1987 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8L - ICE ICE Baby - see page 36

[shampooefficient]

Are you going to do some moustached detectiving as well?

I can't see a blue Sierra, regardless of shape, without thinking Frost...

[Peter C]

First destination reached, a port in Belfast.

The Sierra is making the crossing tonight and is scheduled to be with me by either Tuesday or Wednesday morning, depending on logistics.

It will be making the journey on the back of this thing.

 

So far so good.

[High Jetter]

^^^ If that's the driver, there might be problems ahead 🤣

[Spiny Norman]

When I'd just passed my test way back in the 80s, the boss swapped his 1.6L Mk2 Cav for a 1.6GL Sapphire and as a yoof I was hugely disappointed in the Ford, which felt quite puddingy and glutinous after the 'up-and-at-em' Cav, but nowadays I suspect I'd be far happier with the Sierra's softer ride, easier clutch, comfier seats and better stereo even if it didn't allow me to hoon around like a modern day Audi driver.

That looks smart, I do love the inspector Frost colour (even if he did swap his Volvo for it), hope it arrives safely.

[Peter C]

57 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

^^^ If that's the driver, there might be problems ahead 🤣

Barry McGuigan was small and Irish and he got the job done ok.

[Rightnider]

It seems to be a lovely thing, that car.

I’ve just had one Sierra, a 2 door hatchback which I bought a few years ago from a friend of my mother in law, just to save it from the crusher. It had only done 80k miles, but it looked better than it was, corrosion wise. 
 

It had a 2-litre injected 115 hp pinto, so it was quite quick, though. Sold it in 2021. 
 

Good luck with your Sapphire!

[sierraman]

Love those Mk2 Sierra 3 doors, they looked great I thought, they missed a trick not selling those in the U.K. I think. 

[LoftyvRS]

Impressive purchase, looks to be a good example OP.

Most of my Sierra ownership was done pre-internet / camera phone so actual photographic evidence is pretty much non-existent.

Passed my test in Dads 1985 Nimbus Grey Sierra 1.6 Laser (mk1), and he taught me to drive in that as well. 

I went on to own a number of mk2 Sierras, favorite one being a Tasman Blue 2.0i Ghia 5dr on an F plate, so one of the last efi Pintos. 

Had a couple of mk2 Sapphires, a 2.0 DOHC GLX manual, and then a really late 1.8i LX with the injected cvh, that was dissapointing.

Driven a couple of Sapphire Cosworths to, but my heart lies in the lower models, the L's and LX's, where normal folks aspired to be. 

[sierraman]

I really liked the 2000E, with its two tone colour and the leather. I think IIRC you could opt for it just in one colour as an option. 

[cort1977]

Great stuff, as a fellow Sierra fan I will follow with interest.

[holbeck]

I love a Sierra. 

I've never owned one, but my (80s) employer had loads in their pool car fleet.

I've always had a soft spot for the 2.0iS - It's what Ray Doyle would have been driving if 'The Professionals' were still a thing in 1985. 

 

[Cento16v]

Me and my Mum behind my Dad's H reg 1.8 LX, probably be about 1993 I think I'm about 6 or 7 there!

[Tenmil Socket]

37 minutes ago, Cento16v said:

Me and my Mum behind my Dad's H reg 1.8 LX, probably be about 1993 I think I'm about 6 or 7 there!

My dad bought a 1.8 LX in the same colour in 1993. I remember he de-locked the boot as it got broken into a couple of times via the boot lock whilst parked at Whiston hospital.

He added pepper pots to it at some point. I acquired it around 1999/2000... unfortunately I wrote it off (lost the back end on a slippery bend) the day after doing the head gasket. 

[egg]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

I really liked the 2000E, with its two tone colour and the leather. I think IIRC you could opt for it just in one colour as an option. 

Yes, the leather trim in a car that size was quite the thing. 

[New POD]

On 27/01/2024 at 15:59, sierraman said:

😂😂😂 136!!! What kilometres per hour?

I used the word indicated.  It was before Sat Navs and GPS, but I don't imagine even with a downhill stretch it could have been more than 120 mph.  

[New POD]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

I really liked the 2000E, with its two tone colour and the leather. I think IIRC you could opt for it just in one colour as an option. 

In the mid 90s, I went to look at one that had been converted into a suedo cosworth replica, but with the running gear from a 2.8 V6 xr4x4. 

I didn't buy it because I was not brave enough.  Oh regrets. 

[New POD]

On 28/01/2024 at 00:53, hairnet said:

off the dunes at birkdale

Speed limit down the coast road (bypassing Birkdale itself) is now 50 mph.  It used to be NSL. So.mostly 60.  The bit I spun on was right at the Southport end, on the short dual carriageway bit. It was raining, I was coming from Birkdale heading South, towards Ainsdale. As I left the roundabout, I floored it, and went backwards over the central reservation. Stopping neatly in the outside lane of the northbound carriageway, facing south. 

[sierraman]

This was mine. 

