P-reg Ford Ka's

[Steviemillar]

My missus had an S Reg KA2 the same colour as that P reg one further up the thread (S350KSP) and that was traded in to Arnold Shark for a brand new 55 plate Imperial Blue SportKa SV55ZPP. I like them but they are few and far between around these parts especially the earlier ones.

I really liked these wheels, almost bought a set listed on Gumtree locally a year or two ago just for the hell of it!!

 

[Peter C]

I enjoyed my brief spell with a StreetKa earlier this year. The little Ford exceeded my expectations on many levels and I would certainly recommend buying one. Not sure about the boggo hatch though.

 

[Spurious]

My sister had  one. In 2013 it was pretty much rotten underneath, she'd reversed it into the house as she was learning to drive and it bent it that the tracking was never right. 

I think there's a bit of rose tinted glasses going on. Yes they were clever in their styling, I really liked the new edge era. Clever layout. Nice handling. 

Fucking anaemic to push on. only 59HP, you'd end up thrashing the thing and because it's a bloody Kent engine it just wasn't as buzzy as a little Japanese twin cam. Yaris was a far better car, there's a reason why they're common even now. Plugs would seize into the block and the oil filter was a pain to change. And they rotted for fun. Everything was seized solid on that car. Never again. 

If they had done a decent job of rust proofing it. Put the little 1.25 Yamaha/Ford sigma engine out of the Fiesta in it, you would have a nice little car. Just the engine and the build quality let it down. Could have been so much better 

[jon.k]

I remember going to the ford showroom just to look at these when they came out, because they looked so funky compared to everything else at the time. 

A friend of mine has a run-out model that she loves and doesn't want to get rid of but the garage have point blank refused to repair any more rust on it for her. Like transits - why can't they just rustproof them properly?

[BorniteIdentity]

I remember when these were first launched - there was a piece on the lunchtime TV news.  From memory, university students played a substantial role in the design of the car.

Some weeks later, when my Dad's Mondeo was in for a service, he turned up in a base spec one in green (albeit a different colour to the brochure upthread).  I thought it was ace, very spartan but quite funky.  

 

Definitely would own an early, low spec variant.

[MJK 24]

5 hours ago, sierraman said:

They were only something cheap like £7k new, the alternatives for the money weren’t much better. I mean they lasted the seven years design life, Ford or any of the others couldn’t give a shit if it’s going to be a bugger to weld up in 10 years time. 

They’re were £4,995 at the end of the run!

[sierraman]

4 minutes ago, MJK 24 said:

They’re were £4,995 at the end of the run!

And it only lasts 10 years. Fucking disgrace!

[tooSavvy]

38 minutes ago, sierraman said:

And it only lasts 10 years. Fucking disgrace!

No Hillman dealer would even consider making a sale of the 'povvo' base IMP unless the hapless punter could prove they had once...."licked road clean, wi' tongue!" 🥰

[Rusty Pelican]

Not seen a KA for ages , my friends daughter had one , reliable but totally water soluble , it had a full set of sills after 5 years and died of rot a 9 

 

[Billy - Medhurst]

3 hours ago, MJK 24 said:

They’re were £4,995 at the end of the run!

1999 -

[MJK 24]

1 hour ago, Billy - Medhurst said:

1999 -

The end of the run was 2008?  A full 9 years after your advert....  

I know very well they were £4,995 as I took a friend to Peoples in Liverpool to pick his up! 

[Dave_Q]

This is some wholesome shit and frankly if anyone is going to preserve a P reg Ka, then you the man @egg.

My Ka story is doing a summer working for the Pizza Hut in Wakefield and using their Ka when my van was out of action.

I think it was a fairly late one,  maybe 54 or 56 plate?

Anyway it had obviously had a hard life but I was really impressed with how it drove actually, the 1.3 sidevalve or whatever it is seemed to have just the right amount of power to drag it round town in a sprightly fashion. plus excellent chuckable handling.

I had really expected it to be pretty shit based on internet experts but came away thinking they might even make a passable budget track car.

[Spurious]

4 minutes ago, Dave_Q said:

This is some wholesome shit and frankly if anyone is going to preserve a P reg Ka, then you the man @egg.

My Ka story is doing a summer working for the Pizza Hut in Wakefield and using their Ka when my van was out of action.

I think it was a fairly late one,  maybe 54 or 56 plate?

Anyway it had obviously had a hard life but I was really impressed with how it drove actually, the 1.3 sidevalve or whatever it is seemed to have just the right amount of power to drag it round town in a sprightly fashion. plus excellent chuckable handling.

I had really expected it to be pretty shit based on internet experts but came away thinking they might even make a passable budget track car.

I thought that it was torquey enough for town work, it just really was a bit flat on the open road round 60. I was using it in the Midlands of Ireland where there was lots of fast flowing country roads, it just didn't have the turn of pace. Particularly trying to overtake wagons, compared to my Starlet or Clio, it was a bit weak. Mind you, both of those had similar engine sizes but about 20bhp more. Which is enough in smol car. 

