i almost bought a Merkur.. a '87 Xr4Ti..  cool looking.. seats that were
incredibly comfortable, fast (inline 4cyl turbo) VERY affordable (the
depreciation on these cars was like that of the mid-late '80's Audi 5000
after the CBS fallacy thing)
in the past 5 yrs ive seen quite a few of these in junkyards, (Xr4Ti and
Scorpio) still with perfect bodies and interiors.
what killed the Merkur (German Ford) in america?     after FoMoCo decides to
drop the Merkur in 90? (i think they were only sold here in the US at select
Lincoln Mercury dealerships from 86-'90? and few were even sold) merkur
owners were left without a good source of parts, or places that knew how to
work on them.. and aftermarket parts were too expensive because of
rarity/specialty of them ...

Kind of like the Sterling. sterlings were only sold here for a few years in
the late '80's also.  the Sterling was actually made by Rover (UK) and had
the drivetrain of a Honda..  but all the "acessories" (ps system, Lucas
electrics (etc) of a Rover. so they were another one that was incredibly hard
to get parts for and that you see alot of in the junkyard..

chris