Let’s face it. Most of the cars in the early 1980s were pretty sad. Hey were either little econobeaters or gutless throwbacks to a better time, simply shambling sadly to their graves and awaiting replacement by smaller, less interesting cars. This is what I was surrounded with when I was growing up; the last messy bit of the Automotive Dark Ages.

However, there are a few cars from the mid-‘80s that were pretty cool, and some that were actually innovative in terms of both styling and execution. So many cars wanted to pretend to be European, but most just assumed being small and ugly was enough. There was an interesting exception, though, and that was Ford’s Sierra XR4i. In North America, we got it with a Ford Turbo 4, as the Merkur XR4Ti. However, in Europe, it was just an XR4i, but it got a 6 cylinder.

This was a two-door, rear drive sports sedan, and it ACTUALLY was European. With aero styling and a double wing at the back, it was pretty futuristic looking, and I’ve always loved them. Trying to find a kit of one, though… that’s another matter altogether! Thanks to my brother, though, I finally managed to get my mitts on one of the rarer Tamiya kits – the XR4i Sierra in it’s non-racing guise!

Check it out at the link below – this is one I can’t wait to get to!

https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/tamiya-1-24-ford-sierra-xr4i-out-of-box/