The Merkur Club of America Forums

No, I'm not ready to take on this project, but I thought I'd share the idea in case someone wants to try it or even just Photochop it up. The idea, in case you haven't figured it out, would be to "convert" a Scorpio into a Subaru Baja-like "cruck".

Unlike what I'm building, you really wouldn't need a Baja donor, although that would be a possibility if you wanted a functional tail-gate. But with what I've learned, the glove-fit approach of combining the two bodies is much more difficult than simply cutting and fabricating as needed.

Any way, I'm happy to provide any input if someone wants to take it on.

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Brad

Hmm, interesting idea. I would say, model it more off the Avalanche than anything, with a small removeable back window and the ability to lay down the seats to retain the cargo capacity.

Jake

Brad, please please no more............................. :lol:

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jason yancey
stephens city va
87XR-88XR
NOVAMOG



"as long as you keep picking on me I will tend to mad post about me getting mad......"

Interesting idea. I was thinking more along the Baja approach, where the lower portion below the window hinges up should you need to load in some 2x4's or whatever. The rear seats would stay as original - the trunk would become a short bed.

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Brad

I wonder if there a small truck bed that will drop into the area behind the seats after the hatch is removed. The Scorpio would make a nifty short bed truck like the Ridgeline. Maybe turn the spare tire well into a lockable compartment. But how would you close off the back of the cab area?

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Scott Williams
Livingston, New Jersey
1989 Merkur XR4Ti, 79k
2012 Ford Flex Limited (more bells and whistles than a bell and whistle factory)
2012 Chevrolet Malibu LTZ
2008 Ford Taurus X AWD, 47k... R.I.P.

The bed portion wouldn't need to be a match at all. In fact, you wouldn't even need a truck bed donor unless you wanted a tailgate and matching tail-lights. But if you did, it would just be a matter of cutting the truck-bed floor to the right size along with the inner upright walls and piecing it together. Given the benefit of my expereince in doing it the wrong way , I now know it would be way easier to section in a couple pieces rather than fit the whole bed in as one. Ironically enough, this is precisely what Rob Booth told me to do before I even started the project. But why would I listen to somebody that actually knows what they're doing?

Same deal with the back wall/window - just use the panel from a Ranger, Chevy S-10 or whatever and trim it down to size. More I think about it, I DO like Jake's idea of having that panel be entirely removeable, for those times when you need to move something like a refrigerator perhaps. You'd just need to beef up the perimeter a bit better - a square tube roll-bar could work well, and provide a nice flat surface for the back panel to bolt to.

Lastly, the one thing I've discoverd is that hatchbacks in general make a better platform for these type of conversions. Given that a hatchback doesn't have that upright rear panel in the first place, the floor pan needs to be that much stronger in the first place.

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Brad

That's exactly why you'd want that area open. The standard for cargo capacity is a 4x8 sheet of ply. Of course, there is only 3' of space between the wells on a Scorpio, but you can fit a 4' sheet at an angle.

Not that I would do it, but if I did, this is how (now why does that sound familiar?).

- Remove the hatch completely
- Convert the rear of the hatch into a downward folding tailgate, so that when open it is level with the floor of the cargo area. This will likely require some modification to the bumper are, creating a stepdown for the tailgate.
- Convert the split rear seat into a one piece unit with weather seals.
- Add a small upper rear glass

- one of the challenges will be what to do with the C-pillar glass. Whether to leave it, remove it, open that area up, etc.

Jake

No photoshop is necessary, I suggest you guys hit google for "ford P100."

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Dimitri in NYC
88 Scorpio 2.5 Turbo
89 Scorpio 4.6 DOHC
88 Scorpio (in limbo)
02 E46 330Ci

Bah humbug - that's only got 2 doors and no rear seating.

FWIW (not much, I realize), I'd propose moving the rear seats up a bit and the seat-backs more upright, to get the rear window panel as far forward as possible.

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Brad

Hey, Brad, I think you should buy the one you stuck poor Don with. Who of course, stuck me with.

Nah, you invested too much in the paint job - I couldn't bring myself to hack that up.

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Brad

Put away the keyboard, Brad...
Finish up that XRBrati or whatever it is, THEN get going on the Scorpio. There's no point in trying to find company in misery, nobody's going to build one, so you might as well get at it.
Report back when you're done.

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It's not a hobby, it's an obsession!

No worries Mike. I've already got too many projects in mid-flight - taking on another major one like this would be suicidal. But I still think it's a "good" idea for someone looking to do something unique with a Scorpio. One of the big advantages of these cars being available for cheap money is the ability to try something like this with minimal monetary risk. Sorta reminds me of what we used to say about the Industrial Arts majors at Oswego.... "IA, IA, build a project and then throw it away!"

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Brad