Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Contour fleet aging, interest waning yet?

00 SVT w/ 34,000 miles

Major mods:
3.0 w/ 3,000 miles
Torsen
SPEC clutch, flywheel
OZ Superleggeras
Baer brakes
Konis + GCs
rear bucket seats
etc. etc. etc.

Money spent:

I average about 500 miles per year, and figure to be one of the last remaining CEGers.

Mine has 82,xxx miles. The car is under warranty until 90k, and I will review my wishes and desires for the car when I hit that. Without the warranty, repairs over the last few months would have cost around $1500. It needs new struts, will need new tires and brakes next summer, and the body could use a touch of work (road rash and missing bolts in a couple places). Regardless, its looks awesome and runs without problem most of the time. Can't say I'd want to sell or trade it even if it needed a little bit of love.

I'll be on CEG forever either way.

my '98 mystique (duratech atx,ls and loaded, bought pre-owned august '04) has yet to turn 30,000 miles. given what i have learned about our cars courtesy of this site and the enthusiasts here, my thinking is i should be able to keep it for many years. (i also have a '97 eb expy with 80,000 miles and the daily driver, an '86 olds ciera with 282,000 miles).

vegas were cars riddled with problems from the outset- interesting concept, poor execution. our contiques are light years better than vegas ever hoped to be..... and are most assuredly NOT throw-away vehicles!

lakeside

I'm going to stay on here as long as possible, if every freakin panel falls off my car...I'll buy "new" ones and put those on and keep going.
If my car gets so messed up beyond repair, I'll be sure to try and find a newer better Contour (99-00 SE or maybe SVT). If my tranny decides to take a crap, I'm dropping a MTX in it and if the engine goes a 3L V6 is gonna be put in it.

The overheating problems from the water pump almost put my 1998 Mystique "away" early. I bought it cheap and she's now running fine. Most repair shops don't seem to know the pump issue. Truly busy or non-car people will always ditch their cars earlier than the tinkerers found at CEG! Transmission problems with the ATX might cause some Contours to be scrapped too early as well. Depends on if you think "dollar value" of car or "functional value" of car when deciding. One of my neighbors down the street just got a Mystique I wonder how long it will last (unless the ask me or visit CEG).

I don't see it happening. Contours are so cheap now, that mods are becoming much more common and affordable. There are more 3L and turbo cars than there have ever been.

I think the SVT and by extension all V6-MTX cars will continue to have a following in the future. Two things I hope to see:

1) Someone with enough money and passion convert a Contour to RWD

2) Contours getting solidly into the 12's

If people knew the background behind the car they might fix them and resell them. As most don't they trash em.

More Contours at the wreckers means more parts for me to keep it alive longer......
Woohoo!!!

I haven't even begun to get my tour to where I want it... I'm in it for the long haul... My GF even wants to get her 95 gl back to top condition.

There are Ford Maverick and Falcon clubs still swapping parts, so don't fret. Just hang onto rare SVT specific parts, those will be harder to find.

I think Contours will still have a strong following for the next several years.. The last V6 Taurus SHO is 10 years old now, and it's getting hard to find them in good shape anymore. 3-series BMWs and Nissan Maximas are more expensive to buy and fix, and are hard to come by in the Midwest.

I had a Thunderbird Turbo Coupe; mine was an '88 which was the last year for them. They still have a very strong following. There are two large forums for them (turboford.org and turbotbird.org), and they organize a convoy to the Carlisle Ford show every year.