s a certain distinction to using a classic car, period. Plus usually, one associates a classic vehicle with something expensive . Yet there are plenty of old geriatric wheels around that escape the attention of passionate collectors. This is why some of these vintage special gems end up on the classic car bazaar rather cheap .

And this can happen with any traditional car, including Kia classics. Right now, we’re not saying that you can get a T-bird or even a Mustang for peanuts, in case you look hard enough, the utilized market is filled with overlooked classics that are worth at least twice their own asking price.

Several traditional Ford cars also slip with the cracks, especially for some of their lesser-known or even respected model years. While an inexpensive classic may not bode well for any seller, it does make the world lighter for a buyer.

10 1985-89 Merkur XR4Ti: The particular Long-Forgotten Import

via Hagerty

The exactly what? If you haven’t heard of that Merkur (pronounced Mar-koor) XR4Ti, we don’t blame a person. This was Ford’s idea of getting the European stars, the Ford Sierra hatchback XR4i into the US, having a name that was basically German designed for Mercury. Ford played the name-change game well considering GMC Sierra’s existence.

via MOMENTcar

Only, to get this particular car certified for US sales, that they had to put it an additional 850 components , and no, we are not overstating the issue. Costs went up, passions went down and today, you can have one of these pertaining to as low as $2, 000-3, 000.

nine 1964-65 Ford Falcon Sprint: Trampled By The Mustang

via Mecum

The Ford Falcon was an awesome enough car, so much so that the Mustang, which debuted in 1964 mid-year, arrived riding on the Falcon’s underpinnings. To match up to the Mustang, Falcon was released with the Falcon Sprint at the same time, using a beefier suspension as well as the same OF V8 of the ‘Stang.

via ClassicDriver

Sadly, the particular Mustang trampled the Falcon along with nary a care and while the particular buyers flocked to get their muscle mass car, the Falcon was neglected and off the market by 1970. If you still are not convinced, it was the cool car of the first Mad Max movie.

8 1954 Ford Crestline Skyliner: An inexpensive Rarity

via Mecum

The Ford Crestline Skyliner was a single-year model, one which bore a glass-roofed hardtop, the top of the line trim for that year. As the Skyliner carried on, the trim relocated onto the Crown Victoria through 1955 onwards, leaving the Crestline to do other not-so-fancy stuff.

via Pinterest

It was popular for its year, several 13, 000 units being sold, much more than the Mercury Monterey Sun Area, yet another mouthful of a ‘50s vehicle. It came with a new V8 plus jetted 130 horses mated to some three-speed manual transmission. Today, it's simple to get one for $10, 000-15, 500, tops.

7 1970 Ford F-100 Ranger: For All Traditional Truck Fans

via GuideAuto

Long before the particular Ranger became a nameplate, it had been a trim on the Ford F-100 and came with a large OTT billet grille, a short bed, and a two-tone color job that made it look quite cool as a classic. And yet the particular 1970 model isn’t all that previous in tech too, especially for anyone that is a classic truck cognoscente.

via Autoblog

What’s even cooler is that you will get one in fairly good condition for less than $10, 000, making this quite the particular cool classic Ford buy. Plus honestly, nothing beats the benefit of the Ford F-100 in any case, particularly if it bears the Ranger title.

ASSOCIATED: 15 Coolest Images Of Altered Ford F-100s That Make Us 1

6 ‘70s Ford Ranchero: One Stylized Ute

via iCollector

Today’s vehicles are mainly crossovers, able to bridge gaps plus perform more than just one function, plus assuage the multiple needs of the buyers. It was, after all, a truck constructed on a station wagon, impersonating the muscle car under the hood. It might have met its end right at the end of the ‘70s but still has lots of takers.

via CarGurus

You can get some of these actually under $10, 000 but they will probably come well ridden or requiring some work. For mint situation models, $20, 000 is a cool amount to go up to, which in the traditional world is peanuts.

5 1964 Ford Thunderbird: The particular Oft-Ignored Model

via Pinterest

So the ‘60s Ford Thunderbird did not impress everything much. It was stylish and comfy, yes, and came with enough OF V8 power, to the tune of three hundred horses. While this was also a movie vehicle and featured in Goldfinger , this was the car from the Bond villain.

via Hagerty

The fourth era of the Ford Thunderbird was A-okay back then and some 100, 000 of such were made. Enough numbers in order to get one rather cheap today, approximately $10, 000-15, 000, a little higher if you prefer a convertible.

