It was the Merkur XR4Ti that caught my eye as I drove past the Haggen (former Albertson’s and soon to be Albertson’s again – don’t ask) market parking lot. Haven’t seen one of those for a few years. As I swung in to get a shot, I noticed two other vintage red cars in close proximity.
Since it was rather early yet, and the cars were parked some distance from the market, these may well belong to some employees. And maybe that’s why they hang out together.
This is an ‘899, the last year for the ill-fated XR4Ti, which explains the more modest single-plane rear spoiler. William Stopford did the full story on the Sierra-turned-Merkur here.
The dash was a little hard plastic box, but the seats in these were quite nice for the times.
Gen2 Camrys are still very prolific here, and this one is rather unusually crappy looking, due to its fading paint and peeling clear coat. Odd, since I was quite sure that Toyota was still using a conventional non-clear-coat red at the time, as in this similar-vintage MR2.
The Saab’s paint is still in pretty good shape, but then it is the youngster in the trio.
This is 1997 9000CSE Turbo, which makes it a second-to-last year model. Brendan Saur did a CC on a same-year 9000 Aero here. The CSE had the full-pressure turbo, making 200 hp.
The EWOP sticker intrigued me: Everything is Working Out Perfectly. Good to know.