I remember being both relieved and intrigued when the Mercury Tracer was introduced for ’87 to replace the Lynx. It looked suspiciously like a Mazda 323, which made sense, since it was basically a federalized, 323-based Ford Laser, a model that was sold in many foreign markets. Being the gung-ho “buy American” kid that I was, having grown up in a GM factory town, I didn’t love that it was based on a foreign design, but it was a unique product offering at Lincoln-Mercury that didn’t have a Ford counterpart. This earned it points in my mind.
Being based on Mazda componentry meant that it was going to be more class-competitive than the ’81-vintage Lynx, and by association, the Ford Escort. By this point in my adolescence, I was starting to tire of the cynical pitch that a different grille texture and taillamp lenses were supposed to mean “it’s a whole, different car!” Even the smoke-effect taillamp lenses of the early, U.S. market Escort GT weren’t that far off from what was seen on the first Lynx.
1987 Mercury Tracer.
Many with same-gender siblings can probably relate to this: nobody loves a copycat. Before anyone finds and posts links to any of my previous essays in which I had referenced idolizing my older brother as a young kid, allow me to restate that there was a significant age gap between him and me. Six and a half years is a substantial percentage of the life of a minor. No matter how I might have striven from time to time to dress, act, and/or look like him up to a certain age, nobody was going to confuse us. If anything, it was going to elicit, “Awwww….” from his girlfriend or other adults who might have been around to see me trying to appear “cool” in the same manner as him.
It was different with my younger brother, who is only three years younger than me. It certainly didn’t help that our mother would sometimes buy us identical outfits, including one year where matching off-brand, light blue Members Only jackets were part of our haul of new school clothes. Of course, I had my piano skills and love of cars to set me apart, but I wanted to be seen as special and unique and not just a version of a “small, medium, or large” Dennis kid.
Even at the time, I sort of understood where this came from. My mother had been the middle of three girls, and looking at pictures of the three of them from when they were young, it was clear that she had gotten the same treatment. Parents often project their own experiences onto their kids, who they may feel don’t deserve any better. This doesn’t excuse it, but it explains it. This understanding didn’t help me that much as a preteen, with people already confusing the names of my brothers and me, significantly different in size though we were. More individuation was possible by the time I reached the end of my high school years. Earlier on, though, I hated being copied to the point of what had felt like mimicry just for the sake of irritating me, with nothing I could do about it without parental reproach.
1982 Mercury Lynx. When a Ford Escort just won’t do.
And so it went with the Escort and Lynx upon their introduction as Ford’s new subcompact “world cars” upon their introduction to the U.S. market for model year ’81. It was fun for me, up to a point, to see how a parent company like General Motors, Ford, or Chrysler would differentiate models on the same platform among their different, respective makes. GM, with the biggest budget, would usually do just a little bit more than Ford or Chrysler to distinguish between their brands. For example, an ’84 Chevy Cavalier looks significantly different than a Pontiac Sunbird, Olds Firenza, or Buick Skyhawk (even if it did accidentally look a lot like the “Cimarron by Cadillac”). Styling differences among the makes at Chrysler seemed to be a lot more tedious in the early ’80s, even before Dodge had adopted the generic cross-hair grille theme as its signature.
1987 Mercury Tracer.
When the first Tracer arrived, however, it was its own thing, and though it looked similar to the Mazda upon which it was based, it looked just different enough from it to position it as a unique offering exclusive to L-M. When the second generation Escort arrived for the ’91 model year, it was offered in the same three body styles as before: three- and five-door hatchbacks, and a station wagon. This time, and while the new Tracer shared this basic, new design with the Escort as had the Lynx had before it, there was one exception: The non-wagon Tracer was a traditional, three-box, notchback sedan. This made total sense to me. Weren’t Mercury buyers supposed to be traditionalists, anyway? A “Mercury hatchback” had always seemed something of an anomaly, even if I had loved the Fox-body Capri and would later love the ’99 Cougar. (The short-lived, two-seat LN7 was alright, and a better-looking Ford EXP.)