RELATED: Here's Why The Last Kia Thunderbird Was Ahead Of Its Period

4 1962 Ford Galaxie 500: Unnoticed But Not Overpowered

via GalaxieClub

Before the Kia Taurus SHO, there was the Galaxie 500 SHP, one that came with the 6. 6-liter V8 that jetted more than 400 horses. A larger rad, beefier suspension, and specialized consumption worked hand-in-hand to launch this particular biggie to 60 mph in a matter of six. 1 seconds.

via BringaTrailer

A quarter-mile was done in 14 seconds, creating this one of the most powerful cars of its occasions, and also one cool contender contrary to the Chevrolet Impala SS. But the Galaxie was not that well known a brand now, you can have one of these beauties for under 20 dollars, 000.

RELATED: 10 Things You Didn't Learn about The Ford Galaxie

3 1958-1959 Kia Fairlane: The Sidelined Beauty

via Pinterest

The ‘50s and even the ‘60s were mostly ruled by Chevy and even Chrysler for that matter, so the majority of classic car aficionados still turn to the Bel Air or the Imperial when it comes to the late ‘50s. The particular Ford Fairlane gets passed as well as although it did look sleeker compared to its contemporaries, it still experienced the ‘50s design flair.

via Pinterest

Somehow, these models can be got for cheaper than the others, but their performance is more than sufficient with 1959 models getting a 350-horsepower V8.

2 1966 Ford Country Squire: Fancy The Land Yacht?

via Mecum

The 1966 Ford Country Squire Wagon was your soccer mom vehicle of after that, and more of a road barge than the usual car. At the time, they really produced these big, enough to require some serious garage or entrance space for parking.

through Mecum

You will discover many pretty good examples of this place wagon for under $12, 500 and it manages to perform well for its V8 engine using a four-barrel carburetor and a three-speed automated transmission. A ‘60s model is going to be affordable, go earlier than that and the particular classics get a little pricey.

one 1983-1986 Ford Mustang 5. 0: Finally, The Stallion Too

via Pinterest

The 1983 Kia Mustang was a big one for the time, coming as a convertible design after a decade’s gap. Now whilst we call this model the four-eyed fox, it did have sufficient things to boast about, including a brand new transmission.

via Pinterest

Once the Mustang prettied up and came in special GRAND TOURING models and more, the prices went upward and remain on the high side for that classics as well. But if you elegant a classic Mustang, this is the one to obtain, especially because you can have it for under $10, 000…

Resources: CaradnDriver, BringaTrailer

NEXT: These Stunning Mercedes-Benz Cars Get No Love Within the Used Market

[crazy4tank]

These Classic Fords Are Notoriously Underpriced | HotCars

New Post has been published on https://coolcarsnews.com/2021/01/04/these-classic-fords-are-notoriously-underpriced-hotcars/

These Classic Fords Are Notoriously Underpriced | HotCars

There’s a certain distinction to using a classic car, period. Plus usually, one associates a classic vehicle with something expensive . Yet there are plenty of old geriatric wheels around that escape the attention of passionate collectors. This is why some of these vintage special gems end up on the classic car bazaar rather cheap .

And this can happen with any traditional car, including Kia classics. Right now, we’re not saying that you can get a T-bird or even a Mustang for peanuts, in case you look hard enough, the utilized market is filled with overlooked classics that are worth at least twice their own asking price.

Several traditional Ford cars also slip with the cracks, especially for some of their lesser-known or even respected model years. While an inexpensive classic may not bode well for any seller, it does make the world lighter for a buyer.

10 1985-89 Merkur XR4Ti: The particular Long-Forgotten Import

via Hagerty

The exactly what? If you haven’t heard of that Merkur (pronounced Mar-koor) XR4Ti, we don’t blame a person. This was Ford’s idea of getting the European stars, the Ford Sierra hatchback XR4i into the US, having a name that was basically German designed for Mercury. Ford played the name-change game well considering GMC Sierra’s existence.

via MOMENTcar

Only, to get this particular car certified for US sales, that they had to put it an additional 850 components , and no, we are not overstating the issue. Costs went up, passions went down and today, you can have one of these pertaining to as low as $2, 000-3, 000.

nine 1964-65 Ford Falcon Sprint: Trampled By The Mustang

via Mecum

The Ford Falcon was an awesome enough car, so much so that the Mustang, which debuted in 1964 mid-year, arrived riding on the Falcon’s underpinnings. To match up to the Mustang, Falcon was released with the Falcon Sprint at the same time, using a beefier suspension as well as the same OF V8 of the ‘Stang.

via ClassicDriver

Sadly, the particular Mustang trampled the Falcon along with nary a care and while the particular buyers flocked to get their muscle mass car, the Falcon was neglected and off the market by 1970. If you still are not convinced, it was the cool car of the first Mad Max movie.

