Jump to content

The Autoshite holy grail is now one of us!


trigger

Recommended Posts

In other news, Skizzer (Director of Finance, Sierra Purchasing Department) has been quiet since 1830 last night.

 

I'm starting to think he's realised his error, bought the whole thing himself and driven to Dagenham to take some heavily filtered pictures like it's 1983 again.

 

Hee hee!  S'alright, I'm still alive (haven't fessed up to Mrs S yet).  I went to the pub yesterday to spend the evening with some old friends and a number of pints of Amstel.  

 

As others have eloquently said above, Autoshite is (or at least originally was) the celebration of cars that nobody else liked.  Would I prefer a base 4-speed 1.6 model over Ken's 2.0 Ghia, as a transport proposition?  No, of course not.  Is it exceptionally rare, an interesting curiosity, unloved by the mainstream, the only one you'll ever see?  Yes.  So we're saving it, and rejoicing in its cheerful grimness.  

 

If you don't share that view, and frankly most sensible and well-adjusted people don't, then there are many other places - almost every other classic car club, site or magazine, in fact - where you would probably feel more at home.  Please don't bother trying to persuade us we're wrong.  We know we're odd, and we really don't care. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm just about to leave for the airport, if I take my iPad with me for our Romantic* weekend , I'm assured there will not be any other in room entertainment .

As someone who asked for a long weekend rental of the then new Sierra instead of a party for my 18th birthday,, this is going to be a tough decision.

My rental was a 1.6 L in doom blue , although I did take off the trims so I didn't damage them in 2000 miles of teenage abuse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks in better condition than my 3 door base was when I had first had it, but alot has changed since then, mine is just a sierra base on the v5 now nothing really remains (my mum even chucked my dangly mirrors away :-()I wonder if anyone else on here has a sierra base?

Thanks it was only on the road for about 9 years, since then it's been a back burner project. Theres still spots of rust we fixed/to fix/to keep an eye on. It's either a base or an L or somewhere between but sure it says base on V5... Must be other owners on here. I had silly ideas for changing it's style when I got it luckily I got old and wise in the meantime. It will basically be a RS Base! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have to say I'm still scratching my head at this.

 

I used to work at Ford, and the sole reason we made the base models was because they gave dealers something to sell against; you'd sell a GL, an LX or whatever, because for not a great deal more you got loads more kit.

 

And the public really didn't like them; they always went for the higher trim level at the slightly higher price. So the base specials were always a curio, unloved by both the manufacturers and the public. They're rare now because they were rare at the time.

 

So I freely admit that I just don't get the love for this car; good luck to all of you with the purchase and ongoing maintenance, but consider me bemused.

Well explained that. I've grown to appreciate pov spec cars and 'ordinary' cars especially ones so 'modern' they don't look classic - classic. What you've described has made it more rare then, It wouldn't be my first choice not without modification, a Nice Ghia on Nice wheels and sympathetic modifications would be but so cool this stuff exists and good its getting saved with real patina too. good work

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks it was only on the road for about 9 years, since then it's been a back burner project. Theres still spots of rust we fixed/to fix/to keep an eye on. It's either a base or an L or somewhere between but sure it says base on V5... Must be other owners on here. I had silly ideas for changing it's style when I got it luckily I got old and wise in the meantime. It will basically be a RS Base!

Here's mine, it's a compressed thread as there is a lot of stuff I've done to it over the years

http://autoshite.com/topic/16250-my-mk1-sierra-base/?do=findComment&comment=969390

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sat on the edge of my seat here... It's the same feeling I get when I put the same amount of money on a horse and I'm waiting for it to inevitably lose. Hopefully this Sierra isn't a 3 legged donkey!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ford were very clever in how they built cars and made them appear. This was probably due to the strong American influence on Dagenham. They did have a good recipe for success: use conservative engineering with nothing unorthodox or technically daring, then make a body which looks very stylish and modern. Vauxhall were also very good at this, using 3-speed manual gearboxes well into the 1970s for Heaven's sake. The Sierra's styling may have been unusual and a complete departure from what Ford were churning out prior to this, but I maintain that it was hardly ground-breaking.

I do not dislike Fords, but most of their cars I can take or leave. Reliable they may be, but technically interesting they are not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you think longblackcoat and midnite don't get it, put yourself in my shoes...

 

I'm trying to explain to my new-car-owning but otherwise fabulous girlfriend that in the space of 7 days I've bought a modern Mercedes SL and a share of possibly the least desirable Sierra still on the road, and I'm more excited about the Sierra than the Benz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am so pleased that you have saved this for 'the nation' - top chodding, Sirs.

 

I don't think I ever saw a base Sierra at the time, although I knew of them from my extensive collection of brochures collected at the Manchester Motor Show - a show that only lasted a few years - a fact entirely unrelated to it being quite cheap to get in and thousands of school kids turning up and taking brochures.

 

They looked shite even then, and time hasn't been kind - but it definitely needs to be kept 'as is' as much as possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

'BASE AINT A CRIME'

 

Try telling that to my mate that was caught with 12 grams of base speed and £800 in a club in Hull in 1996 and got two years.

 

I last logged on here the other day and saw some upset over Midnites comments and then logged on again this morning and saw that it had gone to 13 pages and assumed the biannual Autoshite meltdown had occured. 

 

I have been pleasantly surprised to see that the increased post count on this thread is because Captain Scatlet and Jo Shitey are taking Thunderbird Number Two and Fireball XL Shite on a rescue mission. 

 

Top work

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah. That's what they were built to do, don't insult the poor thing by driving like a wuss.

The speed's OK, just don't transition from a headwind to a crosswind (especially a blustery crosswind) like I did with a Gen-1 Sierra (admittedly a tired one with crap tyres and worn shocks) ... I was more than a little wide-eyed after that episode.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...