I've had an XR for the past 3 years. The kind-of in the subject stems from the fact that I haven't formally joined, and won't be buying into the club until I get home from school in April.
I've been reading a lot on this forum already, and have been posting questions for a few days now, but I figured I should write up a more formal intro.
I've loved merkurs since I can remember, my first specific memory is my dad teaching me to shift in the black '88 my parents bought from my grandpa (he's had 7). My mom has told me stories of her blue '87 (I think) she says my dad married her for her car. Ever since I started thinking about what car I wanted when I was old enough to drive (probably about age
it was a merkur the XR specifically. I had lost hope after the black car was ruined by a drunk neighbor (long story). But a little while after I got my permit, I got home from school to see my grandpa's last merkur, a red '89 in our driveway, he had to drive it 7 hours to get it to me. He said, "if it still runs if you're 16, it's yours." he seemed a little doubtful that it would.
It did though, and I still have it. I've loved it to death. Hit a deer last year and needed a new radiator. The passenger fender is ruined, as is the grill, bumper, hood, left headlight and parking light, and both fog lights. A few months after, one of the two hoses above the turbo that goes to the heater core exploded at the same time a part of the heater core went bust, causing coolant to pour into the passenger footwell as I was getting pulled over for not having a left headlight (what a night!). The year before, I was driving to a job shadow with a mechanic when my brakes failed while going 35mph. I stopped by throwing the car into 1st and pulling the e-brake, coming to a halt 1.5 feet from the car in front of me. One master cylinder, two wheel cylinders, and over 9000
(I swear!) times bleeding the brakes, it was finally fixed. All of these problems, and many other smaller ones, have earned the car the nickname of "Starship Enterprise" among most of my friends. I kind of prefer "millenium falcon" myself, its fast, when it works.The car currently runs and is at over 254000 miles on the odometer, but it smokes when it's turned on, the turbo boosts to 5psi before holding and popping to 12, the tach is bad, the leather is ruined, the dash is a little cracked, and the previously mentioned body problems are still around. My dream is to turn it into a weekend warrior/potential autox or rally car when I have some dough. I think it would be super cool to keep my first car forever, but it isn't likely to happen. I'm going on a 2 year mission for my church and my family will almost certainly move while I'm gone maybe even over-seas.
All of my (very limited) mechanical experience comes from tinkering on this car, and help from neighbors. I've been taught basic arc, mig, and acetylene welding from a high school class. I'm studying Mechanical Engineering at BYU, and am going to teach myself to tig weld this semester.
Thanks to all of those on the forum who have already welcomed me and answered my questions thus far. Also a preemptive thanks to all those who will. I hope to be an active part of this forum, especially since I don't have either my XR or my (fathers technically) audi with me at school. Hopefully I can contribute something to make up for what will be a one-way relationship I'm sure, all of the people on this forum seem light-years ahead of me.
Sorry for the long-winded intro, excited to be a more active part of the merkur world!
) members here are great additions. You might look here for a forerunner from Utah of about 4/5 years ago arrived here with a similar background and outlook, named Ed. Search here for Sugar Beat, the name I suggested for his XR based on its color and primary agricultural crop grown in his area. With the LDS expertise in genealogy probably can track him down in the blink of an eye. You and have lots in common.
