I wish I knew because I really liked driving that car. I sometimes wonder if Ford saw the handwriting early on because I was offered a Ford extended warranty at a decent price. I rarely buy one of those but, for some reason, did with the Merkur. I never had breakdowns, but was a regular dealer customer getting nearly everything replaced under warranty over the 4 years. Traded it when it hit the end of warranty, 60,000 miles.
One benefit, though, was that for the first year or two Ford tried to build a Merkur community amongst their customers. We got invited to Ford sponsored dinners and meetings, got to meet Jackie Stewart and heard him speak a few times, and even got driving lessons from his crew. It was fun while it lasted.
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