Base spec absolute misery

[BorniteIdentity]

It is impossible to place too much emphasis on the importance of spec to a 12 year old Borniteidentity. As Clarkson poetically put it - “it was more important than the war in Vietnam”. Endless, innumerable hours were spent arguing between my chum James Tipple and I as to whose father had made the better life choice: My Dad with the brand new LX in Cayman Blue, or his Dad with the 12 month old GLX in radiant red. We had the all important M prefix number plate with local dealer plates attached, his was just a Lex Lease plate but better appointed than ours with the enviable piping to all 5 seats.  We never DID settle that argument. 

Put simply, it was everything. Stuff like this mattered more than pretty much anything. I couldn’t cycle past a Ford without diagnosing the spec from the wheel trims or lack of rear headrests. It was all consuming. On the rare occasion you’d pass a Ghia X, the word “Wow” would be followed up by my old man muttering “Someone’s doing well” under his breath (mostly with an air of irritation but rarely envy).

Time rolls on. As a romantic old fool, I miss those simper times.

As a Base Spec owner, I miss none of the fancier options ticked by the well heeled saloon driver of the 80s - other than a radio. A rear wiper? I want to see where I’m going, not where I’ve been. Fag lighter? I always carry a clipper - far less likely to accelerate from the dashboard at 227 mph and set light to my Windsor fabric seats. Who the fuck needs a watch in 2020? My phone reliably informs me I spend 3 hours of every day eyeing it up. 

So no, I don’t miss spec. But I do miss those halcyon simpler times when you could sneer at someone who’d scraped the money together for an L. Fools. 

[Walter White]

8 minutes ago, CortinaDave said:

Base mk3 cortina - only mirror was the internal one. No carpets, bench seat... no passenger sun visor !

Ford really have produced some truly basic base models. Does any manufacturer do base models better/worse? 

 

[Tamworthbay]

My 1.6L Capri is an odd one. From discussions on other forums we think it must have been a dealer display car as it has metallic paint. At the time the added cost of metallic paint brought it within £18 of a GL and added delights that brought. It is also odd as it sits at the end of L’s life so has headrests but the material of the seats was the L spec. The centre console is replaced by a short tray with a clock. No arm rest for you peasant.

 

[AndyW201]

I've experienced the joy of base a few times,

The Metro I had as my first car was one of the early base models, just had miniMetro on the boot, not even a City logo. One door mirror, no rear wash wipe, not even a heated rear window, 135 section tyres on its 12" wheels and front discs but no servo. Someone before me had taken out the vinyl seats out though and fitted MG ones, complete with the red carpets.

That was followed by an A plate MK3 Escort 1.1 popular in misery-spec China blue. By 1984 though, Ford had at least replaced the low back vinyl seats with cloth trimmed ones with the A frame headrests. The dash had gained centre vents and the absolute luxury of the centre pod mounted radio speaker. One wonders how much money Ford actually saved on the de-specced dash of the earlier base MK3.

The last truly base 1.1 MK3 I saw was back in 1991. I very nearly bought it; REF 76X, complete with that early dash and headrest-less vinyl seats. Even the colour was dull non-metallic grey, to which the owner/seller had added some jazzy Stylistick 'Escort' logo'd graphics down the side to try to make it look less depressing. I got the Metro instead...

When I went through my phase of owning Mercedes 190s, most of them had had a lot of the option boxes ticked. One though, stood out.

K281 OBK was a 1.8 with manual box. Brown paintwork, steelies with original 190 wheel trims, keep fit windows all round, beige cloth trim with none of the niceties my other 190s had like front arm rest or rear headrests. Only boxes ticked were (manual) sunroof, electric aerial and a dealer-fit Blaupunkt Casablanca radio cassette. A complete opposite to my other 190s but I loved it!

[Richard_FM]

Vauxhall had an oversupply of viva 2 door saloon body shells & to shift them produced a ultra stripped down trim level at a knock down price which sold better than they expected 

[Walter White]

I remember a colleague having a Peugeot 309GE which went without a rear wiper, wheel trims and probably more that I didn't see. I never saw another GE. 

 

[Eyersey1234]

My old Fiesta wasn't quite a povo spec, being the Style it had a CD player and electric front windows which the povo spec Studio didn't. We've had a few povo spec cars in the family over the years though, the ones that spring to mind are G355 NAT, a Citroen AX 10E 3dr owned by my Great aunt and Uncle, H564 VRH, a Citroen BX St Tropez and J946 HKH, a Citroen ZX Reflex both owned by my grandparents, and finally E410 FDL an Austin Metro City 3dr, N145 EAT a Ford Fiesta Azura and HW03 AWX a Fiat Multipla 1.6SX all owned by my Stepdad 

[bunglebus]

I quite like a base, but I have absolutely no respect whatsoever for GL (or equivalent) and the people that buy them new. I get not everyone wants absolute basic motoring but isn't interested in gadgets - they buy an L. People that like a bit of luxury, comfort and maybe some extra power, the Ghia. What are GL buyers thinking? I want it nice, but not too nice, don't want to spoil myself. I'll just get the GL. They can get in the sea, buy a Ghia you tight git!

