Wow, of all the crazy experiences i've had with this car, this one takes the cake. I was driving home from Walmart, pissed off from waiting forever in the service desk line, and i was driving a bit on the angry side. I get to my exit off the interstate and i'm sitting at a traffic light waiting to turn, i'm first one at the light. I notice in my side view that a person is approaching my car, which turns on the "ok wtf is this" alert. The conversation was nothing if not baffling....and went something like this, as best as i can remember:
Guy taps on window..
I roll it down.. "yeah?"
Guy "Ok dude, i don't mean to like, trip, but you've gotta sell me this car!"
Me "excuse me?"
Guy "yeah man i used to have one of these but it was a POS...this one is SOOOOOO NICE. Name your price i'm serious i wanna buy it"
Me "dude, we're at a..."
Guy "laughs...i know man, i chased you all the way from Walmart (which is about 4 miles) and this thing is FAST"
(i should point out that we're in 2 turn lanes loaded with traffic and the light is about to turn green at any moment)
Me "well man this one's not for sale, but i know a lot of guys who have them and might be able to get you one"
Guy "are they as nice as this one?"
Me "if you've got the money, probably nicer"
At which time i get his phone number and he runs off to his car and i'm getting honked at for sitting at a green light. At first i was expecting a homeless person asking for money. Then the thought crossed my mind that this just might be someone i cut off or something and i started wondering if i was about to get sucker punched through the window....it totally caught me off guard. So i'm gonna call him and direct him to this site and maybe he can score one from the classifieds.
Seriously is this normal? Do you guys get this stuff? This is i think the 3rd crazy encounter i've had like this. I know the car is pretty uncommon, and to my knowledge i'm the only one on my side of town driving one on a routine basis (heck i only know one guy on THIS side of town who even owns one and he's selling his), but geez i didn't think people were that enthusiastic about them. Didn't they kinda flop in sales?
So this guy tries to BUY my car from me at a red light...
pretty normal. I get into convo's often at the gas station and stop lights. Anything from I use to have one, what is it, wanna sell it. My personal favorite is the people who know about them/heard about them/owned one back in the day but had no idea that with a little bit of $$$ you can have another 100hp. They seem to remember them being one of the fastest on the street (stock) back in the day the most. Or very expensive.
I had had mine for exactly 2 months when I got my first offer to buy. I had $150 in parts and $275 for the car as a total investment. All cleaned up and looking very stock. Guy had $1500 cash in his hand but I was already hooked on it....
I had had mine for exactly 2 months when I got my first offer to buy. I had $150 in parts and $275 for the car as a total investment. All cleaned up and looking very stock. Guy had $1500 cash in his hand but I was already hooked on it....
'87 XR Street Ninja
'89 XJ Urban Krawler
Aaron
Longmont, CO
'89 XJ Urban Krawler
Aaron
Longmont, CO
Haven't had an encounter quite like that yet, but I had to bring one of my Focus tires to get re-mounted so I took the XR and parked it outside. All the guy from the shop were at the window and I hear one of the younger guys go
"What the heck is that?"
Some of the older guys there knew what it was and was like
"Holy crap, it's a Merkur. I haven't seen one of those in ages!"
The guy mounting my tire ended up talking to be a bit about modding it. One of the first times I've said Merkur and the person actually understood what I was saying and not saying Accord. It's hard to convince someone a 85 Merkur is stock turboed when they think you're saying Accord.
"What the heck is that?"
Some of the older guys there knew what it was and was like
"Holy crap, it's a Merkur. I haven't seen one of those in ages!"
The guy mounting my tire ended up talking to be a bit about modding it. One of the first times I've said Merkur and the person actually understood what I was saying and not saying Accord. It's hard to convince someone a 85 Merkur is stock turboed when they think you're saying Accord.
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milehighXR
- Level 7
- Posts: 2317
- Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2004 8:17 pm
- Location: Longmont, Co
I wish my cars was still that nice...
I ran into a dude that knew what they were once(didn't even have my car, I was wearing my Carlisle 05 t-shirt) and he said that he was one of if not the last certified Merkur tech in Denver area. I gotta call him...
I ran into a dude that knew what they were once(didn't even have my car, I was wearing my Carlisle 05 t-shirt) and he said that he was one of if not the last certified Merkur tech in Denver area. I gotta call him...
Johnny
1 86 XR aka Naomi- my first love, now daily driven project
DCLXVI
1 86 XR aka Naomi- my first love, now daily driven project
DCLXVI
I owned a 1971 Ford Bronco for a long time and I would, with regularity, have notes and or cards with purchase offers on it. The offers ran from the insulting to the offering of sexual favors for my old Bronco.
I had the car for 12 years, bought it when I graduated high school in 89 for $3000.00. I put a new 351W in it, C4 Automatic with 4.11 gears in the 9 inch rear with limited slip, ARB Air Locker in the Dana 44 Front. I sold it in 2004 for $13000.00.
I miss my old Bronco now (sniff)
I had the car for 12 years, bought it when I graduated high school in 89 for $3000.00. I put a new 351W in it, C4 Automatic with 4.11 gears in the 9 inch rear with limited slip, ARB Air Locker in the Dana 44 Front. I sold it in 2004 for $13000.00.
I miss my old Bronco now (sniff)
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Mike McCreight
- Level 7
- Posts: 3987
- Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 8:44 pm
- Location: Ottawa! Well, Manotick, actually...
Re: ?
Mike McCreight wrote:I love when I visit my local Ford dealer for parts....
Holy Hell no thank you, i'd rather go to the dentist. Those F'ers give me nothing but grief every time i go down there. Either they can't find anything or they wanna tell me the parts are obsolete. I had to spoon feed the guy part numbers just to get my valve cover gasket and plug wires. He tried to tell me the plug wires were obsolete and that the valve cover gasket wouldn't work because it was for a RANGER and not a MERRKEERRR...lol.
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milehighXR
- Level 7
- Posts: 2317
- Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2004 8:17 pm
- Location: Longmont, Co
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MerkXRTurbo
- Level 7
- Posts: 4612
- Joined: Mon May 17, 2004 11:08 pm
- Location: Vancouver, WA
- Contact:
The only person who's tried to purchase mine was the previous owner. I ran into him at a gas station and he told me that he missed it and wanted to buy it back. I told him that it wasn't for sale.
He kept going on about how fast it was, and I told him that the power levels had nearly doubled since he owned it. That didn't really seem to get through his head, but I had him sit in it and run it through the gears... after feeling how nicely the T5 shifted, he started trying to make me offers again.
He kept going on about how fast it was, and I told him that the power levels had nearly doubled since he owned it. That didn't really seem to get through his head, but I had him sit in it and run it through the gears... after feeling how nicely the T5 shifted, he started trying to make me offers again.
3" mandrel bent exhaust, Ported/Polished head, 1.89/1.57 valves, Gutted uppper/Knife edge lower intake, T3/T4, LA3, Big VAM, Cold air intake, 40bob header, Gillis valve, Forge BOV, Mustang SVO T5, Conquest intercooler, 20psi.