Contours and Mystiques get generally no representation in the sports compact press? I've been coming to this site for the last year and change, ever since I bought my SVT, and I started reading books like MAX POWER, HCI and SPORT COMPACT CAR at about the same time, hoping that I'd see more cars like mine.
Now I've heard many of the stories about this car's "star-crossed" history -- Lack of support by Ford, inherent technical problems, poor marketing by Ford, lack of aftermarket parts -- but on closer inspection, I'm not sure all of these things hold water.
Think about it: For every flared out, fat tired, fart-can exhausted, ground scraping, uber-winged mutant ricer on the covers and in the pages of these magazines, I'll bet that the average reader can only afford some basic upgrades to his/her vehicle at any given time -- intake, exhaust, suspension, stereo system. And, thanks to those of you that consistently post on these pages, it's clear to me that every one of these things are readily available for the Contique owner. Not to mention the more radical upgrades like turbochargers, Nitrous systems, and eventually even body kits.
Yet through all of this, the only inclusion of a Contour or Mystique in the pages of these magazines (at least that I've seen) was one of the NY-based CEG members and his SE quite a few months ago. In the case of SCC, I had to go back to a 1999 issue to find any road test info on the CSVT. With the things that go on here (Spring Zing, CEG National Meet) and all of the really great looking cars I've seen posted on this site, shouldn't we let the press know about these cars so they can be included in the magazines? Many of you have great cars that at the very least deserve to be seen in the Readers Rides sections of these books. If Sport Compact Car can do a multi-page feature on the annual J-Body Convention (which they have, God help us), I would think that if the press even knew what's still going on with the Contique crowd, they might take a second look.
I'm sure I'm not the first person to post this and probably won't be the last; if this is something that Contique owners don't particularly care about one way or another, I guess I'll let my subscriptions to these pubs expire and keep coming to this site. But I just wish I could see more of the really cool cars that I've seen on this site in the pages of these books.
