We’ve already looked at one turbocharged coupe from the ’80s this week, and it did really well, so I’ve found two more for your consideration today. One of these you’ll probably think is driven by the wrong wheels, and the other definitely has the wrong transmission. But I have to work with what I find.
Yesterday, I found a couple of old inline-six trucks that both ran well, despite their appearances. This was a close vote, but in the end, the Ford van won. It was the slotted mags that put it over the top, wasn’t it? Still one of my favorite wheel styles of all time. Someday I will have a car wearing them.
However, when it comes to these two particular vehicles, I think I have to go for the Binder. It looks more honest, and those B-series trucks have a homely, Checker Cab sort of charm to them that I find really appealing. Maybe I’ll drive it up to Sven & Ole’s Pizza, then swing over to International Falls. Yah.
If you wanted something to sound cool and fast back in the ’80s, you had to use the word “turbo.” Judas Priest knew it. So did Kyosho (and Porsche thinks calling a high-performance electric vehicle a “turbo” is something new). Computers had “turbo” buttons. And just about every carmaker would sell you something with a turbocharged engine under the hood, and for those that didn’t, aftermarket kits were ready and waiting. Both of today’s competitors came from the factory with turbocharged engines. One has had some modifications done to it, and the other desperately needs one specific modification. Let’s check them out.
1986 Merkur XR4Ti – $5,500
Engine/drivetrain: Turbocharged 2.3 liter OHC inline 4, three-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Cleveland, OH
Odometer reading: 90,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
I’ve never quite understood why this car existed. Ford already sold two other rear-wheel-drive coupes with the same turbo engine, the Mustang and the Thunderbird, both of which were cheaper than the Merkur. The only real functional difference between those cars and this one was independent rear suspension, and was that really a big enough deal to go through all the trouble of Federalizing a German-market Ford Sierra, importing it under an unknown brand name, and selling it through Lincoln-Mercury dealers? You’d have to ask Bob Lutz, I guess; apparently the whole thing was his idea.
Most XR4Tis were sold with a five-speed manual transmission, but this being America, an automatic was on the option sheet. It’s kind of an afterthought: Ford couldn’t even be bothered to adapt its then-new AL4D overdrive automatic to this car, and just slapped in the old three-speed C3. That’s right; this fine European sports coupe has the same transmission as your Aunt Margie’s Pinto wagon. Worse, the 2.3 turbo four had to be detuned to keep from blowing it up, and it lost 30 horsepower in the process. This one’s transmission has recently been rebuilt, but who cares? I don’t know how difficult a manual swap is on these, but I’d say it’s worth finding out.
Wrong shift lever aside, this one looks decent inside. There are a couple of cracks in the dash, but that’s not surprising on a nearly forty-year-old car. The seats are covered, and we don’t know what shape they’re in underneath the covers, but it doesn’t matter much. A pair of new pale gray racing-style seats are included but haven’t been installed yet. They’ll probably look very silly next to the automatic shifter, but they do look comfy.
There’s something a little funky about the front bumper of this car, though. In the first photo, it looks bashed-in a bit, or maybe melted, it’s hard to tell. And in this photo, it’s straight, but the gray finish is coming off. Was it damaged and then replaced with a junkyard bumper? Or is the damaged photo its actual condition and this one was taken earlier? Very curious. The rest of it is in good shape, though it could use a polishing.
1987 Dodge Shelby Charger – $5,700 Canadian
Engine/drivetrain: Turbocharged 2.2 liter OHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: East Hants, Nova Scotia, Canada
Odometer reading: unknown
Operational status: Runs and drives well
When Lee Iacocca was rebuilding Chrysler in the ’80s, he wasn’t shy about calling on old friends for help. Both Alejandro de Tomaso and Carroll Shelby lent a hand to create special versions of Chrysler vehicles. But to the best of my knowledge, the L-body Dodge Omni 024/Charger was the only car to receive a special edition from both of them: first as the barely remembered Dodge DeTomaso, and later as this car, the Dodge Shelby Charger.
For the first couple of years, the Shelby Charger came with a hot-rodded version of the same carbureted 2.2-liter four as other Chargers, but in 1985, a turbocharger joined the party, giving the stripey little Dodge some seriously quick 0-60 times, along with enough torque steer to yank the steering wheel out of your hands. This one has been upgraded even further, with Chrysler’s intercooled Turbo II engine, and some other go-fast goodies. It also has a new clutch and a new alternator. The seller says it runs well and is reliable.