[Vince70]

I think when Ford started building the MK1 Escort in 67/68  you could actually buy a base spec with a 950 cc engine but it was so shite that even  Ford couldn’t justify the car and dropped it from home market sale.

I think it still sold in Italy and Portugal though for tax reasons.

 

 

 

[artdjones]

4 hours ago, Walter White said:

 

Cross ply tyres, front drum brakes and no mention of servo assistance. Static seat belts and sealed beam headlights. No reversing lights or heated rear window. The passanger didn't even get an oddments tray / shelf under the dash. No mention of a laminated windscreen

Yes,and a stop on the carburettor so that you only got 40 hp instead of the full 47hp of a standard 1100.I seem to remember that it was a response to the economic downturn caused by the Yom Kippur war and the subsequent fuel crisis.

[Richard_FM]

17 minutes ago, Vince70 said:

I think when Ford started building the MK1 Escort in 67/68  you could actually buy a base spec with a 950 cc engine but it was so shite that even  Ford couldn’t justify the car and dropped it from home market sale.

I think it still sold in Italy and Portugal though for tax reasons.

 

 

 

France is another place with tax rules that make smaller engines attractive, & some under engined cars not always sold in the uk.

[Richard_FM]

The 1.3 litre Capris were quite basic & Opel made a 1.2 Manta for people who wanted a good looking car & wasn’t bothered about the lack of performance.

[Walter White]

It has taken a while to find the images. My base model ownership experience was an Austin Ambassador 1.7 L, registered in 1983. It had PAS, which was an optional extra but no other options. No rear wash wipe so rear visibility in the wet was a bit hopeless. No door bins so nowhere for my A to Z or other bits, until I went to a scrap yard and bought some from an HL. Plenty of blanked off switches which would be for electric windows, front fog lights and rear wash wipe had they been there. 

Externally, no side rubbing strips, rear wash wipe as previously mentioned and  small wheel trims covering the centre only. 

The lack of rear wash wipe and door bin were a pain. The side rubbing strip that the HL and above had would have come in handy when passangers opened the doors into street furniture otherwise base motoring was fine. 

[HMC]

It’s odd to think of the extra cost involved in producing the poverty models- that mk3 escort model without the extra dashvents- it almost seems wilfully mean to invest extra money to tool up for mouldings for the parts to deny the base model owners some fresh air to cool them as they bake on the (vinyl not cloth, and red hot  ) seats in the summer sun.

[BL Bloke]

9 hours ago, Conan said:

Less equipment = less weight = better performance. I prefer to call them "Race Car Spec".

The Plymouth Road Runner was an example of this, basically a stripped out Belvedere with a big engine.

I had a 1976 Chevette E 4 door saloon which had vinyl trim, non reclining seats and only one sun visor.  

[Walter White]

29 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Yes,and a stop on the carburettor so that you only got 40 hp instead of the full 47hp of a standard 1100.I seem to remember that it was a response to the economic downturn caused by the Yom Kippur war and the subsequent fuel crisis.

Now it seems laughable that to average 37mpg or thereabouts in a petrol car required that amount of sacrifice. Did Ford call it called a "sonic idle" carburettor or something similar?

That carb and the low compression 1100 engine in the mk2 Escort or 957 in the Fiestas must have been an experience. 

[bunglebus]

1100 Escorts were alright around town, but I can testify that stamping on the brake pedal with both feet in a front drum braked MK2 results in the fronts just about locking. Scary.

I hate to think what 1300 OHV MK4/5 Cortinas and (rare) 1300 OHC Sierras were like. I have seen one 1300 Pinto Sierra, in a breakers.

[Isaac Hunt]

3 hours ago, Tamworthbay said:

Acclaim was set for mild understeer blandness, if that’s someone’s idea of improvement, well that’s how we end up where we are not with cars - Magnolia paint dept. Reliability? Again no direct experience but the fact they disappeared from our roads so quickly doesn’t suggest they were that good.