Beside the introduction of its new, trunked profile, the new Tracers had at least one other styling feature that had become an easy, visual identifier for the brand, which was the full-width “light bar” on its face, a feature first introduced with the futuristic ’86 Sable. It was as if the parent company had thrown the Tracer a bone by telling buyers that if they wanted their new subcompact with the trunk, they’d have to move upscale… to a Mercury. If a potential customer was okay with a hatchback, then they could just get the Ford. Then ’92 happened, and the Escort was given the Tracer’s four-door body style. There went that last trace (see what I did there?) of this little Mercury’s individuality.
1991 Mercury Tracer.
What’s interesting is that the ’91 Tracer sedan sold almost 60,000 copies in its first year, but the ’92 Escort four-door managed only 44,200 units, the second year of this generation. (The ’92 Tracer sedan sold about half as many as its Escort counterpart.) The reason I point this out is because the Lynx had always sold but a small fraction of the Escort’s numbers. Against 320,700 Escorts sold in ’81, the Lynx had managed only 112,000 sales, or roughly 35% of the Ford’s figure. By ’86, the first-generation Escort’s high water mark for sales with 430,000 buyers, Lincoln-Mercury moved only 86,000 Lynxes, or just 20%. My point is that I would have thought the four-door ’92 Escort would have at least met the ’91 Mercury’s tally since Ford was a much higher volume make, but it didn’t. By ’95, the year of our featured car, overall Tracer sales were just 13% of those of the Escort’s (44,700 vs. 320,700).
Product planners probably saw a good thing in the four-door body style and sacrificed the Mercury’s individuality in the name of greater sales as a slightly more basic Escort. What did shoppers in 1995 get for their extra $240 in selecting the Tracer four-door over the Escort? Without even knowing or poring over the sales brochures, the answer for me is that the light bar up front was not enough. Ultimately, Mercury lost that battle for greater identity and individuality in the Ford portfolio of products, with the brand having been phased out after 2010.
Do I miss Mercury? I miss its potential and an assortment of its more memorable models, but I don’t miss watching what seemed like a protracted period of neglect, confusion, and its slow death. I get that this Tracer was just a little subcompact sedan and that it wouldn’t have made financial sense to invest more in its individuality. Still, its barely-there disguise lightly ladled on top of what was obviously just a slightly more expensive Ford still seems sadly emblematic of the unease that persistent, unimaginative copying can produce in certain contexts and situations. Can you even tell from the above picture that this car isn’t an Escort? It no longer matters.
Edgewater Glen, Chicago, Illinois.
Sunday, July 9, 2023.
1987 Mercury Tracer print ads were sourced from the internet. 1982 Mercury Lynx & ’91 Tracer brochure pages were sourced from www.oldcarbrochures.org.
Mercury did get the the LTS sedan, which had the more powerful Mazda engine as seen in the Escort GT, and something not available in the Escort sedan. So that was a sort of unique Mercury, akin to the Civic EX sedan at the time. But by the blobby 3rd-generation (4th-gen NA Escort), there was no differentiation at all, just very very cheap looking and feeling (we had one as a rental, and it really was like riding in a Tupperware container) sedans and wagons.
That LTS was apparently a first-year Mercury exclusive – although I don’t remember it, I read online that by the second year of this generation Escort/Tracer (in ’92) not only did Ford get the previously Mercury-exclusive four-door sedan body, but also an Escort LX-E model that was the Ford equivalent of the Mercury Tracer LTS – a four-door sedan with the more powerful Mazda DOHC 1.8L and sporty trim rather than the Ford 1.9L CVH engine that powered other Escorts and Tracers. In 1991, the GT two-door hatchback was the only Escort with that engine. As far as I’m aware, the Mazda engine was never offered in either Escort or Tracer wagons or four-door hatchbacks.
