'93 Mondy thread - MOT pass

[quicksilver]

13 hours ago, greengartside said:

Yes a very early one, build date of 25.1.93.

Whilst we’re on the subject of early Mondeos, a bit of sleuthing has unearthed the very very early 4 door builds, courtesy of Ford Etis.

WF0FXXGBBFNY44916 - K889 FVX - Mondeo 1.8 LX 4dr - White - built  18.11.92

WF0FXXGBBFNY44917 - K837 FVX - Mondeo 2.0 Si 4dr - White - built 30.10.92

WF0FXXGBBFNY44918 - Mondeo 2.0 Ghia 4dr - Black - built 21.10.92

WF0FXXGBBFNY44919 - Mondeo 1.6 GLX 4dr - White - built 21.10.92

WF0FXXGBBFNY44920 - M292 APU - Mondeo 2.0 Ghia 4dr - Red - built 22.10.92

WF0FXXGBBFNY44921 - Mondeo 1.6 GLX 4dr - Red - built 25.11.92

WF0FXXGBBFNY44922 - K615 GEV - Mondeo 2.0 Ghia 4dr - Blue - built 26.10.92

WF0FXXGBBFNY44923 - Mondeo 2.0 Ghia 4dr - Red - built 19.11.92

 

Wow, I didn't expect any Mondeos to have been built in 1992. Those must be pre-production and quite probably hand-built. M292 APU is intriguing with its 1992 build date and M-reg so it must have been used as an unregistered development car for a couple of years, but sadly it's no longer on the DVLA system. K615 GEV didn't last long, registered Dec 1992 and last taxed 24 Feb 1993 so maybe this was the one used for destructive wear testing.

Looks like K-GHK and K-HAR might have been the initial build of demonstrators/press cars, although the ones used in publicity photos all seem to have had K-FMC private plates.

[quicksilver]

I've just stumbled across another very early survivor. K709 HHK, registered 8 April 1993, currently SORN with a valid MOT.

1993 Ford Mondeo 2.0 Ghia by Jamie-A, on Flickr

[sierraman]

Manufacturers usually bale the early pre production ones as they’re often full of snags that wouldn’t look good if they got onto the open market so it’s just easier to bale all the pre pro ones. They’re  not sentimental souls at Ford...

[egg]

2 hours ago, quicksilver said:

Looks like K-GHK and K-HAR might have been the initial build of demonstrators/press cars, although the ones used in publicity photos all seem to have had K-FMC private plates.

Possibly K-TCE as well?  K529 TCE (the one for sale on C&C for an age) has a very early registration date of 11/3/93 - maybe @greengartside could find us the build date for that one please?

TCE also had this with it  - which could be interpreted to mean it was an early press/demo car.

[sierraman]

Some of the prices on C&C are a bit err optimistic. £3500 for a Mk1 2.0 automatic? £7-800 I can see but £3500... 

I think I should have put the prices up of the bits I’m charging. I sold an instrument binnacle the other day £16 delivered, in all probability it would be less agg to just skip it, I’d even offered to set the odometer to match for that... anyway they guy wants to know if there’s a fucking returns policy if the fault turns out not to be the speedo. I feel like telling him to ring Ford up for a price on a new one. 

[greengartside]

4 hours ago, quicksilver said:

Wow, I didn't expect any Mondeos to have been built in 1992. Those must be pre-production and quite probably hand-built. M292 APU is intriguing with its 1992 build date and M-reg so it must have been used as an unregistered development car for a couple of years, but sadly it's no longer on the DVLA system. K615 GEV didn't last long, registered Dec 1992 and last taxed 24 Feb 1993 so maybe this was the one used for destructive wear testing.

Looks like K-GHK and K-HAR might have been the initial build of demonstrators/press cars, although the ones used in publicity photos all seem to have had K-FMC private plates.

K-GHK and K-HAR, along with K-SVE K-TCE AND K-SJE.

SVE’s were mainly loaned to House of Commons MP’s for trialling and evaluation. My dad’s K477 SVE was the demonstrator at Hunts Motor Company in Huntingdon.

K-TCE came out at the same time, although these were mainly dealer demo’s. K-SJE were a little bit later and saw the introduction of the estate which was launched in August 1993.

K615 GEV was the lead Mondeo which was featured in various news reports of the day, including News At Ten. I’ve researched it and found it was a 2.0i Ghia.

If you look closely, you can see it’s minus it’s headlamp washers. This must have been an ‘11th hour’ thing. I can’t see any Ghia badges on the wings either.

K529 TCE build date is 2.3.93, registered 11.3.93. Paint is ‘Isis Blue 93’, interior trim colour is ‘Atlantis 92’ and fabric is ‘Stage’.

