Cheeky old banger (Ford Fiesta (pre-1995))

Member Name: r_welfare

Product:	Ford Fiesta (pre-1995)
Date:	30/06/02 (1005 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to run and drive, very popular, rare at this age

Disadvantages: Sloooooooow, rust, old-woman image

Well, as I'm off to Guernsey in September for two years, my beloved BMW 528i (elsewhere on this site) is up for sale. However, I still need transport up till then, so I've picked up an old Fiesta for £100 via eBay.

And when I say old, I mean old. Like one of the first ones, practically. My new steed was first registered on the 21st of August, 1978, making it 24 years young this summer. That's just one year younger than me!

Of course, this means that down at the pub, when people ask me what I drive, I can say a T-reg Fiesta, which is accurate. Except that on my car, the T is at the end!

So what did I get for my one hundred notes? Well, two months tax and eight months MOT for a start. Resplendent in Midnight Blue (which has gone a bit milky, but hopefully some cutting compound will restore the shine), it is a 1.1L. Although I've had my share of Eighties' cars, this one was a bit of a culture shock for me. Back then, basic really was basic.

In terms of features, this car has one door mirror, hazard warning lights, an ashtray, and a heated rear window. That's it. The instrumentation consists of a speedo, a temperature gauge, a fuel gauge, and four warning lights - main beam, indicators, oil, and ignition. Plus a really groovy gearchange diagram. More modern cars of course have this engraved on the gearknob, not so the original Fiesta which has a gearknob that resembles an 8-ball from your local pool hall.

The car has had two previous owners, the first of which had the car for 22 years. There was unfortunately no service history, so I can't confirm the mileage. Thanks to Ford's silly 5-digit odometers, I therefore can't tell if the mileage is a true 20,500, or 120,500, or even 220,500. I suspect the middle figure, although having said that the seats, pedal rubbers and steering wheel rim have minimal wear, so the former may be genuine.

Now to the bodywork...apparently pre-1980 Fiest

as' rust protection consisted of some underseal in the wheelarches, and that was it. Considering this, then, and the fact that I haven't seen another one this old for many a year (although a bloke up the road has a W-reg one), it's not too bad. Evidently Mr MOT Man thought so this past February, anyhow, and the bottom and strut mounts are solid. But the non-structural bits are flaky - there are holes at the front and rear edges of each wheelarch, and surface bits on the front valance and bottoms of the doors and tailgate.

Having said that the chromework (bumpers and door mirror) are in good shape. It even has the original metal numberplates. Up until now, I'd never seen one of these in the, err, metal before.

The interior has quite a bit of space considering, plenty of room for my size 11s in the footwell, and the slim roof pillars allow a good view of the road and all around you. Plus it's surprising how claustrophobic headrests make a car interior feel. This car has none. The sun has ravaged the top edge of the rear seat, otherwise the seats and carpet are perfect. It could really be 20,500 on the clock, you know.

The driving experience is interesting. Despite having roughly one-quarter of the power of the BMW, it doesn't actually feel too bad until you face a hill on a motorway. Cue lots of comical bouncing up and down from occupants in a vain attempt to make the car go faster. So far I haven't ventured over 75, but I'm not sure there's much more in reserve. It's best to sit at that speed to be honest, as the speedo glass has gone milky and anything between 40 and 60 is obscured. At high speed the bonnet starts flapping quite comically. One thing new small cars have lost is the flimsy feel. I hope I don't crash it - it doesn't bear thinking about what would happen to me from anything heavier than a love tap from a shopping trolley.

Handling is OK, ultimate grip is naff due to
the
really narrow (135-section - I ask you!) tyres, but the payoff is beautifully light steering. With the exception of the brakes, all the controls are light and easy to use. The anchors have a really dead feel and not a lot happens until you push the pedal down quite a long way. This despite the fact I noticed a servo under the bonnet. Mind you I had a lot of trouble selecting reverse initially, until I realised you need to push down on the lever first.

Economy is not bad although the choke knob doesn't do anything and by the sounds of the idle speed is permanently on. Therefore once I sort that out (Haynes manual on order, folks!) it should improve. I've bunged unleaded in it from day one, the memory effect of years of lead should mean the valves are OK. For an engine originally designed for 2-star fuel (remember that?) the octane level of standard unleaded is fine, no pinking at all.

In summary then, it's a bit of a culture shock from the other cars I have owned, but it's fun, the OHV "Kent" engine is nowhere near as rattly as I had imagined (an added benefit of mine is no smoke whatsoever), and I can see why so many people like them. Hopefully this should also mean I don't need to resort to pushing it off Beachy Head come September!

*** Update 13/7/02 ***

I thought I'd update this review based on the fact that my previous comments were based on limited use of the car. The BMW has now been sold so the Fiesta has been my sole source of transport for the last 10 days, in that time we have done around 600 miles together.

Firstly - performance. Much to my surprise the old girl will maintain 85mph on the M3, mind you this is a motorway not known for gradients. I would guess that this is somewhere near top whack, and have not pushed the car any faster. At this sort of speed, the howl of the engine is matched by the howl of the failing window seals, plus the howl of myself wishing the
car had a
radio. Oh well.

I have also found that, while performance is generally OK for a town tot, a big difference can be found if LRP is substituted for unleaded (which is what I filled up with first of all). I was initially under the impression that the 1.1 had a low-compression (2-star) head and was therefore OK for unleaded. However it's only the 950s that had that option, so the 1.1 was originally designed for 4-star and doesn't like the lower octane rating of standard unleaded. It never pinks or anything like that, just acceleration seems to suffer. I reckon I'm getting around 40 miles to the gallon.

Finally - the rust. An attack with the rubber mallet to ascertain what was sound metal and what wasn't has now lead to most of the rear wheelarches coming away. On the leading edge of the nearside rear I found evidence of chicken wire indicating I was not the first to contemplate using filler. The bottom edges of the front wings, where it meets the front sill and floorpan, are currently non-existent. I have managed to get some Midnight Blue paint (the bloke at the paint shop identified the car and colour from me presenting him with the petrol cap!) so I will have a go at tackling these bits.
With these fixed, and the rusty wheels painted, the car should hopefully be transformed visually!

*** Update 3/3/03 ***

Unfortunately, BNM 266T passed into the great scrapyard in the sky last weekend. She failed the MOT, needing around a day's worth of welding which was unfortunately uneconomical for the new owner to do. I sold it to a friend for £75 last September to replace a Sunny GTI-R (strange but true!) and he, amazingly, got £10 from the scrapyard for her. Now that's cheap motoring!

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