Sadly, the Americanized Ford Scorpio never sold well.
As I dig through old Playboy issues in search of manly classic car ads and ads for incomprehensible automotive accessories, I notice additional car-related items. For example, this best-of-1987 roundup entry that includes a reference to the all-but-forgotten Merkur Scorpio.
THE SIGN OF SCORPIO
Playboy editorial director Arthur Kretchmer liked his week with the Scorpio, likening it to “a roomy men’s club on wheels,” but the Merkur-badged version of the German-market Ford Scorpio never caught on even as well as its Merkur XR4Ti little brother (which was no huge sales success itself). As Cadillac learned a bit later with the Catera, sometimes the American market just isn’t ready for the cars built by Detroit’s European counterparts.
