Spotted in the Wild: Sierra XR4II (In the US)

"Garrett Davis" (GarrettDavis)
03/10/2014 at 11:44 • Filed to: None

Spotted this bad boy on my way out of the Verizon store. Unfortunately, I was in a massive rush and didn't have time to take more pictures, or try to find the owner. I was just walking by and stopped dead in my tracks, excited enough to see a Merkur, until I looked at the badge and let out a "Whaaaaat?"

My girlfriend was quite puzzled as to why I was so excited to see "some shitty 80's car," but then again, I don't think too many people know what these things are.

Also, couldn't find much info on the XR4II model specifically, anyone know the story on this trim line?

Edit: Here's a high res crop of the badge. As many people have pointed out, this is most likely a rebadged XR4TI. Makes me wonder if Santa isn't real either...

DISCUSSION (65)

Ravey Mayvey Slurpee Surprise > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 11:47

To be fair, it could be a re-badging of a Merkur.

Matt Hardigree > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 11:51

I would guess it's a Merkur rebadging, as that's a popular move, but it it looks clean either way. Now I'm going to cry.

Jagvar > Matt Hardigree
03/10/2014 at 11:53

I'm kind of sad you don't have yours anymore. :(

Scott-N > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 11:54

A waste of a heading on Jaslopnik.

Move along, nothing to see here.

Ratchet when he's all hopped up on synthetic energon > Ravey Mayvey Slurpee Surprise
03/10/2014 at 11:54

I can almost guarantee that's what it is: a Merkur XR4Ti with Sierra parts.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 11:54

XR4II? I only see one i there.. amI blind or did you mistype that? Anywho, that car has the XR4Ti bumpers.. and some wheels I don't know the origin of..

KnowsAboutCars > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 11:54

Kinja'd!!!

I think this side marker reveals this as a rebadged Merkur.

Ash78, voting early and often > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 11:57

Verizon, now with the nation's most comprehensive XR4Ti network!

KillerBee > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/10/2014 at 11:57

Look closely. The first "i" is pink, the second is grey and is set lower than the first... difficult to see, but it's there.

Garrett Davis > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/10/2014 at 11:59

Kinja'd!!!

Here's a higher res crop of the badge. I'll throw this in the post as well.

ScreenShot > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 12:00

Agree w/the others - rebadged/stickered. They're just messing w/you :)

Wheels look to be Scorpio with blanked centers and I've no idea about the small badge on the front fender behind the wheel - looks to be Karmann (which made the XRs), maybe off a Ghia.

megamarcx84 > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 12:01

I'm 99% sure that's a rebadge, but 100% sure that is one of two cars that exists that is made cooler by putting a Blue Oval on it...I dig it, it's like when I see Lexus or Infiniti owners rocking Toyota and Nissan badging, respectively; as long as the wheels aren't too large or chromey they usually turn out to be cool car guys/occasional gal.

Svend > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 12:01

I'm afraid as Ravey Mayvey....... has said, it looks like a rebadged Merkur to me as the leading edges of the front and rear bumpers have side marker reflectors on and Ford ones in Europe didn't.

I the owner had imported it I'd like to think he/she'd keep it as original as possible and merely stick on side reflectors when it was vehicle inspection time if required.

Still. She does suit the Ford badge better than the Merkur one. Very fine car indeed.

facebook:stringfellowe hawke > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 12:02

Its a re-badge. Front bumper is wrong for an XR4i and the Grille is from a Cosworth.

Blondude > Scott-N
03/10/2014 at 12:03

Well aren't you just a bundle of joy?

_MCA_ > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 12:05

Ugh, I know it's the wrong audience for this, but fuck what an ugly car.

RazoE > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 12:05

Rebadge. I have some bB stuff on my xB, and some Altezza stuff on my IS300.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 12:06

Hmm.. strange, I've never seen that before. Makes me think it's a rebadged Merkur. I CAN be wrong, but to my knowlegde the XR4i only had red(or pinkish) or grey badges. My knowlegde of Ford is not the best tho' but I've seen my share of XR4i's :)

mike89 > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 12:08

Not being sarcastic here, but other than the rarity, what's so special about it ?

wiffleballtony > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 12:08

You are all the kind of people who loved to ruin Santa for the rest of us. I want to believe!