 

 

[AnthonyG]

4 hours ago, sierraman said:

Manufacturers usually bale the early pre production ones as they’re often full of snags that wouldn’t look good if they got onto the open market so it’s just easier to bale all the pre pro ones. They’re  not sentimental souls at Ford...

The Cortina Mk3 that got blown-up at the start of an early 1970s Tomorrow’s World title sequence was a pre-production car, or one of the very early production builds from late summer ‘70, which were apparently also full of snags and a ‘mare for dealers. 

Probably explains why Ford were happy to see a brand-new model destroyed on national TV - although the car does appear to assemble itself from a cloud of dust as the whole explosion sequence is reversed.

[HMC]

Love this thread! Keep up the research all, and having just read from start to finish kudos to @egg for sticking with it! A great read A+++ wud recommend 

[quicksilver]

2 hours ago, greengartside said:

K-GHK and K-HAR, along with K-SVE K-TCE AND K-SJE.

SVE’s were mainly loaned to House of Commons MP’s for trialling and evaluation. My dad’s K477 SVE was the demonstrator at Hunts Motor Company in Huntingdon.

K-TCE came out at the same time, although these were mainly dealer demo’s. K-SJE were a little bit later and saw the introduction of the estate which was launched in August 1993.

K615 GEV was the lead Mondeo which was featured in various news reports of the day, including News At Ten. I’ve researched it and found it was a 2.0i Ghia.

If you look closely, you can see it’s minus it’s headlamp washers. This must have been an ‘11th hour’ thing. I can’t see any Ghia badges on the wings either.

K529 TCE build date is 2.3.93, registered 11.3.93. Paint is ‘Isis Blue 93’, interior trim colour is ‘Atlantis 92’ and fabric is ‘Stage’.

 

 

Excellent stuff. K-HHK came before K-HAR so presumably those were demonstrators too. I'd love to know what K546 HAR got up to in its first year registered to Ford. Any idea why the SJE, SVE and TCE batches were registered in Peterborough rather than by Ford in Essex?

K615 GEV appears to be yet another Cayman Blue car, someone at Ford obviously liked that colour as it features an awful lot in early publicity.

[greengartside]

1 hour ago, quicksilver said:

Excellent stuff. K-HHK came before K-HAR so presumably those were demonstrators too. I'd love to know what K546 HAR got up to in its first year registered to Ford. Any idea why the SJE, SVE and TCE batches were registered in Peterborough rather than by Ford in Essex?

K615 GEV appears to be yet another Cayman Blue car, someone at Ford obviously liked that colour as it features an awful lot in early publicity.

Re: SVE, SJE, TCE. I’ve heard there is a large depot at Alconbury near Peterborough where Fords are registered and stored. If you look at some of the press vehicles from Ford from the mid 00’s for example, a lot of them carry AJ, AK  etc. Plates which are Peterborough area indexes. I’d assume they are from there? I once had a Mk3 Astra which carried a JF Leicester plate. I found out (back in the days when you could send off the V888 previous owners form) that it was registered at RAF Bruntingthorpe which did a similar thing, registering and storing them with Vauxhalls and later, Rovers. 
In fact, there is a well-known clip from You Bet! on YouTube where Russ Swift absolutely twats a 420 GSi Saloon round the track at Bruntingthorpe through a maze of other Rovers.

Dad very nearly traded in his Mondeo for a Cayman Blue 2.0 GLX, M525 XCL.

[BorniteIdentity]

49 minutes ago, greengartside said:

I’ve heard there is a large depot at Alconbury near Peterborough where Fords are registered and stored.

This is still absolutely true. The Mustang that FoMoCo leant me for 2 days came from Alconbury. It’s where they keep the press fleet. 

[Lord Sterling]

13 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

This is still absolutely true. The Mustang that FoMoCo leant me for 2 days came from Alconbury. It’s where they keep the press fleet. 

I've been to the Alconbury depot a few times. The first time we went with another driver driving a hire car to drop us to the depot, we accidently went to the entrance of the US military air base there as all the usual roads we used to go the depot were blocked off due to a housing estate being built there. The gun-carrying guards at the entrance were nice and advised us of which roads to use as they probably used to a lot of lost drivers trying to find their way to the Ford depot.

[egg]

I guess it's all these cars sitting on the old runway!

[neil1971]

Early Mk1 Mondeo 1600 saloon on Facebook Marketplace £600

Can't see the whole reg but K92DAW comes up as a white Mondeo, registered 8th April 1993, MoT expired November 2018.  Seller's name rings a bell from banger racing so that may be its fate if it doesn't sell although ad isn't a 'buy or it gets raced' one

[egg]

Thanks....aghhh....that's a Base! That's two that need saving...

[83C]

Shrewsbury-registered machine.

My Mk.1 Mondeo (1.6 bASe) was registered same place, reg was L67* *UX.

