Weird trim levels

[Richard]

No carpets either. My friend had a 1.1 base Escort in the 80s, the 1.3L he had next seemed quite luxurious in comparison.

[Partridge]

My cousin had one of those poverty misery spec Scrote Mk5's on a 3 door, that shockingly was silver. Bought it brand new. It was pinched and stripped. Feck only knows why, as it was so poverty spec'd. IIRC it wasn't even fitted with a 5 speed box either

What the hell did they steal, the steering wheel?

[Felly Magic]

Car was found a few days later as a bare shell, all the interior gone, engine, box, feck knows why, being the miserable 1.3, but it was nicked from Middleton in Leeds, which at the time explained lots, as the shits down there would nick anything, and there was a slightly dubious Ford breaker in the area

[Partridge]

I forgot about these-back in the 60's Jaguar did plod spec MK2s and S-Types. They'd do away with leather seats and use vinyl instead, and use plastic in place of wood trim. Weirdly, these cost more to buy new than the civvy spec cars. Recently, I briefly drove this ex plod MK2 Jaaaaaaaag.

It had the plod tuned engine (so effectively race tuned, which was a major pain in the arse, but that's a story for another day) but not the basic interior, and as you can see it had a re-spray. I'm yet to see one with vinyl seats and a plastic dash...they must be very, very rare.

[Partridge]

there was a slightly dubious Ford breaker in the area

V5s in the name of "Mr M Mouse" then...

[inconsistant]

My very early rover 620i had keep fit windows in the back, trims on the wheels and rear seats that did'nt drop down.

 

Didn't the povvo spec 600s come with black plastic bumpers for extra visual humiliation?

[Felly Magic]

Put it this way, once I went there in my motor to get a few bits and bobs, and found one of their grease monkies trying to take parts off my car! I'm sure the place was run by 'do as you likeys'

[Partridge]

Hardly shocking sadly. Our local pikeys would nick the milk out of your tea.

[saucedoctor]

There was a 1.7 mk2 Granada pictured here once. Maltese I think, with the old V4. Replaced in the range in 1982 with a Pinto'd 1.6.

 

Anyway, here's a GODDAMN COMMIE ROOSHIAN example. Looks miserable.

 

 

 

 

[Felly Magic]

That Granada is utterly mingebag spec

[rml2345]

German car companies in general, and BMW in particular used to be highly skilled as selling cars with hardly any equipment for a massive price.

My 850 was an SE and it only had front electric windows, one N/S electric mirror, heated seats and a radio. It was a bizarre Spec I thought

[Noel Tidybeard]

my 1.6 montego had keep fit windows and mirrors, no rev counter, no window tint, no sunroof, no folding back seat & no central locking

[Noel Tidybeard]

back when we had "first cars" a friend had a fester 950 pop- no pas sun visor! no reversing light, no elec screen washers

[warren t claim]

Back in 1992 you could buy a BMW 316e complete with grey bumpers and single point injection. 

[DVee8]

My FIL had a rena megane saloon on a T i think with keep fit windows no rev counter or clock,but a electric sunroof.

[ProgRocker]

Does anyone else remember to bogo spec Escort MK5s with black bumpers and van style steelies? Next to extinct now I would think.

A school friend's parents had an H reg one in the early 1990s when the mark 5 first came out. It was a pale blue with silver steel wheels with centre caps. I think Ford carried on using the 'popular' name although I think it late was just 1.3 or 1.8d standard from 1991/2.

[carlo]

From November 1992 until Summer 1993 you could buy a 1.4 Peugeot 405, in either Style or GL trim.  I think they sold about 13 of them in total, we never sold one at our dealership.  There was a silver GL on ebay this year.

[Richard]

My father in law bought one. I thought it went ok and found it more pleasant to drive than the 1.9GLD taxi I was driving at the time. Being a Style it had headroom instead of a sunroof and the lighter engine made the steering much nicer. He didn't like it though, and returned it within a week.

[Timewaster]

We had a Fiesta XRV at work too. Basically a diesel Fiesta van with an XR2 body kit and wheel trims. Someone obviously liked it as it was spirited away in the night at about 18months old.

Shame as the company hadn't had many decent vans before, and never bought another decent one again..

[AlabamaShrimp]

back when we had "first cars" a friend had a fester 950 pop- no pas sun visor! no reversing light, no elec screen washers

Just pop spec in fiestas is mega rare most or pop plus which means screen wash front and back, two visors and a radio

 

My mk1 is a weird one as it has a radio, rear wiper but not a heated window, only one wing mirror and no reverse light

[ProgRocker]

From November 1992 until Summer 1993 you could buy a 1.4 Peugeot 405, in either Style or GL trim.  I think they sold about 13 of them in total, we never sold one at our dealership.  There was a silver GL on ebay this year.