My boss had an acclaim HL.  We were on the M6 at mega nots one day and he says “I must get this booked in for a service”.  I asked what the interval was “I don’t know he says, it will be it’s first service”.......Feck me, it was on 60k and the bonnet had never been opened.  At the M’way service area, I sprung the hood and checked the oil and coolant for him, it was fine.  To me, that marked a new era in reliability 

[Spurious]

2 minutes ago, BorniteIdentity said:

It is impossible to place too much emphasis on the importance of spec to a 12 year old Borniteidentity. As Clarkson poetically put it - “it was more important than the war in Vietnam”. Endless, innumerable hours were spent arguing between my chum James Tipple and I as to whose father had made the better life choice: My Dad with the brand new LX in Cayman Blue, or his Dad with the 12 month old GLX in radiant red. We had the all important M prefix number plate with local dealer plates attached, his was just a Lex Lease plate but better appointed than ours with the enviable piping to all 5 seats.  We never DID settle that argument. 

Put simply, it was everything. Stuff like this mattered more than pretty much anything. I couldn’t cycle past a Ford without diagnosing the spec from the wheel trims or lack of rear headrests. It was all consuming. On the rare occasion you’d pass a Ghia X, the word “Wow” would be followed up by my old man muttering “Someone’s doing well” under his breath (mostly with an air of irritation but rarely envy).

Time rolls on. As a romantic old fool, I miss those simper times.

As a Base Spec owner, I miss none of the fancier options ticked by the well heeled saloon driver of the 80s - other than a radio. A rear wiper? I want to see where I’m going, not where I’ve been. Fag lighter? I always carry a clipper - far less likely to accelerate from the dashboard at 227 mph and set light to my Windsor fabric seats. Who the fuck needs a watch in 2020? My phone reliably informs me I spend 3 hours of every day eyeing it up. 

So no, I don’t miss spec. But I do miss those halcyon simpler times when you could sneer at someone who’d scraped the money together for an L. Fools. 

Ah so I wasn't the only one to do this. 

Also was on the lookout for models that didn't have rear disc brakes and the implication that drums were used on the base spec and the posh models or the more upper class models in a manufacturers line up.  Always noticed that Volvos/Saabs and Citroens used discs quite a lot as a kid.  I am noticing them making a come back; lots of bog standard Fords/Renaults/Dacia or Nissans coming with drums nowadays too.

[GeordieInExile]

42 minutes ago, HMC said:

It’s odd to think of the extra cost involved in producing the poverty models- that mk3 escort model without the extra dashvents- it almost seems wilfully mean to invest extra money to tool up for mouldings for the parts to deny the base model owners some fresh air to cool them as they bake on the (vinyl not cloth, and red hot  ) seats in the summer sun.

They must have calculated that enough people would look at the levels of misery involved and spend the extra few hundred quid on the L model to make it worthwhile. Suck 'em in with the low starting price, then make a few quid charging over the odds for such luxuries as central air vents.

[Yoss]

3 hours ago, The Mighty Quinn said:

Apart from performance, reliability, economy, handling, build quality, braking and ride, the Dolomite was indeed superior.

 

 

 

3 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

I think the Acclaim was one of the best cars that BL made...

 

3 hours ago, Tamworthbay said:

If they were so good, why did they sell so few? And why did they disappear overnight? The ride in my mates mum’s one was not a patch on my Dolomite, my 1300 got around 40mpg, can’t see the Acclaim being much better, The performance of the larger engined Dolly’s was way superior to the Acclaim, Never driven one so can’t comment on the handling but the Dolomite did well in many racing series and a quick search on the internet suggest the Acclaim was set for mild understeer blandness, if that’s someone’s idea of improvement, well that’s how we end up where we are not with cars - Magnolia paint dept. Reliability? Again no direct experience but the fact they disappeared from our roads so quickly doesn’t suggest they were that good.

If only we had someone on here who had one of each, they could give us the definitive answer. Though he may have forgotten how the Dolomite feels due to ongoing engine saga. 

 

Never been in an Acclaim so I can't comment but I've had lots of Dolomites. Even I would have to admit they were a bit dated by 1980 but still quite pleasant if they were in good nick. In 1965, as the original 1300, they were way ahead of anything from Ford or Vauxhall. Oddly, in a thread about base models the original 1300 had no high or low spec, just one model with virtually no optional extras, just a radio. 

[warch]

My mum and dad usually bought the bog standard version of any car. We had a Metro 1.0 L, an Opel Kadett (Astra Mk2) L, then my Mum went all flash and bought a Vauxhall Nova 1.5 TD which also had fuck all in the way of optional extras. They've sort of kept the tradition going by buying quite an upmarket Corsa but refusing to use and being ignorant of any of the options. 

I own a motorcycle and a 60s Land Rover* so I am quite used to the concept of stripped down minimalist motoring, I am happy with a car with a non leaking roof, a heater and a radio, anything else I can live without (although I do like cruise control).