8 1954 Ford Crestline Skyliner: An inexpensive Rarity

via Mecum

The Ford Crestline Skyliner was a single-year model, one which bore a glass-roofed hardtop, the top of the line trim for that year. As the Skyliner carried on, the trim relocated onto the Crown Victoria through 1955 onwards, leaving the Crestline to do other not-so-fancy stuff.

via Pinterest

It was popular for its year, several 13, 000 units being sold, much more than the Mercury Monterey Sun Area, yet another mouthful of a ‘50s vehicle. It came with a new V8 plus jetted 130 horses mated to some three-speed manual transmission. Today, it's simple to get one for $10, 000-15, 500, tops.

7 1970 Ford F-100 Ranger: For All Traditional Truck Fans

via GuideAuto

Long before the particular Ranger became a nameplate, it had been a trim on the Ford F-100 and came with a large OTT billet grille, a short bed, and a two-tone color job that made it look quite cool as a classic. And yet the particular 1970 model isn’t all that previous in tech too, especially for anyone that is a classic truck cognoscente.

via Autoblog

What’s even cooler is that you will get one in fairly good condition for less than $10, 000, making this quite the particular cool classic Ford buy. Plus honestly, nothing beats the benefit of the Ford F-100 in any case, particularly if it bears the Ranger title.

ASSOCIATED: 15 Coolest Images Of Altered Ford F-100s That Make Us 1

6 ‘70s Ford Ranchero: One Stylized Ute

via iCollector

Today’s vehicles are mainly crossovers, able to bridge gaps plus perform more than just one function, plus assuage the multiple needs of the buyers. It was, after all, a truck constructed on a station wagon, impersonating the muscle car under the hood. It might have met its end right at the end of the ‘70s but still has lots of takers.

via CarGurus

You can get some of these actually under $10, 000 but they will probably come well ridden or requiring some work. For mint situation models, $20, 000 is a cool amount to go up to, which in the traditional world is peanuts.

5 1964 Ford Thunderbird: The particular Oft-Ignored Model

via Pinterest

So the ‘60s Ford Thunderbird did not impress everything much. It was stylish and comfy, yes, and came with enough OF V8 power, to the tune of three hundred horses. While this was also a movie vehicle and featured in Goldfinger , this was the car from the Bond villain.

via Hagerty

The fourth era of the Ford Thunderbird was A-okay back then and some 100, 000 of such were made. Enough numbers in order to get one rather cheap today, approximately $10, 000-15, 000, a little higher if you prefer a convertible.

RELATED: Here's Why The Last Kia Thunderbird Was Ahead Of Its Period

4 1962 Ford Galaxie 500: Unnoticed But Not Overpowered

via GalaxieClub

Before the Kia Taurus SHO, there was the Galaxie 500 SHP, one that came with the 6. 6-liter V8 that jetted more than 400 horses. A larger rad, beefier suspension, and specialized consumption worked hand-in-hand to launch this particular biggie to 60 mph in a matter of six. 1 seconds.

via BringaTrailer

A quarter-mile was done in 14 seconds, creating this one of the most powerful cars of its occasions, and also one cool contender contrary to the Chevrolet Impala SS. But the Galaxie was not that well known a brand now, you can have one of these beauties for under 20 dollars, 000.

RELATED: 10 Things You Didn't Learn about The Ford Galaxie

3 1958-1959 Kia Fairlane: The Sidelined Beauty

via Pinterest

The ‘50s and even the ‘60s were mostly ruled by Chevy and even Chrysler for that matter, so the majority of classic car aficionados still turn to the Bel Air or the Imperial when it comes to the late ‘50s. The particular Ford Fairlane gets passed as well as although it did look sleeker compared to its contemporaries, it still experienced the ‘50s design flair.

via Pinterest

Somehow, these models can be got for cheaper than the others, but their performance is more than sufficient with 1959 models getting a 350-horsepower V8.

