Tempo and Topaz: Cutting Edge styling and unexciting to drive
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ม.ค. 2024
- Welcome to Auto Chatter! Today is a little history on the Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz. These similar cars were part of some big changes at Ford during the 80s and helped usher in their new era. I invite you to come with me for a brief story about these cars! I do hope you enjoy it ,and please like and subscribe to let me know! Be sure to comment if you have stories to share about these cars!
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Just a plain old car, nothing fancy or fast, no pretensions, but just did what you wanted a plain old car to do for both owner and manufacturer alike. It also introduced a lot of Americans to the virtues of FWD in wintry conditions. Fact is, a plain old car is exactly what most people need but everyone seems to want something else. And it beat the heck out of the US competition whose cars were gaining a reputation for problems. I still see a few around here on the roads around here but they're getting scarce. For a good laugh turn on the captioning and read from 3:06 🤣 Must have been one heck of a girlfriend he had back then 😁
I see the "Author" has weighed in! Yeah they were not exciting, but at least they looked like the future? OMG...that was funny with the caption. I couldn't have planned that if I tried! 😀
@@autochatter They were a more modern design than the other 2 biggies in styling. A lot more like the European cars but still with an American flavor to them. I'm nearly deaf, and I get to see a lot of funny things that most people miss using CC, but this is one of the best ever! It would almost be worth buying one of these if that was standard equipment 😄
@@P_RO_ Well, I'm sorry your hearing impaired, but I never would have known about that particular CC humor you found otherwise!
Driver's head was optional, though came with the Performance Equipment Package.
@@owlnswan4016 Oh boy...The secrets out 🤣 Distractive driving at its finest.
I had a Tempo in high school. Was a great strong running vehicle. Lacked power, but it was a great first car back in 1996.
I'm sure it was. I had friends in the mid 90s rocking second hand Chevettes still LOL.
My buddy had a 87 Tempo. The combination of trying to tow a boat and a wife (who weighed as much as the boat) blew his clutch.
OK..Thats now the funniest comment I've read today!
Fat chicks are rough
🤣😜🤣
I had a coworker who commented that his scooter crapped out while taking his girlfriend shopping. After he left a waitress said "That's because it's designed to haul people, not livestock."
I admit I felt a bit guilty for finding it funny, but admired the savage nature of the waitress.
@@christopherconard2831 Some people have no filter at all! 😁
My wife had a Tempo when I met her. The transmission cratered on our way to our honeymoon. “Unexciting” is the perfect word to describe that car aside from the chaos it inspired at midnight that night.
I imagine that put a damper on your Wedding night! We drove my wife's car to Florida for our Honeymoon. It was a 5 speed Sentra she just recently got to replace the Tempo.....Because it had a transmission starting to slip.
@@autochatter
I’m sorry, her’s was a Topaz, not a Tempo. Good move on taking the Sentra. I would have taken my 5spd Celica but I had totaled it driving way too fast the day before. It was a crazy couple of days, for sure!
@@negativeindustrial Oh wow! We took her car because my MR2 Turbo didn't have enough luggage space.
@@autochatter
Sounds like we have similar taste in women and sportscars. I’m considering whether the MR2T or the Soarer GT-T will be the least dangerous on the ice today. Both of them have 275mm rear tires so it’s probably just best to leave them both in the garage 😂
I’m a Texan, we don’t know how to drive in this stuff.
@negativeindustrial lol..I didn't have alot of experience driving in snow either growing up in coastal NC. I'm in South Florida now, so the only snow around here is probably illegal, LOL. MR2 OR Soarer...Both good options.....to leave in the garage.
My parents bought a 92 Tempo two door new off the showroom floor. It went to my grandpa and then to my uncle. It last until about 2010 and it had over 300,000 miles.
That's awesome!
We were a Ford family through the 80's and well into the 90's. When I went to college in '92, I took the '78 LTD station wagon and it ate a hole straight through my super anemic wallet! First alternator change though, and the room to work was amazing! I brought it back and took the 85 Mercury Topaz (with the engine replaced with an 86 Tempo) and ran that thing to death! Most memorable were the times I was driving through downtown Columbus, OH in the winter and thought I was hearing someone doing a crazy burnout! Turned out, when I saw my reflection in the windows of a building, my rear axle had completely frozen so my rear wheels weren't turning! lol! Second thing was when I went outside to start it and let it warm up because the heat stopped working. When I came back outside, there was antifreeze all over the snow and under the car. The radiator had split... I also remember being on the PA Turnpike heading to Ohio from Virginia and chugging up the hill to Bethlehem, PA and going to neutral and coasting over 100mph down the big hill from Bethlehem! Couldn't do that in gear if I tried, so it was the fun part of the trip! Lol!! Great memories!
Great (and somewhat scary at times) Topaz stories you shared!
Hey, check yourselves! LOL My first car was a 1985 Tempo! This kind of car is what the US is missing now. It had MORE than plenty of room for 4-5 people, got great mileage, had all the basics, reliable, and it was CHEAP! We need those kind of cars in America again. Bring back the Escort and the Tempo's of old! Honestly, it's sad that later generations will never have cheap affordable new cars.
Going all Beastie Boys on the comments??? LOL. Problem now is no one wants the basics. You can buy a new Nissan Versa now for 17k that has more room,power,and equipment than any Tempo could even be optioned with then...and adjusting for inflation costs less today than what a base 84 Tempo did .But its not a crossover so Nissan will probably kill it off soon.