* Land Rover I am proud to say were prepared to go the extra mile to provide a truly spartan ownership experience for the customer who wanted the basic model when it was announced in 1948. Apparently doors, sidescreens, a roof, passenger seat, starting handle, spare wheel carrier and spare tyre were all going to be optional, until they changed their mind and added them all to the basic specification. 

[Timewaster]

Ford must have done 4 different dash mouldings for the Mk3 Escort. 

Scratchy plastic, no vents, no speaker

Scratchy plastic, vents, no speaker

Scratchy plastic, vents, speaker

Soft touch, vents and speaker. 

However, the soft touch one in the RS Turbo and  Ghia had a centre speaker grill but was speced with footwell speakers?

 

[CortinaDave]

2 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

It is impossible to place too much emphasis on the importance of spec to a 12 year old Borniteidentity. As Clarkson poetically put it - “it was more important than the war in Vietnam”. Endless, innumerable hours were spent arguing between my chum James Tipple and I as to whose father had made the better life choice: My Dad with the brand new LX in Cayman Blue, or his Dad with the 12 month old GLX in radiant red. We had the all important M prefix number plate with local dealer plates attached, his was just a Lex Lease plate but better appointed than ours with the enviable piping to all 5 seats.  We never DID settle that argument. 

Put simply, it was everything. Stuff like this mattered more than pretty much anything. I couldn’t cycle past a Ford without diagnosing the spec from the wheel trims or lack of rear headrests. It was all consuming. On the rare occasion you’d pass a Ghia X, the word “Wow” would be followed up by my old man muttering “Someone’s doing well” under his breath (mostly with an air of irritation but rarely envy).

Time rolls on. As a romantic old fool, I miss those simper times.

As a Base Spec owner, I miss none of the fancier options ticked by the well heeled saloon driver of the 80s - other than a radio. A rear wiper? I want to see where I’m going, not where I’ve been. Fag lighter? I always carry a clipper - far less likely to accelerate from the dashboard at 227 mph and set light to my Windsor fabric seats. Who the fuck needs a watch in 2020? My phone reliably informs me I spend 3 hours of every day eyeing it up. 

So no, I don’t miss spec. But I do miss those halcyon simpler times when you could sneer at someone who’d scraped the money together for an L. Fools. 

On the sierra though, the toys were pretty cool. The LED doors open graphic on the ghia was absolute 80s joy, with the AWS warning lights above it that illuminated a bit like the game Simon of the same era.

Only one of my Sierras had the rare optional fuel computer but that too was dripping in 80s-ness.

You dont NEED this stuff, but it's cool if you have it.

My mk4 cortina has headlamp wash, which was opulence itself in 1979

 

 

[Richard_FM]

16 minutes ago, CortinaDave said:

On the sierra though, the toys were pretty cool. The LED doors open graphic on the ghia was absolute 80s joy, with the AWS warning lights above it that illuminated a bit like the game Simon of the same era.

Only one of my Sierras had the rare optional fuel computer but that too was dripping in 80s-ness.

You dont NEED this stuff, but it's cool if you have it.

My mk4 cortina has headlamp wash, which was opulence itself in 1979

 

 

I remember my brother's friend's family had quite an early high spec Sierra which to me looked very space age inside compared to the Cavalier L my Dad had at the time with lots of blanked off switches moulded into the dash.

[UltraWomble]

Mk 2 Fiesta dashboards...

Popular / Popular Plus got:

L and upwards got...

[adw1977]

8 hours ago, Niffleman said:

During the 1990s I had a Cavalier CD, so it had lots of toys fitted. I couldn't work out why there were still so many switch blanks.

Vauxhall seemed to like having more spaces for switches than there could ever be switches to fill them.   This is the top of the range Royale in 1980, complete with three prominent switch blanks:

[bunglebus]

33 minutes ago, Timewaster said:

Ford must have done 4 different dash mouldings for the Mk3 Escort. 

Scratchy plastic, no vents, no speaker

Scratchy plastic, vents, no speaker

Scratchy plastic, vents, speaker

Soft touch, vents and speaker. 

However, the soft touch one in the RS Turbo and  Ghia had a centre speaker grill but was speced with footwell speakers?

 

Fiesta must be similar, hard plastic without vents, hard plastic with, padded. Also several colours but that's less of a problem. It's two different heater boxes that amazes me!

 

[Timewaster]

Not like BL who made one component and fitted it to every model for the next 30 years. 

[Timewaster]

9 hours ago, Niffleman said:

During the 1990s I had a Cavalier CD, so it had lots of toys fitted. I couldn't work out why there were still so many switch blanks.

I think the mk2 Cavalier had at least two switch blanks which were actually hiding the dash mounting screws.