Anyone remember these?

[Owain-328i]

The understated mk2 Fiesta 1.4S, i cant remember the last time i saw one of these on the roads, ive had many mk2's over the years, including 3 XR2's, ive also owned one of these, and for me, it was the best all rounder. The 1.4 cvh giving an ample 76bhp, and insurance was a 1/4 of the price it cost to insure the XR2... Splendid..... I also think they look rather nice too

 

 

 

If i ever see one of these for sale, im going to buy it, i really like them!

[Alexg]

YES! The Corsa SXI of its day?

[RoadworkUK]

Of course. Some of my all time favourite plastic wheeltrims.

 

Anyone else remember Olympus sportswear?

[chaseracer]

A mate had one in '89. Feck me but it shifted - I got a lift once from Battersea to Crawley, which was a very rapid thirty-odd miles

 

Unsurprisingly, he threw it at the scenery in fairly short order and rolled it into a small ball...

[greengartside]

I was thinking about these earlier on!

 

Guy at college had a 1.4 Olympus Sport, F223 BPW I think it was....

 

...stupidly modified it to make it an XR2 replica then went one step further with a tub of filler - blending the bodykit in to the wings etc. Looked a right mess.

[retrogeezer]

They seemed to rust a lot more than other Fiestas of the time, my mother outlaw had an 88 E plated one that needed a new wheel arch by the time it was 5 years old!

 

That greypaint below the mouldings must have been porous!

 

They weren't a patch on the XR2 though, the 1600 engine in the litle fezza body was a perfect match.

[ashmicro]

The used to be very popular (sic) and I had a dark metallic grey one myself. Was a bit croaky when I got it, head rebuild and better cam sorted that out. There were a number of XR2 bits on those, as I recall.

[Negative Creep]

I seem to remember Max Power recommended them as a low insurance alternative to the XR2

[retrogeezer]

The only XR2 bits were the bumpers, spotlights and the dash clocks (same as ghia)......other than it being a Fiesta obviously!

They didn't even have sporty front seats, just normal fezza ones with different cloth.

[Pillock]

The one in the pic there seems to have been dubiously treated to a set of sideskirts and a rear under-bumper thing, sure they weren't standard.

Also that boot spoiler wasn't on the one my mum's friend had from new.

 

This pic seems to back up the skirts, but can't really make out the bootlid....

 

[CreepingJesus]

Actually, they were quite good motors. They didn't suffer from the harshness of ride which afflicted the XR2 (nor its torque steer...), and 76 brake in a tin can - no luxury add-ons doubling the weight - could shift some. Can't be many left now, surely; thrown tho' hedges, and 'converted to XR2 spec, mate' will have done for them.

A friend of a friend spent a fair bit of time and effort, grafting an XR3i engine into his 950 Popular Fester. Still had the same tiny brake discs, and inadequate suspension. Street sleeper, he reckoned; predictable consequences, we reckoned.

[retro80sboy]

dont see many mk 2 Fiestas of any kind really around where I live anymore.

 

Theres a oldish chap who drives a tatty maroon one on an E plate that I see from time to time but thats about it.

 

I had a 1.1 popular on an F plate about 4 years ago, nice little car, cost me 140 quid with loads of tax and test from an old fella.

 

sadly though I sold it to a young lad I played football with who chavved it up, wrecked it and ended up scrapping it.

 

In hindsight I should have kept it.

 

 

[cobblers]

I had one and absolutely loved it, it was my second car after passing my test.

Bought it out of the Admag in late 2003 from a bloke who looked and sounded exactly like Paul O'grady. I didn't have a car at the time (I sold my fiesta Si because the waterpump went and I couldnt get the crank pulley bolt off ), so he delivered it to my door and I paid him his £300 and he got the bus home. It had about 25k miles on the clock, and was pretty tidy apart from the back arches which were getting ready to be on the way out.

 

I still have the receipt showing that the bloke I bought it off paid £2450 for it In 2002 from a trader. Poor twat.

 

After 3 days driving it round I noticed the front tyres were down to the bands (I was 18 and an idiot) so I put a pair of escort wheels on the front that I got free off the bloke up the road, and then bought a spax lowering kit for an XR2 for it from larkspeed when I was on my lunch break from college for £20 or something stupid because it was in their clearance pile.

 

Like an absolute nob, I got tired of it and bought a 1.1 mk3.5 fiesta, and then swapped the 1.4s for a set of 17" ALLOYZ for it. by now the back arches were pretty fupped and the boot filled with water as you drove.

The mk3.5 was supposed to be posh and I thought it would "pull girls" or atleast put them off less than a mk2. I was a moron.

 

The lad it went to restored it pretty well, then he sold it to another mate of mine who put it into a wall. It got fixed badly, the engine swapped for a 16 cvh with TWIN 40Z MATE and then resold, the engine threw a rod on the way home so he left it at the side of the road and I think it ended up scrapped.

 

EDIT: Got my dates wrong!

[Pete-M]

A friend of a friend spent a fair bit of time and effort, grafting an XR3i engine into his 950 Popular Fester. Still had the same tiny brake discs, and inadequate suspension. Street sleeper, he reckoned; predictable consequences, we reckoned.