@@autochatter Yeah I forgot about the Versa sedan and you're right it is cheap and definitely cheaper than the GLX Tempo if you can find a stripped model. Adjusting for inflation, the Tempo would be around $20k for a GL with power windows, an auto, and A/C. Around here in NV, Versas are all loaded and they may have had 1 on the lot that was the basic. Most are 20k+. The other part is we know it'll never be a reliable car for the long term. Nissan is so well known for its shit CVTs and less than stellar build quality as of late. My issue is that's the only one. However, I 100% agree on the SUV and crossover thing. I have no idea why why the US likes them so much. It does make me wonder if they're easier to build and manufacturers are just telling us SUVs only sell when they're controlling what gets made. Dunno.
@@llspragulus People want to sit up higher and wouldn't be caught dead in a station wagon. They also want good gas mileage and somthing that doesn't take a turn like a 84 Jeep CJ. They may never tow anything or go offroad either. A crossover in a weird way is the perfect vehicle for alot of folks.its a jack of all trades, and a master of none. But I dont want one.
My sister bought 1, new transmission at 50 k, not under warranty. Drove it a few years with no heater, cause the junk car was designed to fail. But hey, it got good mpg lol. Japanese junk
@@curtiscriscoe367 The 17k new Versa I suggested was the base 5 speed one. I don't like CVTs.
These cars were EVERYWHERE. I remember my boss had one and she loved it. She gave one to her daughter despite it being relatively new and just bought another one. They were quite reliable despite Consumer Reports giving them pretty lousy numbers in that department.
They seemed Ok untill that odometer registered 6 digits on it from my encounters with them.
the only thing good about Consumer Reports magazine was that it made good toilet paper.
These cars were Everywhere back in the day..I remember teachers at school had Tempos/Topaz... mostly 4drs
@@RonnN-gf8tm Yeah I never saw many 2 door ones.
Consumer reports reliability ratings, always needed to be taken with a few huge grains of salt. Number one, they were terribly biased towards Japanese manufacturers (specifically large ones, like Toyota and Honda, because they literally libeled two small Japanese manufacturers, Suzuki and Isuzu, forcing them out of business in the US). And for them, a problem was a problem was a problem. A Chevy celebrity whose engine lasted 150,000 miles, but had flimsy cupholders or a wonky radio would be deemed as “unreliable” as a Subaru with a blown head gasket at 50,000 miles.
Ford Tempo has something going back in the 80s and early 90s, and these were my favorite cars out of the four lineup, next to the Mustang, Taurus, Crown Vic, LTD, Escort and Thunderbird. Back in late 1994 I was 14 years old, my late stepmother bought her a 1993 Mercury Topaz GS coupe in black with red interior with a tachometer, no cruise control a hand crank windows and when I turned 17 in 1997 with no driver license and gained trust I started driving to school on Mondays and Fridays, untill the transmission whet out in 1999. In 1995 when I was 15 years old, my sister graduated from high school and my mom bought her a 1990 Tempo sedan in white with red interior. I drove it once. The engine gave out on her in 1999. And I bought a 1994 Tempo coupe in white with silver interior with a manual transmission in 2011 out of Craigslist in good condition for $800. Only had it for a week and it got stolen. The coupe what's my favorite body style in the Topaz/Tempo and the Tempo sedan. Now I want to find me a black, white, blue, red 1994 sedan version fully loaded with a manual transmission and put a 2.3 inline 4 or 3.0 vulcan V6 turbocharged intercooled engine and turn it into a SVT variant with integrated fog lamps, upgrade handling, four disc brakes and SVT wheels from the Foxbody Mustang.
That would be a cool sleeper car! Hope you find the right one to build it!
A friend of mine had a tempo for many years, great car, no problems!
That's good..The many comments vary from one like yours to it was the worst Ford ever LOL.
Grew up in the 90s in small town Ohio. A lot of these everywhere, plus old rust bucket Buicks and generic ford looking things. Big rusty cars abounded. Now it's all semi-wrecked ricers or lifted trucks riding your butt for going the speed limit. I miss the good old days.
One thing I love when I go back to visit where I grew up in North Carolina, is there's still alot of cars running around I don't see anymore. I saw a Lincoln Versailles last visit! Rust isn't a issue there and many are still being driven as more nessesity as its not a economically booming area.
My mom had a 85 with the 5 speed manual when I was a kid. I seen one here in Florida in mint condition a while back, That really turned my head.
It's wild what cars that today make you double take ,that at one time was everywhere!
My best friend had a baby blue Tempo for his first car. He put a massive stereo system in it first thing. We cranked up so many great tunes are cruzed the back roads of our small town. He swapped a set of Escort GT wheels onto it and installed a factory luggage rack on the trunk. Still don't understand the luggage rack but to each his own. Lots of great memories tied to this model.
I think the luggage racks were more a style feature? Never really saw them ever used.
I had a red 1990 Ford Tempo as my first car in high school. My parents picked it out. It had 24k miles on it in 1992 when I got it. It looked just like the 88 Tempo in the video. I still like the dashboard but that's the only good thing I can say about it. It was a piece of junk. I really tried to take care of it by waxing it twice a year and changing all the fluids following the manual. The mechanics who worked on it said it was the nicest looking one around. I kept it through college until 1999 until it had 95k miles. I spent $6,000 on repairs during those 6 years and that's excluding oil changes and other fluid changes. That's like spending $1,800 in today's dollars in repairs every year for a car that had under 100k miles on it. Then you had to add oil changes and all the other maintenance items on top of that. It's 2023 now and none of my other cars have even come close to that horrible record lol.
At the time my Wife had hers, I swore it had a timer set to the odometer for everything to go at 100k LOL. But she bought it used cheap and we sold it cheaper.
