I voted for 97, but I actually think that after a little more consideration, I'd go for the '96 as THE best because it's the only pre-98 style with OBD-II and standardized to the rest of the years (1995s are OBD-1 and have a few parts that are unique to the year, like the headers, vac secondaries, etc), but also not decontented to any extent. The '97 at the least gave up the remote fuel filler release. A pre-98 3L conversion with MTX is my idea of the ideal Contour.