[greengartside]

Sorry for the constant thread intrusion but I saw these photos on the web that I thought would be appropriate for here. They are the production line at Genk I believe.

Pictures taken April 1993. Full credit to picture owner etc etc.

[Fumbler]

Those are seriously cool photos, especially showing their assembly

[BorniteIdentity]

20 hours ago, neil1971 said:

Early Mk1 Mondeo 1600 saloon on Facebook Marketplace £600

Can't see the whole reg but K92DAW comes up as a white Mondeo, registered 8th April 1993, MoT expired November 2018.  Seller's name rings a bell from banger racing so that may be its fate if it doesn't sell although ad isn't a 'buy or it gets raced' one

I've just seen them talking about this in the Mondeo FB group.  The owner seems to be pretty decent (despite having a ridiculous name) and it looks like he's your typical "cash in hand for end of life cars" type of character.

I'm still holding out (ever hopefully) that Slowsilver will sell up once he's got the Cayman Blue one going and I can take that on long term.  Otherwise I'd probably be messaging "INKY CRITTENDEN" (lol) about this one.

[egg]

@greengartside did another junk-yard parts raid for me - more long term stock odds and ends!  Many thanks to him.

[egg]

Another early k reg for sale with a cracked cylinder head 

[KWhite]

Has that gone already? I can't find it on marketplace

[egg]

16 minutes ago, KWhite said:

Has that gone already? I can't find it on marketplace

@KWhite - its in the Mk1+2 Mondeo cars and parts for sale uk group. 

[KWhite]

1 minute ago, egg said:

@KWhite - its in the Mk1+2 Mondeo cars and parts for sale uk group. 

Ah, Thank You!

[egg]

Remember that original wheel I started preparing? I got the high build primer out as suggested by Sierraman and finished that off today in my paint booth.

MOT was due 1 June, but extended to 1 December. I don't like cold weather MOT's, so it is now booked in for 6 August. 

If it passes ok, it will get an oil change with proper Formula F and an OEM filter that I'll take to the MOT station for them to do.

Then in September-ish I'll get the rear tyres changed (dated 2008) and this wheel will go back on the car at that point.

Anyway, there's a plan that can go wrong!

[egg]

The plastic-rubber roof strips are unobtainium, and for the last year or two mine have been becoming loose. They are just glued down at either end from the factory....so I tried to use Tiger Seal to sort them.

Here they are lifting...note how small the roof is compared to the size of the car, cab forward, innit?

Now removed by hand and the strip is dated 10/2/93 (six weeks before the car was assembled). The channel needed cleaning obvs.

Now glued on.

This should have been easy, but removing the strip meant it lost its shape, so I had to keep each end pressed down by hand for about 10 mins to wait for the sealant to cure enough for it to hold down in place. Standing there like a lemon, lol. Also meant black sealant on the hands, love it...

Second side was easier. Now done.

Small victories. If it stays stuck down, that is.

[egg]

On 7/5/2020 at 6:23 PM, greengartside said:

Sorry for the constant thread intrusion but I saw these photos on the web that I thought would be appropriate for here. They are the production line at Genk I believe.

Pictures taken April 1993. Full credit to picture owner etc etc.

Thanks GG. I like this shot because it shows a car without the side rubbing trim. They were fitted to all models at the start, but later deleted on base models - so you can see it was a simple case of not fitting it at a fairly late stage of production. Mine would have come off this line of course only a few weeks earlier.

[Slowsilver]

Interesting information. The roof strips on K546HAR are lifting and I couldn't see how they were fixed down. I need to repaint the roof at some point and was wondering if I could remove them rather than have to mask them up. Might give it a go now that I know (if yours stay stuck down that is). I saw somwhere that there are supposed to be mountings for a Ford roof rack under these trims, approximately in line with the centre of each of the four doors. Did you notice these when the trims were off ? Presumably you would need to cut lumps out of the trims to fit one.
 

[egg]

@Slowsilver - good point, I didn't notice any mounting points for the roof rack, but you're right, I guess it's where they could be. I wonder if they weren't on all models?

I was told that the paint under the roof strips is very thin, and yes it is, just cleaning the channels out (removing the old sealant) lifted a few small pieces of paint. Just to note.

[Zelandeth]

5 hours ago, egg said:

@Slowsilver - good point, I didn't notice any mounting points for the roof rack, but you're right, I guess it's where they could be. I wonder if they weren't on all models?

I was told that the paint under the roof strips is very thin, and yes it is, just cleaning the channels out (removing the old sealant) lifted a few small pieces of paint. Just to note.

Wonder if it's the same as one the Xantia where there were actually paper stickers over the mounting holes for the roof rack which were then painted over - yes, that's precisely as much of a recipe for water ingress as it sounds like.