Had two red '88 AWD Tempos in '89 and '90. They were great in the snow and I took them out on unplowed roads after a snowfall just to see peoples reactions as it climbed up hills in 6 inches of powder. That was back when 4x4 suvs were in their infancy and most cars on the road were still rear wheel drive.
That's pretty cool! I think I've only seen one AWD one ever in person and NEVER laid eyes on a diesel. But I didn't live in a snowy area, so even Subarus back in the day were kind of rare to me.
My parents bought a new 1988 Mercury Topaz GS sedan, black with tan interior. Had the turbine style wheel covers. Lots of great memories in that car. When it was new it had its problems, the black paint cracked-was repainted by dealer. And the rubber trim around the rear window shrunk significantly and always fell out. In tank fuel pump always went out...needed a muffler every 2 years it seemed...TFI ignition would always fail causing hard starts when warm...but I had a 89 Topaz L, 91Tempo L and 92 Tempo GL V6 years later when they were one step to the junkyard...they were either free or scrap value...fun cars.
Ahh...The cars you don't worry about getting a ding in a parking lot!
The first car I bought was a red 1990 Tempo GL in 2000. Had 84k miles. Drove it for 2 years. The transmission went out at 110k miles.
My future wife's transmission started slipping just before 100k miles, and we sold it. Hers was a auto...I assume yours was too.
I loved when they got the Vulcan V6.
Should have got it sooner!
These cars and most other small cars of that era offered something that we don't have today. Simplicity, low cost and economy. Todays cars may be more powerful and have way more features, but let's face it, you don't need most of the crap that modern cars are encumbered with. I was in my 30's during those years and drove Honda Accords. Yes, they were probably better built and more reliable than the Tempo and Topaz, but they all were simple, easy to repair and maintain vehicles. I miss those days.
Consumer demand for features and government mandates for required ones has certainly risen.
Excellent video. My first car was a two year old 1992 Tempo in dark metallic blue with 90,000+ miles.
Problems included: Continuous failure of the alternator caused by electrical demands of subwoofer amplifier, non-functional speedometer and odometer, non-functional horn, drivers side door-mounted shoulder belt stuck in the closed position with a broken limit switch, which resulted in the seatbelt motor constantly running which of course killed the battery, meaning I had to pop the hood and disconnect said battery every time the car was parked, reverse procedure to start car, both engine mounts were sheared clean thru, meaning the engine was essentially only held in the car by the connection to the bellhousing (😮), and certainly more that I just don’t remember.
Thank you! I've seen a few comments now about the motor mounts and some electrical too. At least your trans didn't go!
I rented a Tempo for a vacation trip in the mid-80's, all I can recall is that it ran OK, but the driver's seat was so thinly padded that you wound up perched on the metal seat frame - it was a real butt-buster !
Hmmm..Maybe the earlier ones had thinner seats, because my Future Wife's 88 felt like mini Lazy Boy recliners to me then. They were plushier than the Celica I had at the time, but not nessesarily more comfortable.
I had excellent experiences with the '93 Mercury Tracer 1.9 Litre IL4!
Good cars...Those were based on the Mazda 323.
Great video!.. honestly.
Thanks! Going in, it's one of those where I'm thinking....Its about a Tempo, how many people WANT to see this?
First car that I drove regularly was my mom's '89 Tempo. I got my license a few months before she did, so the car was mine to drive to school and back.
Nothing like the freedom of getting your Licence!
11:01 - My future wife was driving a '93 Tempo when we started dating. It was used - 5 years old at the time - and it barely stayed together by 100K miles.
LOL wow..Hers was about 5 years old too when she bought it! Heater core went out and a few other things. When it was close to 100k, the transmission was slipping.
My dad had one as a company vehicle, and I think he eventually bought it off them. I wasnt too sure what problems it came across, but it just ended up sitting on the driveway for what felt like an eternity lol
Awesome!!! I learned to drive on my stepmothers 88' Ford Tempo 4 dr. She bought it new had it for 8 yrs
Cool! Hope it brought back some memories.
@@autochatter Sure Did!!! I miss 17...😆😄thanks again Autochatter..Right on!!
@@RonnN-gf8tm Your welcome!
I last saw a tempo last time i looked in my storage building. Have an 84 coupe. For the era they were decent cars. Reliable and stylish. The engine while not leading edge tech was more refined sounding than gms equivalent size iron duke 2.5L, of which i have a couple of those too. I really appreciated the fresh sunny styling when they debuted
You have quite the museum in that storage building! I recall your previous posting about the Buick too!
I had a very used V6 sedan with manual windows for a very short time. When all of the steel tubes for gas, brakes and power steering became ventilated I trashed it. It was worth a few dollars towards a used 08 Fusion. Can't really say I miss it. The heater worked very well though.
Ventilated....LOL..love that!
These made Accords and K derivatives look crisp and exciting.
In terms of driving dynamics? I agree!
Growing up my mom had a 93 tempo. Loved that car. Ran well past 220k mi. Don't know how it lasted so long hahah. Power seat belt went out almost immediately when she got it
I'm guessing it was a 5 speed if it went that many miles.
@@autochatter surprisingly not. It was the automatic GL trim level. Idk how it lasted that long. She sold it for 200 bucks and it ran for the friend she sold it to for another year. She replaced it with a 97 Kia sephia. There's a video idea. Kias of the 90s 🤣💙
@thegayjoshuaray LOL..my little town got a Kia franchise around 97 or 98....They were so bad the Ford dealer that aquired it dropped them after about a year. Cars were coming off the truck new broken.
There's something about them old shit box cars from the 80's that makes me happy
Probably the memories you had in or around them then. When I sit in a car from my youth, it takes me back.