 

Only 13 1.4s sold?! I remember the 1.4 405 being sold (nose buried deep in What Car? new car data section in the early-mid 1990s). The 405 I believe is pretty lightweight for a D segment car so I reckon that performance would have been acceptable.

 

Fiat were selling the Bravo based Marea saloon with 1.2 litre (82 bhp) in other markets.

[AndyW201]

A taxi company I once worked for had a couple of the late taxi special Montegos, on M plates. Utterly povo spec. You got a radio cassette and wheel trims, and that was your lot. The same company had one of the last Sierras, which instead of the usual 1.6 pinto, had an injected 1.6 cvh lump. Weird spec as well with alloy wheels, Cosworth type rear spoiler, tilt/slide sunroof but keep fit windows and no central locking.

 

I remember another company I worked for having a couple of those mk5 Escort 'populars' with the silver steels and centre caps. With the 1.8 diesel engine for added misery. That was a company that clearly didn't like it's sales reps... They replaced them after 2 years with some more povo spec ones, by then the spec was positively decadent with full length wheeltrims and an rds radio cassette! By then Ford had even dropped the 'popular' name from the bottom of the pile Escort, just so you knew where your place was. I'm pretty sure it was called the 'lead-in' model by then, as that's what was on the log book and service book.

 

I also remember years ago, when I was looking for my second car. I had looked at at a few mk3 escorts, one of them was a maximum-misery 1.1 'base', as mentioned with the different speaker free dash and vinyl seats. It was one of the cleaner ones I saw, but the spec was a bit off putting. The later A reg 1.1 popular I ended up with felt like a Ghia in comparison...

[r.welfare]

Sierra 2.0L estate 'business pack'. Only way to get a 2.0 litre engine with the L trim IIRC.

 

Also, Discovery 2 E spec with black bumpers and steel wheels.

[Timewaster]

Shame there aren't any poverty spec models anymore. My company focus is an Edge,one up from the basic Studio Spec And that has air con, cruise, electric windows, cd with steering wheel controls etc etc. I was dead chuffed with it until I saw a colleagues titanium model with its dab Sat nav radio, what looks like a iPhone dash display where mine is more Nokia 3110. However, as his has pointless starter button there is a horrible plastic blanking plug where the ignition key should go.

[burraston2006]

There was a 1.7 mk2 Granada pictured here once. Maltese I think, with the old V4. Replaced in the range in 1982 with a Pinto'd 1.6.

 

Anyway, here's a GODDAMN COMMIE ROOSHIAN example. Looks miserable.

 

Granda coupe. Lovely. Wonder if you could get one with a V6 and ghia x spec!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

In fact, there were quite a few around in the early 80s.

I might even have a mate* who bought one at an auction one day without realising !

I...I mean he, only discovered the lack of a hatch when cleaning it up at home the next day.

[ProgRocker]

I might even have a mate* who bought one at an auction one day without realising !

I...I mean he, only discovered the lack of a hatch when cleaning it up at home the next day.

 

Oops! I wonder how many people that saloon 'hatch' deceived?

[Partridge]

Ever noticed how on the continent you see loads of mingbag spec three series? Steel wheels and flat paint on fairly new models...it just looks...wrong!

[Micrashed]

back when we had "first cars" a friend had a fester 950 pop- no pas sun visor! no reversing light, no elec screen washers

I can beat that.

Mrs Micrasheds first car was a Fiesta Base (RRN 332T). Seriously it said "Base" on the log book.

No passenger sun visor

No radio

No inertia reel seatbelts (just clip ones)

No rear wiper

No rear washer

No rear demist

No brake servo

No rear parcel shelf or mountings for said item

Keep fit windows

2 speed blower

Squeezy bulb on the floor washer for front windscreen

1 speed front wipers (on or off)

No reverse light,

No fog light.

Vinyl seats & door cards.

 

A few months raiding the scrappers had it fitted with an electric washer (Push to make switch on dash marked "machine gun"), a rear parcel shelf (and mounts), a radio (and single speaker), rear lights from a Mk2 with the reversing laps (on a flick switch to make them work), a fog lamp and possibly my proudest addition was a rear heated windscreen - bucket of soapy water and string, heavy duty wire to a flick switch and wire straight to battery via an inline fuse.

 

Amazingly it had a 1.1 engine. With all that missing

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention it had a "low compression" engine in it, to run on 2 star / 3 star originally - so idid what any self respecting boyfriend would do - assume it would run on the cheaper unleaded than 4 star and ran it on that ....

[Largactil]

Did we get the 1.4 Mk1 Octavia over in blighty? Must be pretty rare if we did.

 

Spotted a few RHD examples in Ireland...

 

Most Laguna's over there seem to have the 1.5 dCi lump, which seems a bit stingy to haul near 1600kgs...