The Merkur XR4TI is one of the more interesting and easily
one of the more confusing 80’s, small block, high horsepower engine cars that
you might find. Interesting just to look at, for one thing. But also
interesting because this German made car, is technically a Ford. If you go into
a parts store looking for an oil filter for the stock engine, be prepared to
confuse the hell out of the person behind the counter. You say you have the
part number but they want to know what car it’s for. First you tell them the
manufacturer: Merkur. You spell it out and explain that it’s German when they
say they’ve never heard of it before. Then you give them the model: XR4TI. Then
they hit search, and the results begin to populate; now the real confusion
begins.
There are Ford parts coming up, but then there are also German
parts in the search result. You provide the item number for the part that you
need, but the person behind the counter is now confused. It’s a fiasco, but
after much insisting upon the part number that you need, you may possibly leave with the
oil filter in hand.
Apart from that, it’s the look and style of the car that
excites the small following that Merkur’s have. If they’re like Matt, what they
really want is a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth. Seeing as how they were made by Ford
Europe, specifically for the European market, the cost of acquiring and then importing
a Cosworth to the United States tends to run far higher than the value of the
vehicle itself.
The Merkur looks a lot like the Sierra Cosworth and has a
similar engine that can be built to make equal or higher horsepower. Of course
Matt plans to turbo-charge this one. He acquired
it a couple of years ago, and the head gasket went a few months later. It needs machining, and
Matt wants to upgrade most of the internal parts. So every holiday I get him parts
for it from his Summit Racing wish list. Every time there’s a good sale or
excuse to nudge him to buy a part, I try to do it. He has everything to deal
with the head gaskets, but we’re working on slowly getting all of the other
internal parts it’ll need.
He’s funny because I know he could deal with the head
gaskets, drive it and do upgrades later. That’s not happening though. That would
mean tearing into the engine multiple times, and why would we do that when we
can get it right the first time? My brain works the same way. It does mean that
we have multiple projects that we are accumulating parts for instead of working
on, but when everything is acquired for a project, it goes faster.
Anyways, that’s Matt’s Merkur XR4TI. I think the wing and
small side windows give it character. I’m looking forward to when we pull the
engine and begin the rebuild. Matt's hoping to have me do the headliner and seats, but I'm no real seamstress, so we'll see if I can find them install-ready.