Great 😊 ! I really like your content going down memory lane showing us the cars we grew up with. I don't like what we have today ( crossovers ) with the exception of pickup trucks and proper truck based suv's . 😊
Thank you again, and by all means binge away! I'm not the biggest crossover fan myself Lol
I had an '89 Tempo GL that looked like the burgundy '88 four door in the video. Bought it in '92, had 25k miles on it. Had it for about 2 years, i missed driving a manual transmission, so i traded it in on an '87 Tempo GL coupe with the sport trim option. It was charcoal gray with the red insert in the beltline molding. Also a low mileage car, and lots of fun to drive. And peppy for a 2.3L coupled with the 5 speed manual. Had it for about 2 years when a deer ran out in front of me and I clipped the deer but messed up the Tempo.
The manual had to raise the fun factor on these. In my area when they were still new, I mainly saw auto sedans.
Nice video, I like how the info is presented. Classy, like motor trend. liked and subscribed
Thank you very much!
I had a white '84 2-door GL 5 speed manual that I brought brand new and actively drove for 4 years and stayed in the family for an additional 6 years
The 2 door ones were always the rare sights to me growing up then.
Yes, the 4-door models were more common to see on the streets back then
I haven't see either in a long time, but remeber them well.
Me too!
My mother had a 1985 Ford Tempo till my sister took over the car after getting her driver’s license in mid January 1988. I should’ve getting my license in 1987 but, I didn’t bother with it. In driver’s education that I did drove a 1986 Ford Tempo in the beginning of the school year in a red one with red cloth interior. The class gotten a new Ford Tempo in blue with blue interior. I did suck in driving. I didn’t see a speed limit sign in driving in class. I never did get into an accident in the car. Luckily for me. I waited for almost 13 years to get my license in mid December 1999 in my 1998 Ford Contour. That car replace the Tempo in mid 90’s. I gotten the 2nd generation of a Ford Contour back in the late 90’s. I did notice how Ford and Mercury vehicles almost looked a liked during the 80’s to 2011 when Mercury was dropped. I had a 2011 Mercury Milan. The interior was liked a Ford Fusion. I did wanted a Ford Fusion in 2012 shortly after I was in a bad accident in my 2005 Ford Focus. Luckily there wasn’t a Focus version from Mercury. My very first car that was liked my mother’s 1980 Ford Escort wagon was a Mercury Lynx in the early 1980’s. In the 90’s it was changed towards Mercury Tracer.
You have alot of history with Ford vehicles in the driveway! The Millan,Fusion, and Mazda 6 were cousins mechanically then. The Tracer was based off a Mazda 323. Mazda was partially owned by Ford then.
I’m so happy for you man. You deserve this more than anyone. Keep up the great work.
Thanks. I didn't think Tempo would get so much love!
I had a Zephyr, built like a tank. Lived through running a brake drum on the freeway. It got stuck in the wheel well, thought I’ll be meeting St Peter that night.
OMG..That had to be a bit scary! Buddy of mines girlfriend had a 83 Zephyr 4 door sedan for years. I don't recall it having issues,but she also didn't drive alot as her job was close to home.
I had a Topaz for 2 days in 1984. It was gutless you'd step on the gas, and it would just make more noise. I couldn't wait to get back to my Celica
I loved my 84 Celica GT.
My Dad had an 89 that got passed on to me and was fine until it started to drain the battery, consistently leaving you stranded, and no mechanic could ever figure out why, lol. VERY true statement at the end about these popular models that got used up then would disappear to another owner that would drive them the rest of the way into the ground, then to the scrapper. But I was absolutely SHOCKED when I came across a mint condition 81 Cougar (the lowest selling model year you mention) in a condo garage in Chicago only a couple years ago, in the land of salted roads none the less. Spotless, somebody showed it a ton of love.
I had a 98 Altima on my car lot years ago with a mysterious battery drain, but it was inconsistant. The culprit was somthing in the Alternator itself shorting. Took awhile to find it as it played nice most times we tested it. Im sure finding a 81 Cougar is just somthing you dont see anymore! Guess they never took it out in the Wintertime! Im sure SOMEWHERE theres a mint Tempo that never got passed down to Grandkids and lives in a garage. ....But the other millions of them were not so lucky LOL
I bought a 4 door 88 Tempo GLS 5 speed back in early 90. It wasn’t a terrible car but for basic, fun transportation that was fine.
The 5 speed helped with the fun factor I'm sure!
When I was eligible to get a license, these cars were just coming out. I thought their European styling was great. My mother's boyfriend had a Ford Tempo as a company car. He was an insurance adjuster. At one point, I was working for Mazda, and my grandmother came in to test drive a used one that we had on our lot. It was a red 1990 four door Tempo. She ended up purchasing it, trading in her 1979 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Estate wagon. Talk about downsizing. She drove it for her remaining driving years. She actually stopped driving at one point because her foot hit the accelerator instead of the break when she tried to stop. Luckily, she just scared herself, and there was no accident or injuries. Her care remained under my care when she moved in with my father for elder care later on in life. I thought it was a nice little car, had no real mileage on it, and was great basic, yet underpowered transportation.
I'm glad she didn't hurt herself! A nice little old lady accidentally hit the gas in drive instead of reverse in my hometown years back, and her car became part of the dining area of a Wendy's. I think it was a Tempo too.
Nope, just startled herself, and made her reconsider her reflexes while driving. I think she was 75 at the time. We had another great 20 years with that old lady - Maybe it was a manufacture thing like the Audi's of the late 80's and 90's?@@autochatter
@@raverboylokiThe car that lady had was new enough it had a shift interlock. She just thought it was in reverse. 95?..Thats almost Betty White good! My Grandmother was 94 when she passed.