It would grip and grip however. Very chuckable. 

[chris667]

I never owned one, but they reminded me of my mk1 Fiesta.

I miss fun, chuckable little cars. I have a modernish small car (2008 Corsa), it's as if it has a thyroid problem. Fat, wide, drives like a big car, boring.

I'd have one if I could find one that wasn't completely rotten.

[Spurious]

I think if you want a small basic new car you can't go too far wrong with a VW Up or it's Seat/Skoda brethren or something like an Aygo. They seem to be basic, cheap cars and still rather small. 

The Fiesta these days is as big as a Golf was 15 years ago. 

[chris667]

I don't know. My dad went shopping for a newish car recently and the Up was one of the contenders. I didn't like it.

Never driven an Aygo though.

[Spurious]

A girl in work has one, albeit the Up GTI. Probably why I like it. Same weight as a MK1 Golf GTI with the same power. Tis a fun wee thing. 

Always assumed the smaller ones would be a wee bit slower but still have the same ethos. Shame. 

[egg]

Richard Porter is always saying he wants to get an Up Gti, and his first car was a Ka, so makes sense I suppose! Trying to relive his yoof.

[greengartside]

I’ve still got the launch brochure and the pamphlet about the Ka Phone which was an optional extra (of course), IIRC the brochure had a sleeve that was made of corrugated paper.

My dad’s next door neighbour had a Ford dealership at the time and he brought one of the very first Ka’s home one evening. I remember going round to his for a look as I’d never seen anything so revolutionary for the time.

[Split_Pin]

An ex had one, it was 5 years old and she had totally trashed it. Still drove great though and the turn-in put my Corsa B to shame.

I remember sanding the rust off the sills and spraying them just to tart it up for sale.

They were bad for rust but they weren't the only car from the 1990s that suffered like that. The Corsa B could fall apart around the front suspension mounts and at the back although this normally happened well after its 10th birthday.

Would I own one now? Absolutely,  but finding an early base spec in a solid colour that isn't rotten could be challenging and possibly cost more than I'd want to pay.

[jon.k]

10 hours ago, egg said:

Richard Porter is always saying he wants to get an Up Gti, and his first car was a Ka, so makes sense I suppose! Trying to relive his yoof.

 

10 hours ago, Spurious said:

A girl in work has one, albeit the Up GTI. Probably why I like it. Same weight as a MK1 Golf GTI with the same power. Tis a fun wee thing. 

Always assumed the smaller ones would be a wee bit slower but still have the same ethos. Shame. 

I had an up GTI for a while, hoping that it would feel like an old hot hatch. It really doesn’t in my opinion - I shouldn’t have believed the hype. Getting back on track… a sportka would be cool.

[JJ0063]

I have a bit of a story about my late father and a navy blue KA (V446 MOK)

When my parents split up in circa 2002, he had a bit of a midlife crisis and ended up with a Zimbabwean woman 18 years younger than him. She was a hateful woman but he seemed chuffed. Anyway, within a year she’d moved her brother into our converted garage and he’d sponge off the family and just generally cause trouble. 

They were car shopping for an original shape 3dr Rav 4 but somehow ended up in a Ka because value for money/could get a newer one for the money.

One Saturday morning we woke up to the driveway being empty and said brother missing (he had no UK license etc) 

 

Turns out he’d nicked the keys during the night whilst pissed and probably drugged up to go and see a girl. However had misjudged a bend, hit a tree stump, flipped the car and it landed on its roof. Police found him sat next to it drinking a can of special brew. 
 

Car was recovered by Gladwins (Who believe it or not stole the head unit) and the car was written off. It obviously went back on the road as it gad MOT until 2011 but dad replaced it with a J reg Primera saloon (electric aerial).

Thankfully the old man only lasted another 18 months or so with her then our quiet, law abiding country household went back to normal.
 

 

[JJ0063]

7 minutes ago, jon.k said:

 

I had an up GTI for a while, hoping that it would feel like an old hot hatch. It really doesn’t in my opinion - I shouldn’t have believed the hype. Getting back on track… a sportka would be cool.

I get random urges for a Twingo RS often, I imagine them to be similar but better.

[320touring]

My mate Big Dave (all 6ft 7 of him) owned a V reg one.

In 2005 we took it from Whitburn (about half way between Glasgow and Edinburgh) down to Gibraltar and back on a fairly adventurous route.

We did 7000 miles in 2 weeks - it was serviced before we left then when we returned.

It was also Mid-October.

Places visited:

Dunkirk

Rouen

Le Man's

Tours

Chatellerhault (twinned with Hamilton, near where I grew up - I know which one I prefer)

Bordeaux

San-Sebastian (absolutely brilliant place, well worth a visit)

Bilbao - we went to the Guggenheim there - stunning building, challenging exhibits

Porto - a bit run down like Glasgow in 2005!