Yeah, for the first year the Escort GT and the Tracer LTS had the same drivetrain just in different bodies. Ford leaned into the sporty 2-door, while Mercury was leaning into the sporty sedan. The next year, Ford got that sporty sedan, as you stated, with the LX-E.
Given how it’s mostly just small parts that make up the different trims, I’ve often day dreamed about making a few what-if models based on this platform. Everything would (mostly) be plug and play.
– Escort GT 5-door
– Escort GT wagon
– Tracer LTS 3- and 5-doors
Corey, now that you mention it, I think that even the 4th NA Escort / 3rd-gen Tracer had decals as identification, versus badges. If I were to take the Pepsi challenge at the rental car agency, I would just be guessing in terms of which car I was behind the wheel of.
Actually, your $240 upgrade over the Escort didn’t even get you a lightbar grille. The lightbar on the Tracer was a fake – Unlike the Sable, the grille in Tracer (and Topaz too, for that matter) did not light up.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/tech/cc-tech-the-illuminated-history-of-light-up-grille-badges/
Tom, thank you so much for linking that article. It just seems so dishonest to style a car that way, kind of like in the mid-’90s when so many cars had amber rear lenses where only a section of it actually lit up. (Long after the 1976 and ’77 Vega had that.)
I always liked the illuminated grille bar on Mercuries of this era; it’s one of the few things that’s particularly memorable about them. You could always identify one coming at you from 1/4 mile away… until the bulbs burned out and the owner either balked at the cost to replace them or simply tired of doing it every year or two. They used a tiny, 8 watt halogen bulb with a ~500 hour lifespan, times 2 or 4 bulbs per car. I think the only application using these bulbs was Mercury, and I remember them always being priced at about $8.00 each. The Topaz and Tracer got hosed by having a light-less light bar, but most of the Sables and Villagers seem to have ended up dark in the front after they reached their second or third owner as well, so maybe the Topaz and Tracer were just ahead of the curve?
It’s interesting the light-up grille bar caught enough attention that it showed up on the 4 door 1990-96 Pontiac Grand Prix as well. Those just used the minor element of a 3057 or 3157 bulb (usually used for stop/tail or turn/park applications). Those have a 5000+ hour lifespan, so usually lasted the life of the car.
I also felt a bit slighted that the “lightbar” grille on my Topaz GS didn’t illuminate like the Sable and Villager. So, I rectified that with a few modifications.
That is super-cool. I had no idea that could even be done.
Just a couple of bulb holders from a Sable grille plastic welded into the back of the Topaz lightbar, wired up to a separate switch on the dash. My favorite look was the lightbar and parking lights on, headlights off.
I bought a first-gen Tracer 2-door hatchback as my first new car; I certainly wasn’t copying anyone as hardly anybody had even heard of these (they were missing out on a great deal on a quasi-Mazda, back when the real thing was expensive due to the “voluntary” Japanese import restrictions then in place that kept 323 prices high but didn’t apply to the Mexican-built Tracer. The Tracer in fact had huge cash-back rebates as few people looking to buy a Japanese-style upscale small car in the Civic EX/Integra mold thought to drop by a Lincoln-Mercury dealer). Not that I was often bothered by anyone copying me; thanks to my non-existent fashion sense that was rarely an issue. It didn’t help I was the youngest sibling with five- and nine-year older brothers which relegated me to a childhood of wearing very dated hand-me-downs.
