Junkyard Find: 1988 Merkur Scorpio
European Fords! I find them regularly during my junkyard travels, documenting everything from a 1956 Ford Zephyr to a 2005 Ford StreetKa in recent years. Merkurs have become rare junkyard sightings during the past decade, though, and so I was pleased to find this discarded Scorpio in a Denver car graveyard last week.
The Merkur Scorpio was sold for just the 1988 and 1989 model years (and was the only Merkur model during its final year).
The Merkur brand was created so that Dearborn could sell Americans a pair of Ford of Europe models. Those were the Sierra XR4i (which became the Merkur XR4Ti) and the Scorpio/ Granada Mk III (which became the Merkur Scorpio).
The XR4Ti was available for the 1985 through 1988 model years, and the last time I found one in a junkyard was six years ago (and some of its parts ended up getting pulled and shipped to Sajeev Mehta for his Sierra, thanks to the members of the Colorado 24 Hours of Lemons Mafia).
Ford had sold plenty of its European-market models in North America during previous decades. Left-hand-drive Consuls, Prefects, Anglias and Zephyrs reached our shores in the 1950s, followed by the Cortina in the 1960s. For the 1970s, we got the Fiesta and Capri, both built in West Germany. The Capri had sold pretty well here and was available via Mercury dealers without marque badging.
The Euro-market Scorpio was available as a four-door sedan, a five-door hatchback and a five-door wagon. Only the hatchback version made to the United States and Canada.
Merkur Scorpio sales were weak, with just over 20,000 sold during its two model years. Adding insult to injury, its Sterling 825/ 827 rival (a Rover 800 with a mashup of Honda and Prince of Darkness engineering) outsold it.
The engine was one that Americans had known well for a couple of decades: the Cologne pushrod V6, which had first appeared here under the hood of the Capri and became a familiar sight in US-market Pintos/ Bobcats, Rangers, Mustangs and Bronco IIs.
This one is a 2.9 rated at 144 horsepower and 162 pound-feet. The 4.0-liter SOHC-upgraded Cologne stayed in production all the way into the 2010s.
Don't light matches under the hood!
The Scorpio was available with a choice of five-speed manual and four-speed automatic transmissions. This one has the automatic; I've documented a total of five Scorpios in American junkyards and every single one has been a two-pedal model.
One of the coolest Scorpio features was the use of blood-pressure-cuff-style bulb pumps for the seat lumbar supports.
The MSRP for this car with the optional automatic transmission was $24,048, which is about $66,816 in 2025 dollars. That put it in the same price ballpark as such luxury rear-drive imports as the BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz 190E, Volvo 740, Alfa Romeo Milano and Toyota Cressida.
I couldn't find any paperwork inside that was dated after the late 1990s. I think it spent a quarter-century in a garage, awaiting repairs that never came.
This one had nearly 100,000 miles at the end.
Or did it? I wish I could make out the mileage figure on this sticker.
German performance you can be comfortablea with, at select Lincoln-Mercury dealers.
Jackie Stewart dug the Scorpio's reclining rear seats.
It learned to run in the Black Forest of Germany… but unlike the others, it also learned to be nice to people.
In Europe, the Mk1 Scorpio offered Technik und Komfort.
You needed a car phone in your Ford Scorpio, or at least a fake car phone antenna.
European Car of the Year, 1986.
Let them know you've arrived.
The Taiwan-market Mk1 Scorpio commercials were more dramatic than their Western counterparts, thanks to the tough-sounding Mandarin voiceover and ominous music.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
1988 Merkur Scorpio in Colorado wrecking yard.
[Images: The Author]
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Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Hagerty and The Truth About Cars.
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I never saw a rusty one. Good bodies.
I worked at a L-M dealership when these were new. Lovely car, especially with the stick.
The customers weren't the problem: the sales staff was. They couldn't understand why anyone would want a neat, sporty, sedan when there were wobbly 5500 pound Town Cars for nearly the same price. They actually steered customers away from the German cars. Those customers walked right out the door, never to be seen again.