2 1966 Ford Country Squire: Fancy The Land Yacht?

via Mecum

The 1966 Ford Country Squire Wagon was your soccer mom vehicle of after that, and more of a road barge than the usual car. At the time, they really produced these big, enough to require some serious garage or entrance space for parking.

through Mecum

You will discover many pretty good examples of this place wagon for under $12, 500 and it manages to perform well for its V8 engine using a four-barrel carburetor and a three-speed automated transmission. A ‘60s model is going to be affordable, go earlier than that and the particular classics get a little pricey.

one 1983-1986 Ford Mustang 5. 0: Finally, The Stallion Too

via Pinterest

The 1983 Kia Mustang was a big one for the time, coming as a convertible design after a decade’s gap. Now whilst we call this model the four-eyed fox, it did have sufficient things to boast about, including a brand new transmission.

via Pinterest

Once the Mustang prettied up and came in special GRAND TOURING models and more, the prices went upward and remain on the high side for that classics as well. But if you elegant a classic Mustang, this is the one to obtain, especially because you can have it for under $10, 000…

Resources: CaradnDriver, BringaTrailer

NEXT: These Stunning Mercedes-Benz Cars Get No Love Within the Used Market

[crazy4tank]

These Classic Fords Are Notoriously Underpriced | HotCars

New Post has been published on https://coolcarsnews.com/2021/01/04/these-classic-fords-are-notoriously-underpriced-hotcars/

These Classic Fords Are Notoriously Underpriced | HotCars

There’s a certain distinction to using a classic car, period. Plus usually, one associates a classic vehicle with something expensive . Yet there are plenty of old geriatric wheels around that escape the attention of passionate collectors. This is why some of these vintage special gems end up on the classic car bazaar rather cheap .

And this can happen with any traditional car, including Kia classics. Right now, we’re not saying that you can get a T-bird or even a Mustang for peanuts, in case you look hard enough, the utilized market is filled with overlooked classics that are worth at least twice their own asking price.

Several traditional Ford cars also slip with the cracks, especially for some of their lesser-known or even respected model years. While an inexpensive classic may not bode well for any seller, it does make the world lighter for a buyer.

10 1985-89 Merkur XR4Ti: The particular Long-Forgotten Import

via Hagerty

The exactly what? If you haven’t heard of that Merkur (pronounced Mar-koor) XR4Ti, we don’t blame a person. This was Ford’s idea of getting the European stars, the Ford Sierra hatchback XR4i into the US, having a name that was basically German designed for Mercury. Ford played the name-change game well considering GMC Sierra’s existence.

via MOMENTcar

Only, to get this particular car certified for US sales, that they had to put it an additional 850 components , and no, we are not overstating the issue. Costs went up, passions went down and today, you can have one of these pertaining to as low as $2, 000-3, 000.

nine 1964-65 Ford Falcon Sprint: Trampled By The Mustang

via Mecum

The Ford Falcon was an awesome enough car, so much so that the Mustang, which debuted in 1964 mid-year, arrived riding on the Falcon’s underpinnings. To match up to the Mustang, Falcon was released with the Falcon Sprint at the same time, using a beefier suspension as well as the same OF V8 of the ‘Stang.

via ClassicDriver

Sadly, the particular Mustang trampled the Falcon along with nary a care and while the particular buyers flocked to get their muscle mass car, the Falcon was neglected and off the market by 1970. If you still are not convinced, it was the cool car of the first Mad Max movie.

8 1954 Ford Crestline Skyliner: An inexpensive Rarity

via Mecum

The Ford Crestline Skyliner was a single-year model, one which bore a glass-roofed hardtop, the top of the line trim for that year. As the Skyliner carried on, the trim relocated onto the Crown Victoria through 1955 onwards, leaving the Crestline to do other not-so-fancy stuff.

via Pinterest

It was popular for its year, several 13, 000 units being sold, much more than the Mercury Monterey Sun Area, yet another mouthful of a ‘50s vehicle. It came with a new V8 plus jetted 130 horses mated to some three-speed manual transmission. Today, it's simple to get one for $10, 000-15, 500, tops.