CJinOB > Svend
03/10/2014 at 12:12

Considering the effort expended to eliminate the t from the badge, hopefully they eviscerated the turbo too. Then this Sierra can be enjoyed in all its naturally aspirated goodness.

kenty79 > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 12:13

A common sight in Ol' Blighty during the 80's, with its lesser spotted bretheren the XR4X4I and the immortal Sierra cosworth.

vroompshhhh > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 12:16

I'll jump on the rebadge bandwagon with everybody else... I've seen a lot of LHD Monaros and Commodores on Craigslist.

strokeofgenius > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 12:28

It is a rebadge without a doubt. It popped up on the Merkur Forum as well. The car must be making the rounds

Link to Merkur Forum with car description

Still, a very nice clean example of a rare vehicle

smokinstack11 > mike89
03/10/2014 at 12:38

Cosworth helped to turn this into a Group A rally car by hooking up a 2.0L turbo 4 to an AWD system. It also has some pretty wacky "only from the 80s"-styling that adds a bit of charm.

rainsfather > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 12:40

There is a very VERY obvious reason that this is a Merkur that people are not pointing out. Sierras only had one pane of glass past the b-pillar. This has two just like all Xr4Ti's.

facebook:stringfellowe hawke > ScreenShot
03/10/2014 at 12:53

Scorpio was 5-Stud. Sierra was 4.

fivepointnine > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 12:54

why did I see this today...now I am on Craigslist looking for XR4Ti's

ScreenShot > facebook:stringfellowe hawke
03/10/2014 at 13:01

Yes, I know - I owned both vehicles.

' look to be ' means the style. How they got on there? Ask the guy that faked the badge :)

Bvnni > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 13:07

Kinja'd!!!

Shot this a few years back when I was living in Fort Lauderdale. LHD and registered.

fintail > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 13:26

Rebadge with US bumpers, but still cool in an 80s way. Looks like it is very well kept, that's respectable.

Now that these are 25+ years old, someone could bring one in, if they were crazy enough.

chriswhotakesphotos > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 13:28

What is special about a Merkur? I saw one at a Cars and Coffee recently and it's fair to say that I might not had ever seen one before, but I don't quite get the significance beyond that.

gc8foreva > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 13:41

"My girlfriend was quite puzzled as to why I was so excited to see 'some shitty 80's car'..."

This girlfriend of yours. Yeah, not gonna work.

Half-Caulked Jack > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 14:06

I still have a weird affinity for these- My dad bought a bright red one back in the early 90's when they were still considered competent sporting cars. His had those alloys with the circles around them, tho.. I still stop dead in my tracks, much like you did, whenever I see one.

facebook:stringfellowe hawke > rainsfather
03/10/2014 at 14:07

Nope, you're wrong. the XR4I used the same shell as the Merkur XR4ti. The only two side window Sierras were the Base Spec, Cosworth and RS500. Europe had a full range of two side window cars but oboe the XR4I used this shell.....apart from the Merkur.

facebook:stringfellowe hawke > Bvnni
03/10/2014 at 14:23

it's a Merkur. like the blackened pillar to make it look like a Cosworth. Twin pipes though? schoolboy error!

Matthew Keyser > Jagvar
03/10/2014 at 15:40

I am very glad he sold it however!

Louis Subearth > Ash78, voting early and often
03/10/2014 at 15:59

I don't like Verizon. I'm almost allergic to their network. CDMA? More like CDM-Eww. Who knows if this Sierra's owner hates Verizon too?

emm3 > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 16:11

Weird. I don't believe there was ever such a thing as an "xr4ii."

There was however an XR4i and an XR4x4 (four wheel drive) - at least in the UK. So I'm guessing this is a Merkur with an owner who got a little badge happy.

AspenRS > _MCA_
03/10/2014 at 16:19

I'm with you, that is one ugly car.

Meemperor > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 16:28

There's a grey one I've seen cruising around Scarborough, ON. (Eastern Toronto)

goto(andLego); > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 17:46

Yo dawg, we heard you like soirees so we put a wing on your wing so you can…er..Ford.

ksmay71 > Garrett Davis
03/10/2014 at 19:59

Def not a Sierra. The Merkurs had the split window you see here, while Sierras had one big window:

Kinja'd!!!

Paul > Scott-N
03/10/2014 at 20:08

Nonsense. Plenty to see there. The XR4i is a rare car in Europe these days, and the XR4Ti is rarer still.

Paul > mike89
03/10/2014 at 20:10

It's a car from arguably Ford's worst sub-brand since Edsel. Merkur only sold the XR4Ti and the Scorpio, while in Europe the same car is something of a legend. On its own it isn't much, but I think it has more of an appeal to a European reader like myself.

