Scorpio intro	Styling	Design & engineering	Manufacturing	Marketing	Service & maintenance	About my Scorpio

In July '91 I bought my 1989 Scorpio from Zigrossi L-M in Batavia NY. (Build-date 9/21/88, VIN WF1BT81V1KE892167.) The dealer's wife had been driving it, so I'm the only registered owner. I've been its only driver since I bought it. I use it primarily for turnpike driving, mostly 700 miles/day to visit my mother in Massachusetts.

My Scorpio is the most luxurious car I've ever owned, and I find I enjoy being pampered. I tip my hat to whoever deserves the credit for freeing me from the spartan world of my TR3, my Volvos and even my Mercedes. I hope the Scorpio's designers won't be too disappointed that its newer partner in my garage will be a 1994 Lincoln Continental.

In its 107,000 miles this top-of-the-line Magenta Red Metallic beauty has seen little snow, ice or salt. There's no rust. The bra has spared it the worst of the turnpikes' chipping, but it's got two door-dings and a scattering of stone-chips on the hood. The black leather is excellent. In the past four months I've replaced (with new Ford parts, of course) a fuel-filler door solenoid, both foglamp bulbs, and a waterpump whose only transgression was to show a little seepage. In April I had the transmission fluid drained and inspected for debris (none found). In May I had the driveshaft rebuilt to accommodate replaceable universal joints, rather than pay Ford's unforgivable $800 for a whole new assembly. MIKYMOUS has always deserved and received the best, but I'm not about to pay some Ford executive's salary all by myself....

Now that the nice weather has returned to upstate NY, the car's in daily use again. It routinely gets 28 - 31 mpg at 55 mph. It burns no oil. It leaks no fluids. All the lights and gauges and controls have always functioned (hey, there had to be ONE good set). It's been serviced consistently by the original dealer. It's completely stock, except for my modification to allow the liftgate latch to function when the engine's running; see Tricks.

Included in the major work under the (now expired) ESP extended 6-year / 100K-mile warranty I bought with the car have been:
* twice replacing the steering rack. The current one's been in a long time and bears a different part number from the original and the first replacement. I think Ford finally got it right.
* rebuilding the tranny, with a couple of tweaks afterwards to close leaks.
* two rounds of major A/C work, most recently $1000's worth last summer.
* replacing the fuel pressure valve earlier this year.
* upgrading the speedometer/odometer package to improve the accuracy. It was replaced at 27988 miles (as attested by a sticker on the edge of the driver's door), so the odometer now reads about 77000.

Until May 1997 MIKYMOUS was running on original-equipment Pirelli tires that came mounted on the extra set of wheels I bought in '91 from Rapido. I replaced them with a set of Goodyear Eagle AquaTreads. Those should see me to 150,000 miles, and then I'll go for another set. I intend to watch the odometer roll over to 200,000 miles before I make a decision on keeping or selling.

What's the car worth? In 1997 I called my insurance company and asked what the Actual Cash Value would be for a settlement under my collision coverage. I was told there's a range from a low average of $3400 to a high average of $6050, condition dependent. Currently they're quoting about $4000 for the best specimens.

When we were looking for a Scorpio in '91, we compiled a list of all the NY Lincoln-Mercury dealers from Buffalo to Albany, from Lake Ontario to the PA border, and began a grand tour of them. This car truly is the best that was available in that area, and I've been tireless in keeping it up.

And by the way, I know of only two other Ghia-badged Scorpios in North America.

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