I had a 92 Topaz for a while. Out of all the cars I've ever owned and/or driven...that was definitely one of them.
My 84 Tempo GLX 5 speed was a great little car for the times. People were really "impressed" by the 5 speed, premium sound DIGITAL AM-FM cassette and the power window switches on the center console!😂
It looked like a Euro styled spaceship compared to what other people prob drove then! Digital radio was like having those giant infotainment screens now LOL.
@@autochatter The funny thing is, when we ordered an '87 Sport GL (a two door with the better engine and an automatic transmission in our case), once the car came in it had the dial and pointer radio that was intended for various Fords from two model years before. I was puzzled and eight year old me pushed the salesperson on this, who said there was a shortage on electronic radios(!). No idea whether that was BS...I think it was a matter of clearing out the old equipment. It still had the Premium Sound and sounded fine, except the FM tuner was a little too susceptible to folding down into mono if reception wasn't strong.
@@owlnswan4016 Dunno...Maybe it was a shortage. Maybe the Sales Manager when he or she was building the car forgot to click that option. I was working at a Chevy store in the mid 90s, and a fresh off the truck Z71 Silverado 4x4 arrived . Extended cab and loaded...Except no rear bumper because SOMEONE forgot to check that along with everything else!
@@autochatter It was just odd because all Tempos in 1987 were supposed to have electronic radios, even if just AM. Our was ordered with the AM/FM stereo with cassette player and Premium Sound (which had improved speakers an used an external 80 watt amplifier). Two years earlier, when the era of radio our car had was used in different Fords where an electronic radio wasn't ordered, "stereo" was written above the volume/bass/treble controls, and cars with Premium Sound also had that written above "stereo". Our car didn't even have that denoted on the radio, even though it certainly had the better speakers and external amplifier, so moreso it gets me thinking of clearing out leftover equipment. The dealer offered to stick in some Audiovox nonsense that the dealers at the time would offer people, but we refused. Aside from the FM too easily folding down to narrow stereo to mono, it did sound good from what I remember...not anything as good as the JBL system we got in our '88 Mark VII (which was fantastic), but probably better than one would expect in the kind of car it was.
@@owlnswan4016 Weird. Im not sure what happened. Was the last year of that bodystyle! Audiovox....Ugggg...The K mart car stereos!
I bought a tempo coupe new in 86 and it was incredibly reliable
That's awesome! They had a long model run and were popular for a reason.
Ive had 3 ford tempo/topaz i still 2 of em love these old cars no problems ive had with them that i couldn't fix myself definitely a boring car to most people but topaz was my first car and my dad had one when i was a kid so i have a fondness for these old beautys shame no American companies make small affordable reliable cars anymore
Did you mean you still own two? I haven't seen a comment from a current owner of either yet.
@autochatter ya I have 2 currently a 89 merc topaz and a 85 tempo carbureted I daily drive my 85 ans my merc still needs a few parts before its ready for the road go check my latest short youl see but ya it's almost impossible to find a tempo anymore even in junkyards
@@starfoxnerd88 I will do that!
The 1st genTopaz always reminded me of am AMC Hornet. Never heard anyone else say that!
Great minds think alike? 🤔
My dad had a 1985 Tempo. It did the job, never let him down. My parents went to Florida with it (from Quebec) once, and we had multiple family camping trips with it. We towed a small trailer for the camping gear.
My folks had a 85 Sentra wagon they bought new we did family trips in. No trailer towing, and was slooooww. But it never let them down either.
My step mother had a 1987 Tempo 5-speed which I drove occasionally as it was not a bad car, just not exactly exciting. Granted by the late 80s the Tempo seemed a little behind compared to an Accord or Camry.
Accords and Camrys were the mid size targets after the Taurus fell.. Camrys been the number one mid sizer since 97.
I bough a '87 Tempo brand new had it for about 4 yrs it was a wonderful car until I started having transmission problems
Seems to be a popular theme with these. My wife's old car suffered that too.
Bought a '84 Tempo 4dr. with auto. & air in '87. I bought it for $2300. It had 53,000 miles on it. I bought it because it was FWD as we then lived in Northern Indiana. My wife had a '87 Mustang GT and I drove my '86 Corvette Coupe in nice weather. We parked both of these cars in our garage when it snowed. The Tempo became our winter "beater" but was a decent car not junk. It finally became quite rusty and worn out by 1995 and went to car heaven. I recently seen a really nice looking later year Tempo. 1993-4? Looked almost new. We moved to Georgia, so it would have been even more surprising, if we still living in the snow belt and seen this nice Tempo there.
My hometown in Northeastern NC rarely gets snow and seeing 20 and 30 year old cars running around that still look good is common. And I'm not talking Cars and Coffee. Like people just using them as transportation. The cars up North get ate up with rust as you know well.
Here in Metro Atlanta cars do not last very long. Not because of rust but of high mileage. Many folks put on 15-20 thousand miles a year. If you drive far out of metro Atlanta you will see many older vehicles. This is especially true of pickups.
Here in Metro Atlanta cars do not last very long. Not because of rust but of high mileage. Many folks put on 15-20 thousand miles a year. If you drive far out of metro Atlanta you will see many older vehicles. This is especially true of pickups.
@@tedlawrence4189 a comment so nice you posted it twice!
LOL. I have a good excuse for my mistakes: I can remember my dad taking me to see the new fords. They were the 1956 models! I was 7 years old. I am old.
I had an 87 and 88 Tempo. The 87 I actually lowered ( Slammed ) to the ground lol. It was so sick.
I never saw many people mod out Tempos..Knew one guy with Ford Cobra badges on the fenders for no good reason.