I was rarely copied, but one of the times I was led to one of my best-ever pranks. This would never have happened in my high-school years by which time I sadly had become amongst the lower-achieving students, but in early elementary school I was once actually one of the smart kids, or was at least perceived as such. One kid in fourth grade who didn’t like me much nonetheless must have thought I had brains, and at the beginning of a math class on exam day just before test papers were distributed, he was sitting behind me and I overheard his friend by his side saying he had no idea how do long division (or whatever the quiz entailed). I heard him say to his friend “here’s how” and then whispered to his friend: “copy off of Lee”. I had actually spent the whole night before learning how to do it myself and didn’t like someone cheating by copying my answers. So I decided, for each of the dozen or so problems we had to solve, I would write an incorrect answer, off by just one. I alternated one number too high and one number too low, so if the correct answers for the first four problems were 238, 143, 622, and 573, I would write 239, 142, 623, and 572 respectively, and so on for each of the fifteen or so equations we had to solve. After I was done filling out my test paper, I waited around a bit pretending to check my answers while the guy copying me turned in his test page to the teacher. I then used my pencil eraser to change all the answers back to the correct numbers, then turned in my paper which was now complete.
What I didn’t know at the time was that both of the kids sitting behind me were looking over my shoulder and copying my answers, so the teacher, already dumbfounded as to why one student had every answer off by exactly one, then really went off into WTF-land when a test paper from a second classmate also was off by one on every problem, again alternating one too high and one too low. (I also solved one problem incorrectly myself so that one answer was way off for all three of us). But the teacher had no clue as to what was going on until I asked her a week later if someone’s test results were all wrong by exactly one and that’s when she learnt how that bizarre situation transpired. Why I never got beaten to a pulp by either or both of the cheaters after I ensnared them is one of the enduring mysteries of my life.
That teacher should have given you extra credit. That is all.
Great prank, Lee! That’s the sort of thing I would like to have done but never had the presence of mind to think of at the time.
In Michigan, even into the late 1990s, there were still folks who would give you the side eye for driving a foreign car. This Tracer, along with the Chevy Nova/Geo Prizm, was a way around that stigma. It was also a way for “foreign” car obsessed younger folks to fulfill their desires for cheap, because their uncle worked for Ford and they got a “family discount”.
Great points, Evan. My family of origin had owned an ’88 Nova, and where that car was probably seen as acceptable, a Corolla would not have by many people in Flint.
Tracer? Was I supposed to remember this car? As for Lee’s prank: YAAAYYY! Love it!
Lee’s prank was *outstanding*.
IMO the Escort twin Tracer was nearly forgettable. Like some others, phoned in badge engineering. Where cars like the Cougar and Topaz got their own rooflines from the Ford counterparts.
Now I really liked the Mazda twin Tracer. Loved that smooth rear roofline. And though I’ve never seen one in person, there was a Tracer wagon from this era. I saw a beautiful example on CL maybe a year ago. I remember the Tracer commercials from the late 80s. Rainy night with a female cover of Clarence Clemons/Jackson Browne “You’re A Friend Of Mine”.
When this generation came out, the Tracer did have a unique roofline compared to the Escort. Similar to the differences in roofline between the Tempo/Topaz (4-door only, the 2-doors had identical rooflines) and the Thunderbird/Cougar.
The difference was, as stated, that the next year it was no longer unique and that sedan roofline was now available on the Escort.
Troy, thanks for mentioning that commercial, because now I have to look for it. I love all the musical references I get from this car site.
Yes, there was a Tracer wagon in the early Mazda 323-based series – here’s a fairly rare 1989-1/2 model with the red stripe that was used regardless of paint color where silver/chrome used to be, offered in late calendar year 1989 alongside 1990 models of other Mercurys. Speculation is that calling it a 1990 model would have resulted in requiring passive restraints that Ford didn’t want to invest in for a four-month run. The rear/side view of this car looks very similar to the 1st gen Escort/Lynx, and not all that different from the later ’90s Tracer wagons either.
When comparing sales figures, it should be remembered that 1991 was a long, year-and-a-half model year for the Tracer (and maybe Escort as well, not sure), with the 1991 models built in early 1990.
I had totally and completely forgotten there was a gen-1 Tracer wagon. My Encyclopedia of American Cars from the editors of Consumer Guide didn’t feature the Tracer as it wasn’t designed and built here. I have fixed the text. Thank you!!