Shelby put nearly all of his effort into this car under the hood; the interior is pretty much standard Omni parts except for the “CS” logo embroidered on the seat headrests. But the seats are comfy and the driving position is pretty good, so stop complaining and just go for a drive. This one is in good shape, and does have a few little modifications, including some additional gauges and what I believe is a short-throw shift lever. I seem to remember the stock L-body shifter being a lot taller than that.
It will come as no surprise to regular readers that I absolutely love the looks of this car. I’ve wanted one ever since they came out when I was ten years old. I’d rather have silver with blue stripes, but in this condition, red would do nicely. There are a bunch of photos in the ad of the underside, and it’s as close to rust-free as you’ll ever find in a car this age. The gold Shelby Daytona wheels aren’t included; it will come with a set of stock Shelby Charger wheels.
Turbochargers are a dime a dozen these days; every little three-cylinder engine stuck to a CVT has one. But back when these cars were built, they meant that a car was something special. They meant badges and hood bumps and special wheels. One was neutered from the get-go by a single box on its option sheet, and the other has been pushed beyond what it was ever meant to be. Which one would you rather have in your garage?
It would have been the Merkur for me except for that transmission. I had a chance to drive one in the mid 80’s. A friend’s dad worked for Garrett Turbochargers and part of his job was to travel to all of the companies’ countries and help with the post sales implementations so along we went on some of the trips. The car was really funky even for the 80’s but it handled great and had decent power I neve got answer to my question about the weird spoiler setup. I just figured they were competing with Saab.
A neighbor in college had one of those Chargers in Blue and Silver. It looked cool but handled a little strange and was really tight in the back. The car was always broken and in the shop. He finally got rid of it and was one of the first guys I saw to pick up one of the Diamondstar cars, a Mitsu Eclipse also in blue. He had better luck with that car.
Neither of these are of interest to me.
I voted for the Merkur, because there is at least a small part of me that wants to be able to say I owned a Merkur.
My buddy has an XR4Ti that I work on regularly, so I’m familiar with the cars. I could easily swap and fix that one.
But there’s some sort of siren call to the Shelby that makes me want to own it for a summer. So I voted for it.
A 4-cylinder auto or a k-car? Where’s the “Ride the bus” option?
A Shelby k-car is the proverbial lipstick on a pig.
Man that C pillar is crazy on the Charger, I can’t believe they didn’t stick a window in there! But nevertheless, the Charger is the correct choice here, but I would fight to keep those gold wheels on it.
cooler color and the slats on the back, I voted for the Charger
I can’t say I’ve pulled a power slide recently, but I probably shift hundreds of times a day, regardless of traffic conditions. I think RWD is pretty much a non-factor here, I could throw a silly rear sway bar into that Shelby and trail-brake it around every corner at the autocross for a lot less cost and effort than it would take to put a clutch pedal on the Sierra’s firewall.
I regrettably choose the Dodge due to the Pinto tranny in the Merk.
Right on. If that Merkur had a manual, it would win hands-down.
Usually an XR4TI Stan, but the Shelby is singing the song of my people, and has all the work I’d want to do, done. Sold!
the biplane for me, I’ll get the transmission swapped out. I had a Charger 2.2 and it was the worst build quality of any car i ever owned – and i owned a Chevette. I owned one in the late 80’s so the car wasn’t an old beater, it was just junk from the factory. Trim fell off when you closed the door, the gear shifter popped out of gear every time you blinked, brakes and suspension bit were toast by 50k, electrical system issues non-stop (ever see a battery swell to the size of a watermellon?)… The last time i was stranded in that car i was rescued by my friend in his MGA. How freakin’ low do you have to go to rely on an MGA as your rescue? Well, the answer to that is “Charger 2.2”
I’d love to get my hands on the Americanized Sierra, but the slushbox is a little too Americanized and a hard nope for me. On the other hand, the spicy Shelby-ized Omnirizon is too nice to pass up.
I really, really wanted to pick the Merkur, but that sad old 3-speed auto is a huge bummer.
Awful transmission aside, I prefer RWD, so xR4Ti-can’t-believe-the-marketing-department-thought-this-was-a-good-name-for-a-car it is.
I wasn’t aware of the Sierra connection until much later, but I always liked the look of the Merkur.
At one point, back in the day, I thought maybe it was cool-speak for XRATI.
I’m a pretty unabashed fan of 2.2 Turbo Chryslers, having learned most of my driving on my mom’s Shelby Lancer. This thing is stupid nice for the price and the mods are exactly what you’d want. I’m not someone who’s knee-jerk opposed to automatic transmissions but the 3-speed slushbox and accompanying horsepower penalty in the Merkur is disqualifying. Charger it is!