| The complete round trip was over 260miles from northern NJ. Luckily the weather was bright and clear, but a little cold - good weather for Max Boost! The leaves were at peak viewing and the trip went smoothly, save for the odd stop to replace intercooler pipes, mend loose electrical connections and tweak the mass air. |  |
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Did we liberate the Merkur parts we were looking for? Not really. The first yard had one well-picked over '86 XR without the rear hatch and someone had taken the entire front 'clip' - radiator, lights and all. The head was missing and a lot of the better parts were gone. This didn't stop us from setting about it in a frenzy though, as can be seen from the picture. |
| On the way out
we did spot a black XR with the interesting XR4Ti logo across the top of
the windshield. Anybody know this car?
It was in an area which did not allow us to raid the parts (no toolboxes allowed) and the hood was jammed closed. |
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One find was this rear-drive Pinto. You see some funny things in junkyards - sorry 'Automobile Recycling Centers'. |
| It was then onto the
well-known Harry's U-Pull It in Hazelton PA, a yard that has over 10,000
cars all stored in neat rows according to make. It was a well run
operation with a cooperative owner who had agreed to recognize the MCA
and give members free entry. The yard was ringed by a wall about
twenty feet high made from crushed cars.
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We scoured the yard and didn't see one example of fine European touring sedans from Osnabruck. We were so desperate we were even looking along the rows of crushed cars for something Merkur-like! In fact the car that we found that had the most in common with the Merkur was an Edsel! |
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Merkur-hunters (from left to right) Dave Ziminski, Jeff Turisik, 'Harry', Brad Anesi and Dave Weiner. Not pictured are Paul & Andrew West |
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We all enjoyed the day, despite the dearth of Merkurs. It just goes to show how rare these cars are. I would guess that as soon as they hit the yards, they get raided for parts and get sent to the crusher. To be fair, there were several Thunderbird TCs that we got some engine parts from which made the trip worth it. We'll be planning another trip, so check the events section of the MCA site regularly if you would like to attend. |
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