And like nearly all first-gen Tracers, the dark charcoal bumpers turned this sickly shade of light gray by the 10 year mark. A coat of Armor All would restore the darker color for a few months before it turned light gray again.
I guess it doesn’t matter to you who you deal with, or have service your car? The reason I liked Mercury was that we didn’t go to the Ford dealer for service – we went to the Lincoln Mercury dealer. The LM dealer was a higher quality dealer. They had less traffic through the garage, and their garages were nicer. With a Mercury, you had a smaller team that remembered you. Back in 1990s – the “Saturn” treatment was taking effect, so we are seeing an improvement regarding dealers and customer services. However, before that time, it matter who you bought from and who did the servicing.
I guess it doesn’t matter to you?
It was the biggest sales plus regarding the Saturn vehicles I owned. It was one of the reasons you bought a Saturn. We knew our sales person the entire decade we owned Saturns. We knew the entire garage, especially the manager during that decade.
You are buying more than a car.
It’s definitely an interesting idea that lower sales volume would correlate with more care and attention to your vehicle when you bring it in. This does make sense to me in theory.
I’m glad someone brought up Saturn, because I was going to note how this Tracer and new-gen Escort appeared only a half year after the first Saturns. The Tracer was in every way I can think of (except dentable fenders) the equal of the Saturn SL, but cost far less to bring to market. Rather than starting a new subsidiary, building new dealerships, and a new factory, they just partnered with Mazda as they’d been doing for several years and sold the cars through existing channels. While the Saturn was initially successful, that success came at the expense of Chevrolet and Pontiac who didn’t have an up-to-date small car to sell for years.
” Earlier on, though, I hated being copied to the point of what had felt like mimicry just for the sake of irritating me … ” .
Actually, being copied could have been construed as a compliment.
My sister, 7 years older than I, was often asked to baby sit me and seemed at times to resent this obligation. Her high school boy friends would cruise up to the house in their early 50’s burbling Fords (always Fords) happy to see her, and then notice me tagging nearby.
“So you’re babysitting today?” “Yeah, for a few hours.” “Oh well, see you later alligator…”. “Yeah, after a while crocodile.”
It was the mid-1950s. Teen talk has evolved since then.
That feeling of being an unwanted presence was palpable to the little burden that I felt myself to be. I tried to be her social friend in a protective manner on such occasions, but I was just the baby who had to be “sat”.
My 18 months younger brother would never copy me. He was too cool to copy his goofy nerdy big brother. Brother Jeff was smart in school to my not smart in school; he had straight blond hair and blue eyes to my curly brown hair and thick plastic glasses over brown eyes. He had girl friends (plural); I had none and had no probable prospects of having one.
Joseph, being copied would have been wonderful. But of course, illogical.
In the later years my sister and I became closer and protective of each other as each of us went through life situations that needed protection as various times. She died four years ago.
Brother Jeff moved to California and I haven’t spoken to him in a long time.
I’m not sure why these Tuesday Dennis essays evoke such feelings and [almost] tangential comments. It may be that at my age, childhood memories are stronger than recent memories, and topics of childhood are triggers of sorts.
Brothers, sisters, parents, friends, jobs, homes, pets, and cars. It would not surprise me if future scientists discover that parts of the human brain are designed to hold specific thoughts and memories of these eight subjects.
At least for CC readers.
I always really enjoy your counterpoints and other angles of looking at the same situation. For me, CC is often as much as reading about the cars as about the human condition. I’m especially enjoying Tom Halter’s articles on advertising tropes and the discussion around the psychology behind many of those ideas.
I do remember it being said to me that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, but I think that goes only so far with kids of a certain age. I also stopped being “copied” at some point and became everyone’s follower, but thankfully that all ended when I started to realize my own worth and unique gifts.
