1987 Merkur XR4Ti Base Hatchback 3-Door 2.3L - BARN FIND

BARN FIND here in Fort Collins CO. This one owner car was parked almost 10 years ago when the owner's wife had a scary episode in a snow storm and vowed never to drive it during the winter again. He purchased a 4WD SUV for her and she never stepped into the car again. The original gas was in the tank. The owner put another 5 gallons into it, umped it off and it started up! The recently (back then) rebuilt C3 was out of fluid, hus did not move when put into gear. We put two quarts of transmission fluid in and drove it 4 miles to my house. The gas stunk bad and the car ran pretty awful at low RPM. The motor balanced out at higher RPM, he turbo spooled up as it should, he transmission shifted as it should and the car ran like a scalded dog.I put the drove the car into my garage. The next morning, ll the transmission fluid I put in the day before was on the garage deck. Upon further investigation, here was at one time an o-ring where the filler tube entered the transmission. That day, here was only a crumb that I believe probably used to be the o-ring. I went to AAMCO and got a couple of C3 o-rings for the filler tube, nstalled one, illed the transmission up again and...voila! Fixed.The next day, was on my way to the car wash to blast all the dust off and noticed that the motor was trying to die at idle. More gas and it was cool. But it was now running a bit rough and the exhaust was stinking that awful bad gas smell again. U-turn back to the house. It wasn't hissing like an overheat situation, t just died right there in the garage. Now the motor spins freely but will not fire. Plenty of spark...just no fire.The sheet metal, hile clear and color faded or gone, hows no rust. No rust! All the panels arte straight minus a small ding at the front of the left fender and a slightly larger ding behind the exterior driver's door handle. The interior (minus the headliner and the dash pad) is a 9 out of ten. The A/C belt is missing which means that the A/C probably had problems before they parked it. The wheels are an 8 out of 10 and have studded tires all the way around at about 50% tread. The car stopped well, teered straight. I own it for $1350 but I'm starting the auction lower for the obvious reason that it will not start. Could be bad gas, logged lines, ad fuel pump (which I do not hear at ignition). I just don't know and I just am not saavy enough to trouble shoot it successfully. Just the sheet metal and/or body parts alone are probably worth $4,500 in parts. I don't have the space for that adventure. Now you know what I know. My accountant friend used to say "Rich, our first loss is your best loss!". There you have it. It would be sad to part it out if only it needs something simple. Give it a bid, in the auction and come get it! Thanks for looking.
P.S. As you can see from my history, always have happy camper buy from me and sell to me. The detail above is a truthful assessment of what I believe is wrong with the car.