Mk4 (I think...) Fiesta question...

[garycox]

Just a quick question, I hope...

 

My brother's just bought his first car, an S reg Fiesta 1.4 Ghia X. Like this one

 

 

It seems OK, 55k miles, goes well, everything seems to work etc. He paid £1175 which is more than I would pay for it but not that bad.

 

Anyway...

 

The whole car is silver, including under the boot carpet and all the inaccessible areas I can see, but under the bonnet it's white. Is this normal? I thought it was really wierd...

 

By under the bonnet, I mean the whole engine bay, the slam panel at the front, underside of the bonnet (although most of it's covered with soundproofing stuff) and even the edges of the wings that are under the bonnet look like they're white but covered in a thin layer of silver overspray rather painted properly.

 

The only Fiesta I've had was a Mk3 and it was white anyway, my friend has a V reg silver fiesta but he 'can't remember' whether it's silver under the bonnet and won't be able to check for a while for some reason.

 

So, should it be like this, or am I right to be a bit suspicious?

[Angrydicky]

That does seem a bit odd. My mum has a P reg MK4 1.4 Ghia X in BRG and that one (owned from new) is BRG under the bonnet, including the slam panel.

[pogweasel]

Ford in piss-poor paint shocker?

Doesn't sound so unlikely.

[RedSparrow]

My 51 Plate has an all black engine bay, which kind of makes sense. White seems an odd colour to paint an engine bay!

[Pillock]

Personally, and I don't wish to be all doomladen and cynical, I'd be looking for iffy welds, checking the chassis number hasn't been tampered with etc.

My only contact with one of those was a T- or V-reg Ghia, in metallic purple, but that wasn't white under the bonnet.

 

Did he get it HPI'ed before laying out a not inconsiderable amount of cash?

[garycox]

He said he did one of those 'my car check' things, I don't know how good they are though, sound proper shit to me.

 

This one on ebay:

 

 

looks like it might be white, inc. wing top bits (it's a silver car), it's pretty hard to tell white from silver on a rubbish photo though.

[Timewaster]

laying out a not inconsiderable amount of cash?

 

On a 12 year old Fiesta

 

Not loose change, or even beer money but hardly a 2nd mortgage?

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

 

My silver Ford Scorpio was white in the engine bay, I thought it was a cut 'n' shut as it had a badly resprayed front bumper but it turns out Ford opted to leave the white undercoat naked in there.

[Pillock]

Hmmmm. I guess it's not out of the question that Ford got a cancelled fleet order of white Festers and sprayed 'em silver to move them on..... would go nicely over the white. Maybe even a dealer did it.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

It's the undercoat.

[Owain-328i]

Ive seen matt black engines bays in escorts, and fiestas, but never white.

[trigger]

Yeah It's quite common, You see most of the old Grey BT vans with white under the bonnets as well, My mum had both a Green and Mauve Mk 4 Fiesta and they was grey under the bonnet, I think the light colours are white and the darker ones are grey.

 

I guess it was a cost saving exercise by Ford.

[Guest]

Quite common on Fords, I wouldn't worry too much.

[M'coli]

Judging by how many appear white(sic) on eBay, I wouldn't worry.

[barrett]

I keep my car lookin' like an ol' lady drove

1963 Hillman Super Minx

1981 Austin Morris Mini HL

1987 Fiat Uno 60S

1994 Vauxhall Carlton 2.6i CDX Estate

1995 Vauxhall Astra GLS TD

 

Umm, is there something you need to tell us Gary? When did this happen? And when can I come and see it?!

[garycox]

Thanks guys, seems like it's normal then...

 

Looks proper rubbish though, I'd be well pissed off if I bought a new silver Ghia X and they couldn't be arsed to paint the engine bay.

 

Barrett - The Carlton's gone now, I just haven't bothered to update it yet. Mini is the brown one and currently in my parents' garage, Uno has been in a friend's garage for a while, it's a nice earlyish one but I got it because it was cheap and it's not really my sort of thing. The Hillman is very rusty, rescued from scrap, it's probably just about saveable but I haven't got the skills/time/money to do it.

 

I expect the Fiat and Hillman will go soon, I don't really like the Fiat and I'll never get round to the Hillman. The Astra will stay so I've got something to use, and the Mini will be staying for the forseeable future. I really need the money but I wouldn't trust anyone to buy it and not ruin it. It'll only get sold if my favourite car comes up for sale and I need some cash super-quick. Hopefully that won't happen for a while though.

[ashmicro]

My anthracite mark 4 Fester (1998) was black in the engine bay/slam panel.

 

My 1988 mark 4 Escort GL wasn't painted AT ALL on the inside of the driver's side B post, still in primer. The other one was fully painted. I bought the car from my girlfriends Dad, who was the owner from new. He'd had it 4 years and never noticed...