 

Mate of mine did something similar to a Fiesta 1.4 Ghia. Except he fitted a snorting RS Turbo lump with about 250 bhp. Front end used to lift that much on hard acceleration it looked like a cartoon.

 

Scanning facebook I can't find any pics of it. He's got a Corvette and a Cortina Lotus now.

 

[Shep Shepherd]

There used to be a fair few 1.4S and Olympus Sport Fiestas knocking around in the part of east Kent where I grew up, as they were quite popular with twentysomething professionals in the area (mainly people who worked for Pfizer in Sandwich and the Dover ferry companies) when they were new. Some of them were still in existence when I moved to Essex in 2001, although they weren't in great shape - they've all gone now.

 

There were rather more Frescos, Festivals and Festival 2s, though. My father had a 1988 Festival 2 in Mercury Grey from 1990 to 1996, when I wrote it off in a head-on crash with a Volvo 440 outside Richborough Power Station...

[face]

A (now late) mate of mine had a sparkly 1.4S back in the early 90's. He kept it in a permenant state of just-washedness. It was lovely.

 

I also remember the now (seemingly) mega rare MK3 1.6S:

 

[Parky]

Yup, there used to be quite a few around in Essex. A load of my friends at school got one as their first cars, because most of the mums and dads worked at Fords Head Office in Warley so got mahoosive discounts.

 

That said, the last one I recall seeing was in Christchurch New Zealand. They were never sold there so some ex-pat must have imported it when he or she moved there. Big mistake that as not only would it have been practically unsellable, parts would have been a nightmare as most of the 80's and 90's Fords there were effectively rebadged Mazda's.

 

I'm thinking of moving back and tempted to take my Leon - except Seat dont have a presence there. VW do so servicing should be OK but panels, trim, etc would be unobtanium.

[ProgRocker]

*mind wedge*

 

I think one of my aunties had a Fiesta 1.4 S in the late 80s or early 90s.

[Futuramic]

My mum had the full fat XR2 version up until about 10 years ago. "Twas Dolphin Grey with the only modifications being a slightly raspier exhaust, different spotlights and a manual choke conversion (my CVH Orion never had any issue on this front but apparently they used to go).

 

I remember that car being a superb little thing; fast and good to drive. I never piloted it myself but the image at the school gates was priceless. Back then it really mattered.

 

Sadly it disintegrated and the valve seals went. Would be worth a fortune restored now; low milage and the interior was truly immaculate. Even as a five year old I was never allowed to eat or drink in the thing, put my feet on the seats or climb out with anything less than great care and grace. Strangely this reigime taught me to love the XR2 and treat it with fervent respect. I still do; with all my cars.

[Owain-328i]

Im on the hunt for one of these 1.4S' ive had plenty of XR2's and while they are no doubt the ultimate mk2 Fiesta to have, the 1.4S has more appeal to me now as you dont even see them at shows or anything!

 

To be honest i dont fancy my chances of finding one.....

[cobblers]

Im on the hunt for one of these 1.4S' ive had plenty of XR2's and while they are no doubt the ultimate mk2 Fiesta to have, the 1.4S has more appeal to me now as you dont even see them at shows or anything!

 

To be honest i dont fancy my chances of finding one.....

Yeah. The one I owned was the last one I ever saw on the road (or even for sale anywhere.

[CIH]

I use to really, really hate mk2s back in the day. I was absolutly determined not to get a mk2 as my first car. Nowadays they're a nice little spot due to how rare they've become. Something semi-posh like a Ghia would do me, especially if it were two-tone.

[CreepingJesus]

Thinking about it - you don't see many of the RS Mk3's either. Turbo or 1800 flavour; I preferred the 1800 myself. Much more guts and gusto than the bloody turbo! And it sounded nicer to boot.

[forddeliveryboy]

1.4S was best of the Fester shite. XR2 was way slower on anything other than the M1, orrible steering springs and the rest. Used to drive all new Fords around the UK, dreaded anythiing over 20 miles in an XR. Could actually get somewhere in the 1.4, S even better.

 

FFS. XR2, what were they thinking of with its replacement? XR2i 1990ish utterly tragic! Utter shite, but plenty knew no better. Would've preferred an Austin 1100 (TC)

[retrogeezer]

Can't agree with that matey, I've owned both and as I said earlier, the 1.4S was like driving around in a 1400 popular plus. I only had it for about 2 weeks it was that bad. The XR2 however lasted 6 years with me. Far more quiet, comfortable, smooth.

 

I was never a boy racer though so maybe it suited my driving style more.

[forddeliveryboy]

I was never a boy racer though so maybe it suited my driving style more.

 

XRs weren't intended for boy racers - they were utterly shite at speed on an open road - so no wonder you liked em. Just looked fast. Profits must have been amazin.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

My Mum had one as a company car back in 1988. It went surprisingly well and there wasn't much between it and an XR2.

[fiatdaft]

I was never a boy racer though so maybe it suited my driving style more.

 

XRs weren't intended for boy racers - they were utterly shite at speed on an open road - so no wonder you liked em. Just looked fast. Profits must have been amazin.

 

can't agree with that either,who were they aimed at btw?

[Richard]

Boy racers didn't buy new cars in the 1980s. XRs were aimed at estate agents and mid-life crisis types.

[fiatdaft]

hmm not so sure about that,

 

also have a look at some period xr adverts.