84 topaz was a nightmare on my street 😂
Little Freddy Kruger reference....I like it!
My mom had a couple of tempos in a long string of inexpensive ford products. She would trade every two years because the ford salesman was a former student of hers who she liked. Often her trade ins had less than 6,000 miles on them. Classic “driven by a little old lady to church on Sunday” cars.
Gets expensive to do that. That depreciation hurts.
@@autochatter the salesman gave her very high trade in values on the garage kept, frequently waxed cars, and passed them on to his wife every two years. When dad was still alive they traded every two years, old habits are hard to break!
@@user-bq4un2zx1s Well that's good. Old habits are a thing.
Actually compared to a Chevy of the same year - the interiors were a massive set-up - drove several Tempos at that time and always though the best feature was the interior. Decent car to drive as well.
I agree that the styling inside and out felt like something very modern in comparison to the GM X cars. The Tempo 4 cylinder was a letdown to me and no v6 untill closer to the end of the models life.
I had a canadian market 93 topaz with a 5 speed and V6. Car was a lot of fun and surprisingly fast. Down side was it went through clutches often. Living in NJ ment when I need a new clutch, it required 5 days to get one from Canada. I miss that car.
I wonder what was different on the Canadian cars clutches?
Couldn't tell you. It also went through front end components, power door locks and the I had to replace the radiator because it had an aluminum core with plastic returns on the sides. Over time the returns would separate from the core due to uneven thermal expansion. bad design. Still, I miss that car. Happy memories.
@jimlamberton2435 Yeah...That radiator design wasn't limited to just those!
A family friend had a couple of tempos my mom had a topaz that little topaz was a good car
Glad they enjoyed them!
These we actually available with laminated side glass a few years
I was a Ford and Mecury guy. All the cars I had owned were Fords and a Mecury Cougar. Mt family had a history of ownership of both brands. I had an 82 Ford Granada that was worn out, and it was time to trade it in. I had driven a couple of Tempos I rented when my car was in the shop for repairs. I didn't like the Tempo and Topaz, so I traded the Granada for a Plymouth Sundance. I AM glad I did. It was one of the best cars I have had.
The Sundance is on my to do list!
Thank you for another video. Thank you for the effort in putting the video together. There were so many people who owned these or knew someone who did. The updated 1988 model Topaz got is roofline from the 1988 Lincoln Continental. That is why it looked the way it did.
Thanks Olds! The roofline change I think was a good one to make it a little more upscale looking! It was fun to make actually. I love the nostalgia of old cars too, so brushing up on what I may have forgotten...Or learning somthing new about them is cool.
@@autochatter You are welcome. that was the point to make it appear more upscale. It worked. You should check out the Australian Fords. You might be surprised. They had an LTD there that was different from the United States as well as a Fairmont and Falcon too.
@@OLDS98 Yes Aussie Fords were their own thing. The current Ranger was originally designed by them.
During the 80's and early 90's our company had a fleet of mostly K Cars and (beginning in 1991) Dodge Spirit/Plymouth Acclaims with a few Ford Tempos and even fewer Chevrolet Cavaliers. The Tempo/Topaz were by far the least favorite in our fleet as most of our drivers preferred the K's and overwhelmingly the Dodge Spirits. The Dodge Spirits were better equipped (standard driver airbag), roomier and nicer to drive. Maintenance wise, we found them to be pretty comparable and both had their issues. I personally preferred the Dodge Spirit (not so much the K Cars which were sluggish and sloppy handlers even though the Spirit/Acclaim were based off the same platform...Chrysler obviously made a lot of improvements).
The Spirit was vanilla as you could get ( besides a R/T model), but I'm not surprised it would have been preferred over a Tempo by then. Newer and better design.
When I was growing up as a kid in the 90s I seen these cars everywhere all the way up till maybe mid 2000s and now they dropped off the face of the earth along with the Ford Escorts of the times too. Possibly not seeing anymore Ford Tarsus sedans before 1996. Though I do find the jelly bean body styles cool in their own quirky way. My Grandma used to own one and we used to pretend the front headlights were cat eyes for as round as they were. lol
Those catfish Tauruses where everything was round...Even the radio.
Cool video. I remember all of this. I'm old.
Thank you! I'm no spring chicken myself, but there always seems to be someone around that says I'm just a kid LOL.
The Tbird and Cougar photos at the beginning werent Fox body platforms, they were on the MN12 platform that debuted in 1989. Fox bird/cougars ended in 88.
Oh...Sorry..I always thought those were on a modified Fox platform. I stand corrected.
My first car was an 87 2 door red Temp withba manual 5 speed transmission. I think it was a GL? It had a bit of sporty looking trim. As a first car i loved it. The car was also my cousin's first car. She drove it for 2 years. I drove it for 2 years as well before i was rear ended in it. I paid $800 for it the insurance company paid me $2,500 and let me keep it. I sold it for $800. My friends in high school called my Tempo "The Pimpo" 😂😂
Pimpo....I like it! 👍
Excellent video! I drove an automatic Tempo for a year as a company car in the late 80's, and it was indeed remarkably unremarkable. Considerably less fun than the 1985 5-speed Escort that I drove before that. Okay, I'm done aging myself now.
LOL....Remarkably unremarkable. I should have used that for the title as it sums things up well! Age yourself all you like, I don't think this vid is going on Tik Tok! And Thank you for enjoying it!
