Four-Eyed Fox-Body Follies: 1986 Mercury Cougar XR-7 vs 1983 Ford LTD

Good morning! Today we’re taking another look at Ford’s venerable Fox platform, in two of its less-often-seen flavors. One is exciting but ailing, and the other is dull but intact. Because of this juxtaposition of the two cars’ conditions, I am once again going to offer you a “Both” option in the voting – but only for a specific scenario. I’ll explain in a minute.

As soon as my wife was finished proofreading Friday‘s date-night showdown, she had only four words to say: “Well, the Pontiac, obviously.” I like to think of myself as a wise man, at least enough so to know when I should listen. With that in mind, I cast my vote for GM’s attempt at a sports sedan.

Which makes me wonder: Did any of the rest of you ask your potential passengers what they thought? The little Mazda ran away with the win, as I would expect if it were just us shopping for ourselves. It would certainly be my choice of the four. But for a date-night scenario, especially a first date? It might be better to keep your gearhead freak flag furled.

Moving on: Platform-sharing is a time-honored way for automakers to save money, and every automaker does it. Design one chassis, and alter the bodywork and powertrain as needed for the application. Chrysler made a meal out of this approach in the ’80s with the K platform, but Ford’s Fox platform might have underpinned more radically different cars. Time-honored nameplates like Mustang and Thunderbird rode on the Fox, but so did the relentlessly normcore Fairmont and the gentleman’s GT Lincoln Mark VII.

Forty years after the fact, this design-sharing across a whole line of automobiles has a side effect: it turns an entire manufacturer’s output from the whole decade into a big pile of Tinkertoys. Everything fits everything, and you can mix and match to your heart’s content. With that interchangeability in mind, take a look at these two.

1986 Mercury Cougar XR-7 – $3,500

Engine/drivetrain: Turbocharged 2.3-liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, RWD

Location: Grosse Pointe, MI

Odometer reading: 100,000 miles

Operational status: Runs great, not drivable due to rusted brake line

For most of its existence, the Mercury Cougar just followed along behind whatever Ford vehicle it was based on, starting with the Mustang, then the Elite and LTD II, and then the Thunderbird. For all that time, the XR-7 badge was applied to the fanciest or highest-performance Cougar. In the ’80s, Ford’s top-of-the-line Thunderbird was the Turbo Coupe, with a 2.3 liter turbocharged four, quite often paired with a five-speed manual, and the Cougar XR-7 followed suit.

The XR-7’s version of the turbocharged 2.3 didn’t have an intercooler, like the Mustang SVO did. Instead, it’s the same 155 horsepower engine available in the Ford Sierra-based Merkur XR4Ti, which would have been for sale alongside it at Lincoln-Mercury dealers. At least, the one in the showroom was; this one has an upgraded turbocharger, an intercooler, and some other upgrades to boost power up to SVO levels, and possibly beyond.

It runs well, and was daily-driven until recently, but a rear brake line has let go due to rust, so it is not currently drivable. Brake lines are not generally difficult items to replace, but this is a Michigan car, and the fact that a brake line rusted through does not bode well for the rest of the underside of the car. It’s a little crispy around the edges of the rear wheel wells and quarters, and I fear this may be the tip of a very rotten iceberg.

It’s also banged-up outside, and pretty grubby inside. You could clean it up, certainly, and the rust may not be as bad as I fear, but I have another idea I’d like to run by you.

1983 Ford LTD – $3,450

Engine/drivetrain: 3.8-liter overhead valve V6, four-speed automatic, RWD

Location: Fishers, IN

Odometer reading: 135,000 miles

Operational status: Doesn’t explicitly say, but my guess is that it runs and drives

At the other end of the Fox-body spectrum, we find the new-for-1983 downsized Ford LTD. This car replaced both the Fox-platform Granada and the Panther-platform LTD, though the LTD Crown Victoria stayed on the Panther chassis for decades afterwards, of course. This new, smaller LTD was most often seen with a 3.8 liter V6 under the hood, which this one has, but it was also available with a naturally-aspirated 2.3 liter four and, theoretically, a four-speed manual. You can probably already see where I’m going with all this.

The old Essex V6 still had a carburetor in 1983, and only managed 112 horsepower, some of which made it to the rear wheels via an AOD automatic transmission. This one is claimed to be in good condition, and comes with maintenance records, but they don’t expressly say that it runs and drives. I think we can safely assume so, but we can also assume that after 135,000 miles, its acceleration probably rivals plate tectonics.

It is, however, quite a lot cleaner both inside and out than the Cougar is. It looks like an FBI undercover car, but a well-kept FBI undercover car. You could use this as a movie prop. It does have some “light hail damage,” according to the ad, but the “two tone French vanilla and tan” paint does a good job of hiding it.

Ford actually did make a couple of higher-performance versions of this LTD: one called the LTD LX, with a high-output 302 V8, a limited-slip rear axle, and some suspension tweaks; and a police package, which was probably much of the same. One thing Ford never did offer, however, was an LTD with the turbocharged 2.3 liter four and a five-speed manual.

So now it’s time for you to choose. If either of these cars strikes your fancy as it sits, then by all means vote for it. But if you have come to the same conclusion that I have – that the LTD would make a fun sleeper with the XR-7 engine, transmission, and suspension parts – then vote for “both” and clear out some garage space to start swapping parts.

(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)