Paul > ksmay71
03/10/2014 at 20:12

Not all Sierras had the single window though. The one the XR4Ti is based on, the XR4i, had that same split window thing going on. A lot of people cut that split out and retrofit windows to create Cosworth replicas. It's a very odd styling touch, and as far as I can tell, it was weird even in the '80s.

Paul > megamarcx84
03/10/2014 at 20:16

All evidence points to a rebadge, in my opinion. The front end is off a Cosworth: the actual Merkur had a flush front end with no grille opening, and the front lights look wrong as well. The Merkur front lights have something of a divider in them - the first picture shows a black divider almost, while European models lacked that - or at least had a significantly less prominent version of it, as seen below from a similar angle:

Kinja'd!!!

RrrrrWD > rainsfather
03/10/2014 at 21:27

No, the Sierra XR4i (but none of the other Sierras) had two panes too.

RrrrrWD > ksmay71
03/10/2014 at 21:30

No, the XR4i had the split windows too. Normal 3-doors and Cosworths had the large window as shown.

nauyop > ksmay71
03/10/2014 at 23:30

Nope. They could also have split windows.

Kinja'd!!!

rainsfather > facebook:stringfellowe hawke
03/11/2014 at 01:11

I stand corrected. You would think after years of owning two XR4ti's (road racing both) I would have realized this. I guess no one on the Merkur boards gave a damn about the Seirra Xr4i since the Cosworth 500 was the car to emulate.

twowheelsx > Garrett Davis
03/11/2014 at 01:26

When I was living in California, often times I would jump on my motorcycle and ride up to Lake Tahoe on the weekend. There was an old gas station turned vintage car lot that had several Merkur XR4Ti among many older cars, mostly from the 1950's. The sign out front say Runnel Automotive, located at 969 Emerald Bay Road in South Lake Tahoe. Google shows the cars in street view.

Kinja'd!!!

Garrett Davis > _MCA_
03/11/2014 at 01:31

1980's. That's all I can say.

craggers > nauyop
03/11/2014 at 11:07

The XR4i's all had split rear windows - the Cosworth and RS500 had the big unsplit rear. There was also an XR4x4 model in Europe which had the cologne V6 and 4x4 running gear - though it was always a 5door.

ocbrad1 used to be iamhoff but is now just wandering around > Garrett Davis
03/11/2014 at 18:50

Pretty sure it's just a rebadge. As I understand it (and I would defer to the resident XR4Ti experts like Hardibro), the European Ford Sierra Coupe had a single piece large rear quarter window like this:

Kinja'd!!!

The US-imported Merkur XR4Ti, on the other hand, had the separate "wing" windows plus the full rear quarter windows, like this:

Kinja'd!!!

and the one in your pics. BTW, I know exactly which shopping center that is, grew up in PQ, went to Mt. Carmel HS and watched all of Carmel Mtn. Ranch get developed in the 80s and 90s. Nice to see the old neighborhood. Nice find!

MBG141 > Matt Hardigree
03/11/2014 at 23:10

I saw one on my way from from Oak Ridge, TN yesterday. It was a dark brown Scorpio Merkur. So many tail lights.....I should've took a picture, but it was full of pictures and videos of my Historical Geology field trip that day D:

Scott-N > Blondude
03/13/2014 at 16:48

Yep, I am ecstatic since I saw a 1980 ford escort!

Shiftright > Garrett Davis
04/02/2014 at 15:33

We need more flat disc alloys in the world.

Shiftright > Scott-N
04/02/2014 at 15:34

You obviously have no clue as to how ground breaking this car was in the 80's. Also, if fathered a couple of Cosworth variations and did quite well in ETC.

Scott-N > Shiftright
04/02/2014 at 17:04

lol, its a ford.

Shiftright > Scott-N
04/02/2014 at 18:40

Ah, one-make fan boy with tunnel vision I see. That explains it. Do you even have a license?

Connor Jones > Garrett Davis
01/19/2015 at 12:28

There's a post about this car on the merkur club forum. Its a rebadged merkur xr4ti, with the original 2.3 LIMA turbo. It's modified, running higher boost than stock (stock was 15psi).

Connor Jones > strokeofgenius
01/19/2015 at 12:31

beat me to it.

Connor Jones > fivepointnine
01/19/2015 at 12:32

They're out there, and they're still good cars if taken care of. I've got an '89 with 254000 miles, still going. Can be quite quick too.

Connor Jones > facebook:stringfellowe hawke
01/19/2015 at 12:35

Most merkur owners who take cossie parts don't really car about making their cars 100% like sierras. I personally like the oddity of my merkur, and see no reason to fake it as something else.