I bought a 1986 2-door Tempo GL with the five speed in 1988 and really liked it. It was white with a dark beltline molding that had a red insert stripe all the way around the car, and alloy wheels and white letters. Being a kid I thrashed it around, but the two years I had it, it never gave me any trouble. I spent some time at Ft. Ben Harrison in Indiana later that year, saw one up there (I'm from the South) that was identical to mine, and got really homesick lol. I think I traded it for an S10 Blazer, but I still miss that car. Like most cheaper cars I've run across, they were better than people usually gave them credit for.
They sold so many, your gonna get a lot of opinions and experiences from different people. I'm sure your 5 speed coupe was alot more fun to drive than the automatic 88 GL my future wife had.
@@autochatter heh, I had initially driven a 1985 sedan that was carbureted. And automatic. I remember it was VERY anemic. My 86 on the valve cover had HSC for High Swirl Combustion, and it did run like a little hurricane. I'm sure if I'd actually bought the little four door I wouldn't have been as happy.
6:35 - Nice package, but let down by its powertrain.
Yeah..They should have offered the V6 sooner.
When I was a Coast Guard Reservist decades ago the station had a Ford Fairmont wagon. Not many of them left I guess.
My Dad retired from the Guard!
@@autochatter 10 years as a CG reservist and 30 years active duty Navy.
@@theodoreolson8529I did 4 as a Bubblehead in the Navy.
@@autochatter I was a chop lol
Bought a used 84 back in 90. Low mileage but absolutely the worst car I’ve ever owned. AND funny that you would say you haven’t seen one in a while because I haven’t either. But out of total coincidence, there has been one in the parking lot at work for a week and rust free. Michigan nonetheless and this is the most random video to come along. 🤔🙂
ROFL. I get what your saying! I did a Pontiac Fiero vid last year. One of the versions of it I discussed was a Mera. It was the one that looked like a Magnum PI Ferrari and like 200 or so we're made. Haven't seen one since the 90s. Then i saw one at a local car show about a month later!
Local around here had a 3.0 V6/5spd coupe that he Taurus SHO engine swapped, it was really quick.
I bet that was a nasty sleeper. A TempSHO.
@@autochatterIt wasn't quite "Turbo Caravan" hilarious, but it did crack off a few mid 14's iirc.
@TheMailmanOfSteel Thats pretty stout for a Tempo!
It was a good car for what it was.
It was a perfectly adequate car yes.
Great cars when new
I'm sure in 84, they got some attention.
Cobbled together is an apt description for the engine. First years had the same cheap Escort Lynx feel but it felt much more refined interior in the last years
I'd agree with your assement!
Those cars weren't any less exciting than anything else out there. They weren't bad cars.. I drove a few of them. I enjoyed driving them ...
More or less yeah. Not having a 6 cylinder option untill much later or a fancier 16 valve 4 hurt the fun factor a little IMO.
My uncle had a Topaz, white with a red interior if I remember right. It did its job. My uncle was about to retire and bought some land and a small house about 2 hours from his job. It did that for a couple of years and then took my cousins typical automotive abuse.
I kinda liked those everything red or blue interiors.
@@autochatter Yeah me too. Lot more interesting than the typical gray/black/tan that we have nowadays. I’ve had several old cars with color interiors, only one that was hard to get used to was my 69 Skylark that was green on green. Haha
@tholmes2169 now the green? Nope. Too much "avocado" going on LOL
Girlfriend in high school owned a GL Sport with a V6. It was fun to drive till the transmission went out.
Seen more than a few comments about transmission issues!
These are truly obscure cars.
And thats why they need a video!!! LOL
They were ubiquitous during the 80s & early 90s.
Tempo/Topaz’s were everywhere all the way up to the 2000’s in So Cal. Then they all vanished pretty much all at once.
@@craig0769 I could say the same of them in North Carolina time frame wise. I'm sure in rust belt States they were not familiar sights as long.
They weren't if you lived during the 80s. They were everywhere. They were just disposable vehicles that got old, rotted away and weren't worth fixing
I drove a Topaz that an older woman I helped owned and it was completely lack luster to drive.
Thank you! Reinforces the notion that what I called this vid isn't clickbait! 😀
My grandma had a 85 tempo
I worked at a Cincinnati area Ford dealer in 1994 when Alot of these cars were on our used car lot, and here is what I can say, when you compared a year model 1990 Tempo/Topaz to a 1990 Honda Accord, the Tempo/Topaz felt and drove like it was 25 years older than the Accord, but all American made used cars felt that way compared to Japanese cars, you could just feel the(better) quality, not saying everything about Japanese cars then was perfect.
I've been in the car business since I got out of the Navy in 94. My preference has always been Japanese cars.
I had a brown 1984 Tempo as my first car. It was given to me by a great uncle. It definitely was not exciting to drive.
Yeah but most people have a soft spot for their first ride!
@@autochatter don't get me wrong, I was, and still am appreciative for him giving me that car (it was about 25 years ago, wow time flies). But I think the car I have a biggest soft spot for us actually my second, but first car I bought. It was a 1988 Lincoln Towncar. I loved that car. You should do a video on that! 😀
@@jlang8213 Town Car is on my list. Theres so many models I need to go through!
The car I learned to drive on. The engine with the 3 spd auto was pathetic but the ride was comfortable. It had so many fuel system and EFI problems. It also started to overheat on its last leg.
The carbureted 5 speed manual version was probably not so bad.
I mentioned Drivers Ed! Nailed it! Yeah my Wifes was a auto too and I agree it had a nice ride. A leaking heater core and slipping transmission led to a for sale sign in the window.
In our '87 that we got new, it eventually had stalling problems. We had to replace the fuel injector, IIRC...later, the repairs we did were part of a recall, but Ford did not reimburse us since it was done before the recall began. Thank you, Ford.