Areas of the brain and their specific functions have long fascinated me. I try to keep my amygdala in check when under stress. Doesn’t always work. Fight or flight …
The shots of the white sedan have a generic Japanese ninety’s vibe about them it could be anything my 89 Mirage looked like that, Ford was comfusing in that era Aussie got Mazdafords I come back to NZ and there azre those and Euro Fords all over the lace too, pointing out clearly what my brother told me when he moved the other way Aussie had few choices when it comes to used cars
“Generic Japanese nineties vibe” is pretty much what I had exactly thought when this generation came out. In my mind, the first gen U.S. Escort, inferior though it was, always seemed a little bit distinctive. These Escorts and Tracers, by comparison, seemed dynamically superior and forgettable. Even looking at them, they have these slightly bulged-out body sides and a bolt-upright greenhouse that looks like it was just stuck on top of the body.
Another great biography Joe. Not one of my favourite styled cars of the ’90s. Reminds me of my nephew Lee’s 1995 Escort GT hatchback. His was in metallic teal blue. Always a fun ride with him, as he was so knowledgeable in the latest Canadian alternative rock music, circa mid-90s. Odds were a favourite of mine, at the time. Another very commercial-sounding band, that should have been bigger in the US.
Daniel, I’m sure I’ve said it before, but I guess I’ll repeat myself – I always appreciate your musical references. I often find myself back on the Discogs database searching for compilation CDs, and in a few instances, this has been prompted by one of your links.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m an only; there are upsides and downsides to that. I never got any embarassing hand-me-downs, but on the other hand my parents were probably clueless when it came to kids’ clothing and let themselves be sold whatever. This resulted in my tastes being pretty much off-piste, but in a contrary direction; green trousers from the Army Disposals instead of jeans, green T-shirt (I had five identical instead of anything different), and desert boots. It’s comfortable, it fits, so let’s get a spare… And we never went anywhere where formal wear was needed, so I never had any. Simple.
Come to think of it, that’s pretty much what I’m wearing today. And yesterday. I’m out of green shirts for tomorrow though.
Down here this Tracer was of course the Ford Laser – top selling small car for year after year, until this model came along. I owned the previous generation, and it was a great car, especially after I had the worn struts replaced with gas ones. I later found it held the neighbourhood ‘lap record’ around the roundabout on the main highway, so my son told me. MUCH later…
But this Laser landed with something of a dull thud. It didn’t look as good as its predecessor, it seemed bulkier but no roomier, it might have had a bigger engine (1.8 IIRC), but didn’t seem to go as well. Magazines were uncomplimentary. I had one as an overnight loan car from Ford, and I wouldn’t have bought one. The sedan few people were interested in looked awkward (the C-pillar was painted black here for some reason), while the bulging bodywork made the hatch in particular seem to have tiny wheels – they looked like 12-inchers but probably weren’t.
Overall it made a convincing case to look elsewhere. Which people did.
Peter, thank you for providing your perspective of being an only. That is one thing I do remind myself from time to time. It wasn’t all bad then, and it wasn’t all bad later on, in adulthood, to have siblings. The formative years are the hardest. I’m not sure that if I had any choice in the matter if I would have enjoyed being an only child more than having had siblings. I believe everything eventually happens / shakes out the way it’s supposed to.
It’s funny that you mention the bulging body sides. I hadn’t even read your comment before I had said pretty the much same thing further up in the comments. I agree that the Tracer before this one was a good-looking car.
Well, Pete there was ONE version that got good attention, and I drove one once.
That was the three door – a better looker, to me – with the 1.8 DOHC, turbo, intercooler, and 4-wheel drive. Absolute bloody rocket, and about as far removed from this soggy sedan, here bought by grannys as a Ghia automatic, as can be imagined.
In the US we got a Mazda 323 equipped like that for the 1988 and 89 model years, though not a (Laser-based) Tracer. There was also a 323GT four-door sedan with that engine for those two years but that one was FWD.
