Have you ever heard of the car brand "Merkur"?
We actually think we recognize the car and, as Europeans, we think we're looking at a Ford Sierra. But there are some interesting differences and when we see the rear end at the latest, we come across the "Mercury" brand.
Anyone thinking of the American manufacturer Mercury is not entirely wrong. In fact, Ford's Lincoln-Mercury division created the "Merkur" brand to familiarize Europe-friendly Americans with the German Ford models. However, the plan did not work out and "Merkur" was abandoned as early as 1989.
The Sierra variant sold from 1985 onwards was called the XR4Ti in the USA and had a 2301 cm3 four-cylinder engine from the Thunderbird on board instead of the Cologne V6 engine. 145 hp had to suffice if, like most Americans, you chose an automatic transmission; for manual transmissions, it could then be 175 hp, which certainly corresponded to the European performance level of the XR4i.
Merkur also supplemented the model range with a Scorpio variant, which was allowed to retain the European V6 with 2935 cm3. No other efforts were made to adapt the cars; they were also built in Europe and fitted with the bumpers required for the USA.
Now two of these rare vehicles are going under the hammer at the Bonhams auction in Philadelphia on October 7, 2019 . They come from the collection of Jack Middleton, who not only took care of the car, but also won a number of prizes with it.
Seen in this light, the estimated prices, which in both cases range from USD 2,000 to 5,000, seem quite realistic and perhaps even low, given the rarity of the vehicles.