We also had a nightmare trip with it where the car kept breaking down to where one stall had stranded us right in a toll booth, and we had to wait for someone to send this heavy equipment that essentially played bumper cars with the rear, so we could steer the car from the middle of the highway onto the shoulder from whatever momentum getting purposely rear ended gave us. Then the car got serviced by someone who proceeded to put in a mismatched belt, though it kept the car going fine through our week's vacation. I believe there was eventually found to be an alternator problem.
It was not a bad car overall. It served its purpose for us as a second, though daily use car, and was good in the snow. Engine could be a little buzzy and unrefined from what I remember, especially noticeable from comparison with our good cars...first our 460 powered '77 Mark V with dual exhaust, then our '88 Mark VII LSC, neither of which ever felt strained for power, and each ran pretty smoothly.
@@owlnswan4016 Thank you for sharing your "Tempo Tale"! Being stuck at a toll booth could not have been fun.
@@autochatter Actually, looking back, it was a hoot. At that moment it wasn't, but thank you Tempo for giving me a story I otherwise would not have. 🙃
10 seconds into the video you can see where the window and C pillar moldings don’t even line up. 😂
Hey now....Quality was Job 1 then! All the Ford ads said so! 😉
I had an 88 and 86 4 door Ford Tempo, both had transmission problems, I still liked them, though. 😀
My future wife's transmission started to slip on her 88. Thats what prompted me to find her a nice low mileage 5 speed 93 Sentra.
I wanted one of these but couldn’t swing the deal in 1985. Oh well. What could have been.
What did you get instead?
um you showed the MN12 89-96 Cougar and Tbirds, those werent fox chassis. Tempo/Topaz were appliances. Sturdy, reliable and sturdy def not exciting. But they did handle decently. Boring but a decent car. My sister's first car was an 85 Tempo. She drove it for years. I wanted a 93 Mercury Topaz XR5 V6 5 speed! or an AWD version. Great video. Id rather have a Tempo/Topaz then a Contour/Mystique
Yeah I posted the wrong gen T Bird and Cougar..Sorry! Thanks for enjoying it otherwise though! I'm not the biggest Contour fan myself.
The Tempo/,Topaz twins struck me as something Ford designed specifically for fleet sales. Municipal and rental fleets would love something reliable and cheap, but didn't encourage drivers to get stupid.
Oh I know a ton of them were sold to Fleet buyers like the Taurus later. The Taruus was maintaining its best selling car status for awhile due to Fleet sales in the numbers. Im sure cars like the Chevy Celebrity then were too.
I had an 87 Tempo. I had a fuel pump replaced a month I drove it from the dealer. Plus, I had electrical problems, engine mounts replaced, problems galore. It was a piece of junk
Sorry to hear about all that. Wish I could say I never heard of any of those issues with them.
The tbird and cougar you used were the later 89-97 mn12 platform. there was a fox based tbird/cougar from 80-88 though
Yeah someone already mentioned that. For some reason I always thought the 89-97 models were Fox Bodies too. My apologies.
I've been in a 3.0 powered Tempo, a bit surprised how well it moves with the v6...
The 6 was a welcome addition. Pity they about waited untill towards the end of the cars life before offering it.
Had a 87 gl sport and liked it . I sold it at 287000 miles. Still got goog mileage, 33 to 38 hwy. 5 speed.
You definitely got your money's worth out of it!
Ive worked with someone for about 20 years now that has an 88 2 door Tempo. It's pretty rough and he only lives about 2 miles from work. A few years ago I asked him about it thinking he just picked up an old beater and asked him how reliable its been and when he got it. He told me he bought brand new in 1987 and it currently has about 130k miles and that he never washes it and rarely changes the oil just adds it.
....uhhh what lol
Wow! I guess the low mileage is offsetting the neglect, because it's still alive.
I worked at a dealership when these were new. The carburetor cars were a nightmare! The hsc head on the old 6 bones was a good idea. Until that eec 4 carb 🤮. The 2.5 in the taurus was a total turd. The Vulcan made the car indestructible, unless it was awd. Why would you put the module under the seat? Nobody spills pop or coffee 😂. The biggest hateful thing was the motorized seat belts. Plastic tracks, perfect! Don't get me started on the diesel abortion.
LOL.. Working at a Nissan dealer in the 90s, I think I remember the Pathfinder had its ECU under one of the front seats too. The motorized seat belts were a nightmare for Nissan...Because seatbelts all had a lifetime warranty until the 03 model year? That included the motorized ones and eventually you couldn't get parts for them.
1:01 That's an '89 or later Thunderbird SC, which was based on the MN12 platform, not the Fox platform.
Yeah...I posted the wrong gen T Bird and Cougar there. Sorry.
guy sounds like principal skinner
I'm not even a fan of the Simpsons!
Parents purchased a brand new one in 86. So many problems with it.
The comments are a decent mix ranging from I loved mine to it was the worst thing ever with 4 wheels!
I bought a 1994 Topaz as my work car, at the beginning of 2004. As far as the drivetrain is concerned, it was quite unrefined, but it was totally reliable. Unfortunately, by 2006 or 07, the cars structure/rear strut mounts had totally rotted and the car broke in two. All the while, the body looked fine, with zero visible rust. The floor pans were also rotted. If Ford had taken a bit more effort during their construction, more of them would've survived vs being recalled by those without basic car knowledge as junk. Were they good? Not really. Were they bad? Not really. They were just basic transportation mostly forgotten.
I recall years ago a very nice Canadian lady brought in a Maxima to a Nissan Dealer I worked at in N.C. it was maybe 12 years old at the time and looked great. Underneath was a trainwreck of rust though. She wanted to spend money to fix or repair it, but I basically told her it was terminal.