Ford Fiesta - launched 40 years ago today.

[conkerman]

Never had one. Thinking of an ecoboost as a daily.

 

Sent from my Vodafone Smart ultra 6 using Tapatalk

[AlabamaShrimp]

Unless your 88 is sunburst red and you want to sell me it!

 

I think Anglevan might still have an XR2 mk2

Sorry it's Rosso red and it's never going to be for sale!

[Pillock]

Ex's mum had a 1.8D mk3 that we borrowed to go all over the place.... It did Newquay a few times, I did her a few times in it too. Looking back it was a terrible car, but she was my first girlfriend, it was the first time I'd been on holiday without my mum and every time I see a burgundy mk3 I've got happy memories.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Took my test in a W reg 1100 L. In 1981.

 

Ended up with a lovely 1300 GL in about 1982/3 in the weirdest car purchase ever, sold it straightaway, but can't help smiling whenever I see a beige Mk1.

 

Had aY reg Black XR2 as a company car in 1984. Hated it, not quick, noisy old Anglia engine and 4 speed box.

 

Used a B reg Mk2 XR2 for 2 months in 1985 when my company XR3i was off the road. I loved it, felt faster than the XR3 and handled much better. It was even more comfortable, I tried to get the lease company to swap it- they wouldn't. They had a waiting list for XR2s at the time and could get more a month for it.

Bought and sold many Mk1 and 2s over the years, always a better bet than a Metro for resale back in the day.

[LostnotFound]

The only car I've ever rolled was a Mk5 Zetec S. 

 

For that they get my thumbs up.

[Hendry]

As much as I've never owned any Fords let alone Fiestas, I did love 80s Fords, I remember my dad buying a 91 H plate Orion (mk5 Escort shape) in 1994 and thinking it was the bees knees, turned out an utter turd of a car and put me off Fords for a very long time until recently where for moderns I reckon they are the best of a bad bunch, as such would consider a mk7 prefacelift 3 door 1.6 TI-VCT 120bhp in Vision Blue in either Zetec S trim with Street pack (17" wheels and rear tints) but with a load of options:- keyless with power start, auto lights/rain sensor wipers/auto dim interior mirror, cruise, climate, Sony DAB head unit, electric folding door mirrors, etc. Or a Titanium with Zetec S wheels tints and styling kit. One day these will be autoshite and loads of us will get trouser tents at them.

 

I liked the look of the mk1 Supersport, mk2 1400S, mk3 Si and really like the mk4 sad face looking ones.

[paulplom]

I had a mk1 brown one as a courtesy car while my mk1 metro was in for repair. I couldn't believe how basic and tinny it was compared to my metro. The windscreen squirters were operated by a pump thing near the pedals. I then had a mk2 I accidently set of fire while doing the head gasket

[Junkman]

February 2nd, 1977. 

 

Is there anyone here that hasn't had one?

 

Never had one, never will.

IMO they should have launched it at the Chinese Wall, that miserable piece of woefulness

that couldn't match the dirt underneath the fingernail of a Renner 5.

[Dirk Diggler]

My second car was a 78, in beige, with overriders on the bumpers; this would have been 1997; wasn't rusty, but took a good run to get to 70

 

Replaced with an 85 mk 2 957 with an xr2 bodykit and pepperpots; really thought I was the shit; have driven every mark since pretty much, but never owned another

 

I haven't heard the familiar hum of a 957 fiesta for a very long time; even 20 years ago it was so common

[Felly Magic]

My mk2 was a Popular Plus, didn't even have a centre console in when I got it, been owned from new by a giffer and had low miles. Did allsorts to that car as it was knife & fork simple, me and a mate even fitted a new quarter panel and XR2 suspension & rear axle after an argument with a Transco van, as a mate had a jig in his garage. Was used as a van, and in the 4 years I owned it I clocked up at least 50k. Parts back then were pennies, and scrappers were plentiful Would have another in a heartbeat

[AMC Rebel]

My first ever new car was my company XR2 - F691 XOF in white.

 

Way after I had it someone turned it into a Quantum, it seems to still be extant though currently SORN.

 

 

<trivia> It had a factory glass sunroof (I think we called the glass ones moonroofs then). It tilted, but didn't slide.  You could lift the whole glass panel out and there were rubber straps in the boot floor to secure it. </trivia>

[Skizzer]

I drove a shagged mk1 Fiesta van from Willesden to Teesdale in about 1992 and my ears only stopped bleeding last month.

 

I'd have a nice mk1 GL or mk2 Ghia though. Or - am I allowed to say this? - I actually really fancy a mk2 XR2.

