It was spring 1981, and it was time to take the wraps off Mercury’s first domestic front drive sporty car. The Mercury LN7 was designed to meet the needs of a large segment of buyers whose tastes, wants and needs transcended ordinary econobox shapes and dimensions.
The LN7 used the Lynx 94.3 inch wheelbase floorpan with the transverse-mounted 1.6-liter Ford CVH 4-cylinder engine and 4-speed manual overdrive transaxle, Macpherson strut front suspension and Ford’s own brand of independent rear suspension, rack and pinion steering and power disc/drum brakes. Beyond these items, though, almost everything else about this sporty car was different from the original hatchback and wagon models, starting with the body shell.
There was more than a little aerodynamic trickery in the LN7 sheetmetal as well. While its EXP twin went essentially grille-less, the LN7 used two rows of five horizontal slots as a grill in its soft front end. The EXP version used a rear hatch that was about half glass and half steel to create a notchback coupe look, but the LN7 used a bubble backlight glass and a steel surround frame and came out only slightly better in the wind tunnel, together boasting the best drag coefficient number of any American car up until then. If there was anything unique about the EXP/LN7 coupes, it was the fact that they were the first 2-seaters Ford offered since the 1957 Thunderbird.
While neither the EXP/LN7 were as revolutionary as the Thunderbird or the original Mustang in their time, they were relatively important to the company. But they didn’t stand a chance of evolving into something exceptionally good, in a decade where the small car wars were heating to a boil.
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