1987 Ford Merkur XR4Ti

Rapido IV Hatchback

4 - Cyl.

Manual

WF1BT80W7HM685646

Gasoline

Merkur XR4Ti Rapido Stage IV 1987.5 RARE CAR; 1 of 12 Rapido Stage IV cars The Merkur XR4Ti is a relatively rare car to start with, and less than ( a total of ) 100 specially modified, Rapido prepped examples were built. Originally available only in stages I, II, and III - then later the stage IV came along with a few more goodies, most noteably the T5 transmission. Due to the $8,000 the Stage IV added to the sticker price of a new XR4Ti in 1987, very few examples were build to this specification. You could probably count on one hand how many Stage IV cars are left today. This is one of them.Rapido upgrades present on this car:Rapido Intercooler systemRapido Monoplane fiberglass rear wing15" x 6.5" lightweight alloy wheels28.5mm fronmt sway bar19mm rear sway barSport steering wheelBorla stainless dual exhaustRapido 145 MPH speedometer"SVO Plus" kit with larger air meter, PE + ECU, & intakeRapido "dead pedal" (foot rest left of the clutch)Rapido "dual snorkel" air cleaner lidRapido Borg-Warner T5 transmission kit This car spent the majority of its life in Texas, then to Georgia. Sat dormant with a bad fuel sending unit / pump for 5 years in Georgia until I had it transported to Ohio earlier this year. Bear in mind when you look at the pictures the car has not been washed in 5 years! I cleaned one corner on the car to show that there is some shine still left with a little cleaning/waxing. What I've done in the last couple months since aquiring the car:Got the car running again - mainly a new in tank sending unit and a new external fuel pump was all it needed to fire up again (along with a good battery).Dunlop tires on original Rapido (WORK) wheelsReplaced cracked grille and a missing fog light.Replaced a few broken plastic bits in the interiorRebuilt rear brakes with NOS Ford partsWhat needs attention:Bad steering rack - currently no power steering at allHeater control valve leaking badlyNeeds cleaned top to bottomLower dash is cracked, but there is a replacement in the trunk Quick video clip of the engine running: Magazine articles featuring the Stage IV Rapido Merkur XR4Ti: On Nov-02-11 at 15:37:01 PDT, seller added the following information: I've been receiving a lot of similar questions so I'm going to add the answers here to the description for anyone else wondering.Any Rust? No. Aside from the last couple months, the car spent its entire life in Texas and Georgia and has never seen road salt or snow. Great environment for preserving all metal things on the car. The hot climate mostly took its toll on the rubber and plastic parts on and inside the car.Where is the large reflector inbetween the tail lights? The previos own said it has broken long ago and was removed. You can still see the adheasive mounting points as well as the difference in paint color around the area where it was previously mounted. So it was there at one point in time but has since been removed and discarded.Do you have the center caps for the wheels? Yes. All 4 center caps are in the trunk of the car and are included. On Nov-03-11 at 13:43:23 PDT, seller added the following information: Just wanted to make a note here that the passenger side cowling corner is missing but they are easy fo find used for about $25 or new for around $55. Also worth a note as its not very easy to see in the picture - the drivers side seat is worn/ripped on the leftmost bolster. I'm going to include a good replacement heater control valve with the car at no additional cost. I know someone who has one of the center rear reflectors for sale and would be happy to put the winning bidder in touch with them if they wanted to bring the car back to how it looks like in the magazine. I also have basically anything else you would need or want for this car - new/used/rebuilt/etc. If you look in the background of the pictures and in the paint reflections you will see there are a lot of Merkurs here! On Nov-03-11 at 16:49:11 PDT, seller added the following information: Just wanted to upload a pic showing the entire driver's seat. Also a pic underneath showing the rocker / pinch weld area. This is a very common area for Merkurs to rust and as you can see from the picture this car is very solid just as you would expect given its life in the south. To me the car's value is in the fact thats its a rare and unique car. Some TLC required, but could prove to be quite a bargain. I was going to sell it in the spring; fully detailed, rebuilt rack, etc. but its heading towards winter in NE Ohio and I'm shuffling cars around into storage here and there and I figured I'd put this car up "AS-IS" and see what happens - thats why you see the lack of cleaning/polishing/making things look pretty/etc. Would be really easy to bring this car back up to snuff and have a really rare and quick car. On Nov-05-11 at 13:21:04 PDT, seller added the following information: I have had a few inquires about the original front grille on the car as I replaced it with a stock front grille. The genuine cosworth grille that originally came on the car was faded and had a few cracks in it, so I replaced it wiht a nice stock black grille that I had on hand. I've decided to include the original grill with the car as well and wanted to include a picture of it as well. Needs cracks repaired and painted, but it is a genuine cosworth part that is original to the car and should go with it as most people seem intent to put the car back to its original glory. So, this grille will be included at no additional cost with the winning bid of the car.