[Captain Furious]

First car was a D reg 1.1 Pop Plus, although it was on the log book as a 1.1 I think it might actually have been a 950, because it was nowhere near as fast as a friends actual 1.1.  It was also on the logbook as a 1988 despite being on a D reg and had the rubber carpet insert for the driver on the passenger side.  Looking back there were plenty of things about that car which were questionable, but it was my first, so I loved it.

 

Tried to relive it a few years back by buying an E reg 1.4 Ghia (which was what I actually wanted back then but couldn't afford the insurance) turned out some things are best left as starry eyed memories.  Sold it after a couple of months when I realised it was fucking crap.

[scruff]

Never owned one, but my mum had two Mk2s, and my ex had a Mk2 Popular (put a rod through the block) and then a Mk3 Ghia four door which was quite a bonny little car really. 

[0ldCh0d]

My Sisters First Car was a 1990 H Reg, 1.1, I think it was a Poplar Model?  4 Speed Manual Thing, It screamed for a 5th gear. It was as basic as fuck inside.

 

& Just Last week, We sold SWMBO's 2003, 53 Plate Fiesta on The tree of Bum for a Nice little sum.

[AlabamaShrimp]

My second car was a 78, in beige, with overriders on the bumpers; this would have been 1997; wasn't rusty, but took a good run to get to 70

 

Replaced with an 85 mk 2 957 with an xr2 bodykit and pepperpots; really thought I was the shit; have driven every mark since pretty much, but never owned another

 

I haven't heard the familiar hum of a 957 fiesta for a very long time; even 20 years ago it was so common

Posted this somewhere else on here (can't remember where)

 

https://youtu.be/f7dKhAUY-cI

 

Can't make it link proper

[fordperv]

^ Music to my ears, i want another for mrs fp

[MrBiscuits]

The Mk1/2 was a popular first car choice back in my youth, though I never had one but a mate had a Y plate mk1 in Brown with a gold stripe. It lasted until his feet went through the floor one day.

 

I learned to drive in one of the first sad face versions (on a N plate) pov spec 1.8d in red. Seriously slow. I recall one lesson my instructor wanted me to get it up to 70 - we ran out of road.

[phil_lihp]

Just one, from 2005 - 2007.  Rather boring but was a huge step up from the world's most unreliable AX.  1.25 Zetec power, naff blue upholstery which clashed nicely with the red paintwork.  

 

 

Turned out to have had a nasty NS accident which meant steering geometry was permanently on the cock, plagued by niggly problems but saw me through a lot of changes in my life and put up with a fair amount of abuse.  Despite needing a gaping hole in the NS sill welding up for its MOT the day before I traded it in, it soldiered on until last year according to the MOT history which showed its last failure list to contain 22 seperate items, most of them related to corrosion.  It was last spotted earlier in the year, looking utterly hanging and neglected living next to the sea so it did well.  

 

My sister loves them, she's had a 1995 Mk3 1.1 (strangled with a catalytic converter in the later models) which remains one of the slowest thing I've ever driven, looked smart but turned out to be utterly rotten and consisted mostly of gaffer tape and filler, a 2000 Mk5 which died of terminal abuse and neglect shortly afterwards and a lovely 1988 Mk2 1.1 Popular, that was sold a few years back in Wales and then rather strangely reappeared a couple of years later near me, a little bit barried but with a fresh coat of paint and tidy mods which could have been worse.  Haven't seen it in a while though.

 

Hard not to like them, cheap honest transport for the masses, much as they always have been.  Plus of course, the Puma owes its DNA to the Mk4 which is no shameful thing.

[Snipes]

I have a mk5 that girlfriend previously owned for 8 years. It's a pretty basic 1.3 Flight. I don't really like it but she adores it and probably would have kept it if it wasn't slowly succumbing to rust and general wear 'n' tear.

 

I can't really fault it for simple unpretentious transport. 

[Station]

Loved my mk3 (as opposed to walking/getting the bus), but Jesus Christ, Ford were stingy on extras. It was an L I think but had nothing.

 

I don't like those smiley face Fiestas, and every Ford I've been in after that felt cheap.

[r.welfare]

I bought a '78 1.1L 15 years ago as a cheap runaround between cars, I think I paid £100 with a good chunk of MOT and tax, scrap was low then (in fact the scrap man gave a tenner for it several months later after the MOT man condemned it). Rusty, rattly but endearing, it too had the floor mounted windscreen washer. It sadly also had no instrument illumination or brakes, but I just drove around those issues - it wasn't much slower point to point than the 528i it replaced, nor the Jetta TX that succeeded it.