You remind me of the backseat battles with my little sister, when one of us would start repeating everything the other said, like a parrot. It was always really irritating. Ford and Mercury were kind of like that in the 70s.
Ford and Mercury were definitely the “I know you are, but what am I?” makes of the ’80s, as well.
I do miss this Mercury, the grey with red stripes one in the 1991 ad was exactly what my father bought for his final commuter car before he retired.
I loved that thing, it had the 16 valve DOHC motor and it just screamed. The only non-ideal thing was that it had an automatic so my mother could drive it. Not that I remember her ever driving it.
After dad retired my brother quickly commandeered it for his university commuter, so I very rarely got to drive it.
Nice find Joseph, I haven’t seen one in ages.
Thanks, Doug. I did have the thought of “why am I stopping to photograph and economy car from the ’90s?” as I was getting these pictures. To your point, it has been such a long time since I had seen one.
I am a run-out model myself, the last of six, so I am made of copied bits from the previous five, all ladled into one package that was probably designed to get me out the door in a hurry. Plenty of options, but also quite a few from packages that hadn’t sold in the earlier versions. An odd mix, really, and being based on previous designs, perpetually out of date, as my current outfit would still attest.
I never copied my siblings, even as I ended up in all of their clothing. It’s a funny old cliche, but you really do end up with more identity to the world as a first or a last.
Though there is one downside to being the latter, and it might be termed The Waning of Enthusiasm. My oldest sibling has detailed entries in mum’s diary of his first smile, his first steps, first words, first everythings, right the way through: I have just two, “Justin was born this day in 1968” and then “Justin graduated from high school some time last year. We think.”
I appreciate this perspective! Everything in my own experience, including those of my friends with siblings, would support your second paragraph. While you may have also experienced the “waning of enthusiasm”, your comments at CC also support my other theory about the youngest sibling: they are almost invariably hilarious.
If I were looking for a small car back in the early 90’s then this would have been very high on the list if not the top. Why? Mazda engineering which was pretty bullet proof. Same for the Prizm with bullet proof Toyota engineering. Yet, I wasn’t looking to replace my car at the time which was a Mazda and wouldn’t for another decade plus. Ironically when I did I bought a Focus with Mazda engineering rather than buying the Mazda 3. Cash back was huge in that decision.
I guess I didn’t realize that the Focus had Mazda genetics, but I shouldn’t be surprised, given how many Fords of that era had lots of Mazda components. I had always thought the first Focus we got in the U.S. was more European Ford in origin.
The Ford Duratec 23 is also known as the Mazda L engine developed in partnership.
My friend bought an ’88 4 door hatch new with proceeds from an advantageous stock sale. He previously had basically the same car twice…a Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Sapporo (the Mitsubishi sporty cars). I liked the Challenger (didn’t know him when he owned the Sapporo) and though hatchbacks are right up my alley, didn’t like the Tracer as well. But he had a few problems with the Challenger including some alignment issue causing cupped tires they couldn’t figure out, so he moved on to the Tracer.
To me the seats seemed pretty hard…the Challenger had been pretty cushy ride…even the back seat was pretty roomy (for a 2 door coupe) but I had a Scirocco back then…man, have things changed, inexpensive sporty 2 door cars were pretty common 40 years ago.
My Dad liked having the Mercury dealer close by, and bought 3 Sables in a row starting in ’89 (after my sister totalled his ’86 Dodge 600). It was kind of fun back then at the dealership getting to look at the Merkur XR4TI and the rare Scorpio that were in the showroom. We actually rented a Ford Scorpio sedan in ’96 in Zurich but otherwise know nothing about those imports.
Now…the Mazda 3 is about the only larger small car available as a hatchback, so that’s one of the few cars on my list to replace my aging Golf…which isn’t sold anymore, I’m too old for a GTi and don’t want a crossover…hope they still sell them when I (finally) am in the market.