I have noticed lately.....

[Bren]

.... a lot of late 80's and early 90's fords on the road - capris, sierras, escorts and orions.

 

They are'nt shite either - they have looked tidy and as if somebody had looked after them.

 

Is it a retro thing, or are people realising that after 50 MPG and £30 a year road tax that modern cars are'nt that cheap to run in terms of maintenance and repairs.

 

On another note, neighbours of my mother in law had a capri 2.0 laser auto - owned from new and one of the last. It had'nt moved for a couple of years and one day I noticed it had gone. Sold to the travelling community for £150 - you can't get an old skool ford now for less than £500 unless it is fooked.

 

Thoughts, Gentlemen?

[mk2_craig]

I liked my Sierra auto up until yesterday, when after I stopped to photograph that unbelievably overpriced Scorpio on the Four Bags thread it started running like total shit and stalled repeatedly.

 

Old Fords are only any good if you're prepared to spend money keeping them decent.

[Partridge]

I’ve seen a rather tidy white H reg Orion, which I’ll get a snap of when I see it next and a immaculate Fiesta MK 2 which fell into the hands a KEN BLOCK wannbe (no, I’m not going to let this go) who’s barried it.

There’s also a Red Sierra estate which looks fairly up together and is used by a gardener as her day to workhorse, which is nice to see.

 

Where I live (South Coast, near the Southdowns) I see a lot of old and fairly well looked after E34 5 serieseseseses. They seem to growing in numbers, which makes me very happy....maybe there’s breeding programme?

[CortinaDave]

im using the ex A reg Renault 18 diesel to smoke about in at the mo. OK Its a shed bodywise but it seems to be mega reliable and its doing 50mpg without breaking a sweat.. and its a hell of a lot more sprightly than i was expecting. My mate drove it from Fife to Ayr and back a few weeks ago and at the weekend it ferried me from Edinburgh to Aberdeen and back in reasonable comfort (although shit heater) listening to medium wave through the one working speaker while sipping the diesel at an impressively miserable rate.

 

I dont think you can argue with a 200 odd quid car thats returning that sort of reliability and MPG. Sod your TDCis with their disintegrating dual mass flywheels and dealer only coded injectors.

 

Was only supposed to be having a shot of the renault but I think i might end up owning it.

 

the C reg orion mk1 1600 ghia i was running for a bit earlier this year was spot on too - it hoofed up and down between my work in Edinburgh and my missus in Aberdeen most weekends with little complaint... it was comfy, had a decent stereo and a good heater. I admit the single choke pierburg carb let it down a bit, had it been injection I dont think I could have faulted it.

 

Compare that with the 52 reg Mondeo TDCI i bought - dual mass flywheel died, £££££ to repair not long after Id forked out to patch it up after a 3 page MoT failure. thakfully a ned in a corrado decided to smack into it and write it off before I had to spend on the flywheel.

 

Replaced with an 02 plate saab 9-3 turbo, on which the engine sludged up and blew on the way home from the dealer four months ago, and I've only got back this week.

 

Shite cars FTW. the issue is finding something nice and original, that hasnt been barried or rustied away

[fordperv]

The other thing that springs to mind is youll now only really see the better examples on road as all Tue shite ones returned to the ground from which they came, I for one drive them as I hate new cars and love the character they have oh and I love working on them which is a big bonus, the newest ford I have is my k reg sapphire gls and that was 20 on 1st september