Ford Sierra GVG 510Y

[ianb Sierra]

23 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

Great work there Mr:

I've been off work for a bit and utterly bored at home. So I took a look into a place where I kept all of my old pictures of cars, shit me, I've got thousands of pictures, going all the way back to the early 00s.

Back then I used to save pictures of my favourite and interesting cars. Amongst them, I found this and thought of you. Although its a not a grey-grille early Sierra it is a dangly-mirrored base-spec version, I hope it helps in some way:

Also, in those golden internet days, I designed a sticker based on the Ford dealer stickers of the era

If you were so inclined, you get shot this off to: https://www.isaydingdong.co.uk/custom-jobs.html and they'll probably get it done for you as theu do custom jobs. They are reasonably cheap and do a good job. They did stickers for the centre caps of my Vectra and have supplied dealer one for my Jags.

The interior is much better than mine!

[ianb Sierra]

18 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

I would love to, having followed the history of this car for so long on this very forum.

Just drop us message 

[MantaGTE85]

16 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

This has come up for sale in Norway and will it be the equivalent Orion to this Sierra? 1985 Orion 1,6L .

https://www.finn.no/mobility/item/463395844?ci=1

I used to love the Orions! Out of the box, the cheapest Orions were quite well-specced for base model '80s Fords anyway, like radio cassettes, fag lighters, standard 5 speeds etc. But those headlamp washers! Did the most expensive Ghia Infection get those? It was such a long time ago when I last noticed a Series 1 Orion of any sort.

[dollywobbler]

13 hours ago, ianb Sierra said:

Just drop us message 

Brill. Thanks.

If anyone still around took pics of this car back in the day in London, please do drop me a message.

[inconsistant]

6 hours ago, MantaGTE85 said:

Series 1 Orion of any sort.

When the Orion was launched they only came in GL and Ghia trim levels, I imagine to distance them from Escorts a bit and give the impression they were more upmarket. My Dad’s B reg Ghia was opulently specced compared to the Cortina GL it replaced: digital clock, 5 gears, 4 head rests, 4 speaker radio/cassette, tinted glass, electric windows, central locking (with a torch in the key!)  tilt/slide  sunroof, remote boot release. But no headlamp washers.  The Cortina didn’t even have a rev counter.
The Orion L arrived a  year or two later. Not sure if there ever was a base trim, in the UK at least. All early Orions had the grey plastic grille, but it was different to the Escort one. 

[adw1977]

Headlamp washers were available as an option on Ghia and Ghia injection in the UK, but of course it can be different in other countries and I think headlamp washers might even have been compulsory in some places.

[mk2_craig]

Would have thought that Scandinavian markets probably demanded heated seats as at least optional equipment on certain trim levels, if not standard, don’t recall that being offered on the UK Ford range. 

I remember stealing the grille off an abandoned Orion L back in the 90s, because it was the same moulding as the original Escort RS Turbo. Don’t recall what engine was in it though. 

[Bmwdumptruck]

One of my rare Ford purchases was an Orion Ghia Auto back around 92/3 ish.  Bought through my cousin who was a trader back then, with the plan to run for a few months and sell on for a profit and then return to my cousin to find something else.  He owed me a lot of money at the time so helping me find trade price cars was meant to be the interest etc.  In time it became obvious I was never getting the money owed back and the interest always came with quite a lot of my labours given unpaid, to an extent that I still wasn’t actually gaining anything.  So I made the decision and cut ties with him completely.  
However the poxy Orion shat the auto box on a weekend away to Birmingham, and being the bloody aweful cvt pos was unrepairable.  So I had to do a manual box conversion, finding a 5speed box and the ancillaries from an XR3 Cabriolet in a local breakers, which I’m told was the original garage of the Mathewsons just outside Luton at the time.  If I ever get to pop in their place up on the moors I’ll try and ask.   
So I ended up selling it as an oddball non ‘I’ model Ghia manual, which at the time was only available as an Auto IIRC.  And of course lost any chance of a profit!!  

[M'coli]

28 minutes ago, Bmwdumptruck said:

One of my rare Ford purchases was an Orion Ghia Auto back around 92/3 ish.  Bought through my cousin who was a trader back then, with the plan to run for a few months and sell on for a profit and then return to my cousin to find something else.  He owed me a lot of money at the time so helping me find trade price cars was meant to be the interest etc.  In time it became obvious I was never getting the money owed back and the interest always came with quite a lot of my labours given unpaid, to an extent that I still wasn’t actually gaining anything.  So I made the decision and cut ties with him completely.  
However the poxy Orion shat the auto box on a weekend away to Birmingham, and being the bloody aweful cvt pos was unrepairable.  So I had to do a manual box conversion, finding a 5speed box and the ancillaries from an XR3 Cabriolet in a local breakers, which I’m told was the original garage of the Mathewsons just outside Luton at the time.  If I ever get to pop in their place up on the moors I’ll try and ask.   
So I ended up selling it as an oddball non ‘I’ model Ghia manual, which at the time was only available as an Auto IIRC.  And of course lost any chance of a profit!!  

Not unique, however - my Dad's mate had a carb Onion Ghia (red) that had come from the factory like that.

[mk2_craig]

2 hours ago, Bmwdumptruck said:

One of my rare Ford purchases was an Orion Ghia Auto back around 92/3 ish.  Bought through my cousin who was a trader back then, with the plan to run for a few months and sell on for a profit and then return to my cousin to find something else.  He owed me a lot of money at the time so helping me find trade price cars was meant to be the interest etc.  In time it became obvious I was never getting the money owed back and the interest always came with quite a lot of my labours given unpaid, to an extent that I still wasn’t actually gaining anything.  So I made the decision and cut ties with him completely.  
However the poxy Orion shat the auto box on a weekend away to Birmingham, and being the bloody aweful cvt pos was unrepairable.  So I had to do a manual box conversion, finding a 5speed box and the ancillaries from an XR3 Cabriolet in a local breakers, which I’m told was the original garage of the Mathewsons just outside Luton at the time.  If I ever get to pop in their place up on the moors I’ll try and ask.   
So I ended up selling it as an oddball non ‘I’ model Ghia manual, which at the time was only available as an Auto IIRC.  And of course lost any chance of a profit!!  

I forgot they shoved the CVT in those towards the end of production, earlier ones had a conventional 3 speed slush-o-matic, not sure if a 4 speeder was ever offered. At least the auto to manual conversion was fairly straightforward with a donor car on hand, I did one on a Fiesta for a mate (couldn’t get the fucking thing to start afterwards and it was a while before we realised forgetting to bypass the inhibitor switch wiring)

[ianb Sierra]

Well, it's made it to its first show!

Even after the coolant system decided to shit its self!

We are at Stody Lodge in Briston Norfolk.

[inconsistant]

It looks superb, great work! 

[ianb Sierra]

A successful 40 mile round trip learning the base.

I even manged to overtake some old dear in a dacia on the way home.

Still some fine tuning, but looking good for FOTU in July.

[Kringle]

1 hour ago, ianb Sierra said:

A successful 40 mile round trip learning the base.

I even manged to overtake some old dear in a dacia on the way home.

Still some fine tuning, but looking good for FOTU in July.

The cover of our 2027 calendar IMHO. 👍

[MantaGTE85]

I agree, the Sierra looks beautiful.