7 1970 Ford F-100 Ranger: For All Traditional Truck Fans

via GuideAuto

Long before the particular Ranger became a nameplate, it had been a trim on the Ford F-100 and came with a large OTT billet grille, a short bed, and a two-tone color job that made it look quite cool as a classic. And yet the particular 1970 model isn’t all that previous in tech too, especially for anyone that is a classic truck cognoscente.

via Autoblog

What’s even cooler is that you will get one in fairly good condition for less than $10, 000, making this quite the particular cool classic Ford buy. Plus honestly, nothing beats the benefit of the Ford F-100 in any case, particularly if it bears the Ranger title.

ASSOCIATED: 15 Coolest Images Of Altered Ford F-100s That Make Us 1

6 ‘70s Ford Ranchero: One Stylized Ute

via iCollector

Today’s vehicles are mainly crossovers, able to bridge gaps plus perform more than just one function, plus assuage the multiple needs of the buyers. It was, after all, a truck constructed on a station wagon, impersonating the muscle car under the hood. It might have met its end right at the end of the ‘70s but still has lots of takers.

via CarGurus

You can get some of these actually under $10, 000 but they will probably come well ridden or requiring some work. For mint situation models, $20, 000 is a cool amount to go up to, which in the traditional world is peanuts.

5 1964 Ford Thunderbird: The particular Oft-Ignored Model

via Pinterest

So the ‘60s Ford Thunderbird did not impress everything much. It was stylish and comfy, yes, and came with enough OF V8 power, to the tune of three hundred horses. While this was also a movie vehicle and featured in Goldfinger , this was the car from the Bond villain.

via Hagerty

The fourth era of the Ford Thunderbird was A-okay back then and some 100, 000 of such were made. Enough numbers in order to get one rather cheap today, approximately $10, 000-15, 000, a little higher if you prefer a convertible.

RELATED: Here's Why The Last Kia Thunderbird Was Ahead Of Its Period

4 1962 Ford Galaxie 500: Unnoticed But Not Overpowered

via GalaxieClub

Before the Kia Taurus SHO, there was the Galaxie 500 SHP, one that came with the 6. 6-liter V8 that jetted more than 400 horses. A larger rad, beefier suspension, and specialized consumption worked hand-in-hand to launch this particular biggie to 60 mph in a matter of six. 1 seconds.

via BringaTrailer

A quarter-mile was done in 14 seconds, creating this one of the most powerful cars of its occasions, and also one cool contender contrary to the Chevrolet Impala SS. But the Galaxie was not that well known a brand now, you can have one of these beauties for under 20 dollars, 000.

RELATED: 10 Things You Didn't Learn about The Ford Galaxie

3 1958-1959 Kia Fairlane: The Sidelined Beauty

via Pinterest

The ‘50s and even the ‘60s were mostly ruled by Chevy and even Chrysler for that matter, so the majority of classic car aficionados still turn to the Bel Air or the Imperial when it comes to the late ‘50s. The particular Ford Fairlane gets passed as well as although it did look sleeker compared to its contemporaries, it still experienced the ‘50s design flair.

via Pinterest

Somehow, these models can be got for cheaper than the others, but their performance is more than sufficient with 1959 models getting a 350-horsepower V8.

2 1966 Ford Country Squire: Fancy The Land Yacht?

via Mecum

The 1966 Ford Country Squire Wagon was your soccer mom vehicle of after that, and more of a road barge than the usual car. At the time, they really produced these big, enough to require some serious garage or entrance space for parking.

through Mecum

You will discover many pretty good examples of this place wagon for under $12, 500 and it manages to perform well for its V8 engine using a four-barrel carburetor and a three-speed automated transmission. A ‘60s model is going to be affordable, go earlier than that and the particular classics get a little pricey.

one 1983-1986 Ford Mustang 5. 0: Finally, The Stallion Too

via Pinterest

The 1983 Kia Mustang was a big one for the time, coming as a convertible design after a decade’s gap. Now whilst we call this model the four-eyed fox, it did have sufficient things to boast about, including a brand new transmission.

via Pinterest

Once the Mustang prettied up and came in special GRAND TOURING models and more, the prices went upward and remain on the high side for that classics as well. But if you elegant a classic Mustang, this is the one to obtain, especially because you can have it for under $10, 000…

Resources: CaradnDriver, BringaTrailer

NEXT: These Stunning Mercedes-Benz Cars Get No Love Within the Used Market