Lisbon - a much cooler city

Seville - one of my favourite places on the trip

Gibraltar - it's like a twilight zone as it looks so British. The Clipper was a great Pub.

Madrid - saw some of Gaudi's apprenticeship work in the park, became fully committed to the mantra "if the Hazards are on, you're parked"

Barcelona - picasso museum was astonishing, weather great, stayed at a hotel near the beach.

Andorra

Marseille - a really cool place with tremendous architecture

Cannes and Nice

Turin - reached by using back roads that crisscrossed the French/Italian border several times, before hanging a right, and getting back on main roads. Interesting place, feels properly 'old money'.

Chamonix - arrived on 31st October, went out for a beer. Woke up having slept in the Bath. Good times! The tunnel was boring though.

The run back to the ferry - from Chamonix to Dunkirk via Lille in one day. A fair whack of driving, but the Ka loved it.

Overall, 7000 miles, as many of them sitting at 80mph as possible. All our luggage including a tent, a stolen Motorhead poster swiped from flyposting near the Cathedral in San Sebastian and all the back roads/hills and valleys we could find.

53mpg average, never missed a beat. Would 113/10 recommend as continental cruiser.

[HMC]

1 hour ago, 320touring said:

My mate Big Dave (all 6ft 7 of him) owned a V reg one.

In 2005 we took it from Whitburn (about half way between Glasgow and Edinburgh) down to Gibraltar and back on a fairly adventurous route.

We did 7000 miles in 2 weeks - it was serviced before we left then when we returned.

It was also Mid-October.

Places visited:

Dunkirk

Rouen

Le Man's

Tours

Chatellerhault (twinned with Hamilton, near where I grew up - I know which one I prefer)

Bordeaux

San-Sebastian (absolutely brilliant place, well worth a visit)

Bilbao - we went to the Guggenheim there - stunning building, challenging exhibits

Porto - a bit run down like Glasgow in 2005!

Lisbon - a much cooler city

Seville - one of my favourite places on the trip

Gibraltar - it's like a twilight zone as it looks so British. The Clipper was a great Pub.

Madrid - saw some of Gaudi's apprenticeship work in the park, became fully committed to the mantra "if the Hazards are on, you're parked"

Barcelona - picasso museum was astonishing, weather great, stayed at a hotel near the beach.

Andorra

Marseille - a really cool place with tremendous architecture

Cannes and Nice

Turin - reached by using back roads that crisscrossed the French/Italian border several times, before hanging a right, and getting back on main roads. Interesting place, feels properly 'old money'.

Chamonix - arrived on 31st October, went out for a beer. Woke up having slept in the Bath. Good times! The tunnel was boring though.

The run back to the ferry - from Chamonix to Dunkirk via Lille in one day. A fair whack of driving, but the Ka loved it.

Overall, 7000 miles, as many of them sitting at 80mph as possible. All our luggage including a tent, a stolen Motorhead poster swiped from flyposting near the Cathedral in San Sebastian and all the back roads/hills and valleys we could find.

53mpg average, never missed a beat. Would 113/10 recommend as continental cruiser.

Brilliant! Have you got any pics from the trip?

[HMC]

I’ve had 2 - bother where about 2002ish and were about 15 years old at the time. I must have been lucky as there were both fine rot wise. One was starting to go (again) on the filler flap (? Isn’t that an mot fail @twosmoke300)  but otherwise there were ok underneath.

My fave was the ka “luxury” EA02VHW - a late endura E (Kent) coarse rattle fest;  black with tan leather, air con (which seemed to sap about 10% of the power when it was on) and of course that rusty fuel filler surround fizzing away.

As has been said, better corrosion protection and the 1.25 Yamaha developed unit chucked in and that would have rounded the package off nicely.

[RoadworkUK]

2 hours ago, 320touring said:

My mate Big Dave (all 6ft 7 of him) owned a V reg one.

In 2005 we took it from Whitburn (about half way between Glasgow and Edinburgh) down to Gibraltar and back on a fairly adventurous route.

I thought our pan-European trip in the 306 was epic. Sounds like you did it more properlier than us.

[320touring]

55 minutes ago, HMC said:

Brilliant! Have you got any pics from the trip?

Why, potentially, or my mate does!

 

Will ask

[320touring]

2 minutes ago, RoadworkUK said:

I thought our pan-European trip in the 306 was epic. Sounds like you did it more properlier than us.

I was working 2 part time jobs at the time. Did 36 days on, one day off, 37 days on, then 2 weeks driving. Back to work after 1 days rest.

I must have been mad?!

That was a breeze compared to the 2006 trip🤣

 

[dave j]

I worked at the local Ford dealers in 2000 and we had a fleet of Ka's as courtesy cars, they were great fun to thrash around! Of course they were new then, I wonder what one would drive like now after a few years wear and rot