[Lacquer Peel]

Works hack#1 1.1L MK2 E920JST. Awful car. Absolutely rotten everywhere at 8 years old, scuttle was even collapsing and the engine banged off the bulkhead as the lower mounting bar was not attached to the crossmember too well. Had the wing in my bedroom wall for years as a teenager because I thought it was cool.

 

Inverness registration, there's your problem. I don't remember them lasting well at all in the Highlands.

[Austin of England]

On the 9th May 1983 I passed my driving test in a driving school most basic Popular, it was only 3 weeks old at the time. I didn't get to own a Fiesta till Feb last year when I needed a temporary runabout quick. a quick visit to Gumtree and £200 later I became the proud owner of the car below, my intention to run it till the MOT expired then sell for spares or repairs, however just after Christmas it only went and passed another MOT with nothing needed and no advisories, so it lives for another year.

 

I enjoy driving it, its the 1.25 engine, goes well enough, handles and rides well, but has it foibles (character) in the form of rusty arches, heater stuck on max heat and a whining 3rd gear

[CortinaDave]

I've had a few...

 

 

E857HSL - MK2 1.4 Sport. Rotten as fook but went like stink. First car I ever managed to get "off the clock" (It went up to 110). Fundamental lack of arse/inner wings or sills and a holey front valance killed it off. It still went off the clock on the run to the scrappy.

 

S652JSL - mk4 1.25 Sad Face Zetec. Owned by my missus of the time but I used it a lot. Bought from the auctions in Glasgow for 400 quid. Never missed a beat although the heater was stuck on full hot and the central locking was borked. She was still driving it when she left me for some other bloke.

 

SV54CPZ - mK6 1.4 Zetec - Bought by current OH five or so years ago for 3 grand. She only ever had to put a couple of tyres, some brake pads and one front spring on it in all that time and 60,000 miles. Sold on a couple of months ago as the clutch was on its way out. I see the new owners have put it through another MOT.

 

SL10FZE - mk7 1.6 diesel zetec. Missus bought this off my work after they retired it from company car duties. So far so good.

 

 

Fiestas are great little cars. Proper workhorses. I love 'em.

[Mike D]

mk2 1.4S is my dream choice

[Mr Bump]

I had one and sacked it off before I learnt to drive

[dieselassist]

...Im off collection'ising a 99 mk4 Festy 1.25 on Sunday, up in Dublin that my sister wants/ got given - just passed its test, but her friend's, er, friend, couldn't sell it or give it away to anyone but my sister, before she emigrates to Leeds - such is the costs for insuring a car over 13 years of age here... no one wants a car that age, but its passed all its tests first time n Low mileage, Ive been told....

 

... my sister just wants it to use while she sells her 'modern' (an 08), n upgrades with the cash, n some cash ontop... Im hoping its the facelifted mk4... great old reliable cars the mk4, but had a sad face one for a few weeks; getting it through its test for a cousin... we had plenty of mk3's which I loved but I hated the dash in the mk4; interfered with my right knee on clutching in... 

[Spottedlaurel]

Mk1 Fiesta defines crisp automotive styling. They were the quintessential first car when I started driving in the late '80s, loads of my contemporaries had one (seemingly always beige or gold - my sister's was one of the former). Obviously I outcooled them all with my X-reg Cherry.

 

I don't recall many Mk1 driving experiences, but I do remember this Mk2 well as it was my Manta A that bent the bumper on it after I failed to stop in time at a junction:

 

1980 Ford Fiesta 950 Popular Plus (1992) by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

Rather than go through tedious insurance, the owner let me sort it myself - bought a bumper for £6 out of a scrapyard, cleaned it up, the garage fitted it for £24 and all was well. She even let me drive it to the garage, as I had an honest face.

 

Just remembered a Mk2 Cabriolet (Firefly?) that someone I sort of knew had. I clipped the bumper on that one once in my Cherry and the end-cap fell off it (what is it with me and Mk2 bumpers?). I did the decent thing in picking it up and leaving it on his bonnet.....

 

The Mk2 facelift seemed to do a decent job of freshening up the styling for the 1980s.

 

I have no love whatsoever for the Mk3, not a good era for Ford at all then, though it doesn't displease me to see a decent example still in use nowadays. Or even a tatty one surviving against the odds.

[AlabamaShrimp]

You let a garage fit the back bumper? It's four very small bolts in the boot. Takes about 10 mins to fit.

 

What is this face lift you speak of? They got body coloured bumpers with plastic inserts in 1987 but nothing else (the plastic bits just make the bumpers rot quicker)