[JJ0063]

E241 HBJ was our family car in the 90s

B*** XAV was the first car I remember my mum having. Ghia model with the flat headlights in a pale blue colour with the pepper pot alloys. 
 

Great cars.

[Marina door handles]

As we are marking time, waiting for the OP to take delivery of his Saph, this was my Sierra which I had for most of the year 2000. Unfortunately it had suffered some dubious bodges from a previous owner and for some unfathomable reason had steering wheel shake at sixty ish that nothing could cure. Having said that it wasn't really a bad car. I still fancy owning a 2.0 GLSI or an XR4X4.

 

[sierraman]

The issue with Sierras were that if they’d had a bang they never seemed to be ‘right’ again after. 

[wesacosa]

My 1.8LX CVH which I owned from 2009 until about 2015. I bought it when I first moved to East London as I got fed up of commuting in my S2000 and getting driven at by lorries and other idiots

Mix of main car and 2nd car use including a driving holiday around France but HG went pop at about 110k. Sold it for £100 to someone who was supposed to save it but think they scrapped it instead .  

 

[adw1977]

12 hours ago, sierraman said:

Love those Mk2 Sierra 3 doors, they looked great I thought, they missed a trick not selling those in the U.K. I think. 

They did rather half heartedly sell them here, only in the 1984 model year and only in base and L trim.

September 1983 brochure on Flickr

My only experience of Sierra ownership was H172HMJ which I bought in 2001 for £200 and gave away for nothing to a scrap dealer in 2005.  It was a good car really, a bottom of the range 1.6 saloon "Sapphire Classic" but a combination of rust and a knackered carb meant it wasn't worth keeping it going in the end.

Sadly I never took a photo of it!  But it was a capable comfortable car, not the easiest to park with no power steering but great for covering long distances. 

[cobblers]

My dad briefly had one almost exactly the same as this.

He had a terminally rotten mazda 626, then a terminally rotten mk2 orion which he cooked the headgasket on and then ripped the entire front panel off by driving over the towrope when they were dragging it back.

Sierra came along and it seemed severely luxurious compared to the orion, he was well pleased with it! We went out to the pub to show it off to his mates.  The first night he owned it someone cut out the rear quarter glass seal, broke in and nicked the standard stereo, the the following night someone else came back and nicked the whole car. It wasn't insured because that wasn't really something people rushed to get sorted back then. A rover 214 (bucket) and mk2 cav followed. Both stolen. 

[sierraman]

23 minutes ago, adw1977 said:

They did rather half heartedly sell them here, only in the only in the 1984 model year and only in base and L trim.

September 1983 brochure on Flickr

My only experience of Sierra ownership was H172HMJ which I bought in 2001 for £200 and gave away for nothing to a scrap dealer in 2005.  It was a good car really, a bottom of the range 1.6 saloon "Sapphire Classic" but a combination of rust and a knackered carb meant it wasn't worth keeping it going in the end.

Sadly I never took a photo of it!  But it was a capable comfortable car, not the easiest to park with no power steering but great for covering long distances. 

I went to look at one of those once, an A reg 3 door in that awful wishy washy blue they did them in. It looked great in those grainy photos in Autotrader, old retired pit worker giffer owner but got there to Nottingham and the old guys son had ‘just nipped to the shops in it’. One would assume because it was bollocksed to warm it up. In hindsight I would have basically stuck a fibresports kit on it and modded it up but you know how you get talked out of these things. Probably wisely in hindsight! 

[cort16]

The guy I rent my lockup off ran taxi's and the 80's and 90's and bought a brand new diesel Sierra mk2 taxi spec in white for the fleet. His first new car.

He gave it to his driver who didn't even get a mile from their yard before he crashed it into a skip taking out half the front end and ripping the side off it. 

Desperate to get it back on the road and earning it's keep they pulled it straight ish using a porta power and some hammers. Bought a new door skin, wing, bonnet, light bumper etc. Painted them with a paint brush, fitted the panels with very elongated holes as nothing lined up anymore had it back out 3 days later.  He said it made it to just about 200,000 miles before it got wiped out again and it just wasn't worth fixing. 

[Tenmil Socket]

[hairnet]

7 hours ago, Cento16v said:

Me and my Mum behind my Dad's H reg 1.8 LX, probably be about 1993 I think I'm about 6 or 7 there!

were youse bus perving or were they dropping you at the station

 

[Cento16v]

I've no idea where we even were!

 

[Rod/b]

My grandad used to have a 2.0 Ghia, B454OLX. I remember him proudly coming to show us when he first bought it, and my Dad ruining the occasion by pointing out that the B-OLX number plate said “Bollocks”.

Anyway for the 8 year old me bought up to the point on a diet of BL tat, the car was a revelation with its pepperpot alloys, the little LCD display of the car showing when the doors / boot were open, the digital stereo cassette player with 4 (count’em!) speakers, automatic aerial and joystick control, the built in cassette storage box… Not to mention the luxurious seats and 4 x electric windows (although to be fair our Acclaim had that too). This thing lives up to its number plate, it was THE B-OLX.