I had one through college that was fun and also very basic. It had a foot pump for the windshield washer. Very good car to learn basic mechanics on, as it was a magic combo of 70s European engineering and reliability. I remember there being lots of them around in the middle and late 80s. Ford's quick and cheap answer to the Golf until the grody US Escort. Awful days.
Who remembers the ORIGINAL Ford Feista?
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I had a Fiesta (I think a 79). It was the fancy one (Ghia?) Tach, 2bbl, vent windows, sun roof ..nicer seats. Very nice compact and potent package. Wasn't that the Cortina/Formula Ford engine? I think I recall universal joints on the axles (perhaps only the inner joint).
Originally Posted By: ecotourist
" .....who remembers, or even owned, the original Fiesta Ford sold here in the 1970's?"
I had a 1978 Ford Fiesta. It was my first new car. It was a peppy, fun to drive but quite basic little car. The gas mileage was terrific. It had really comfortable front seats and european controls which were uncommon here at the time (but are all pretty normal now). The powertrain seemed really stout but mine had two problems:
1) the small stuff all broke. Things like door handles, radio knobs, heater switches, stuff like that. It drove me crazy. The final straw was when the heater motor started to get really noisy and the whole dash had to be pulled out at great expense to change it.
2) it was unlucky. I think every panel was dented at some point. Someone sat on the hood and dented it, someone shot at the back window, stuff like that. I couldn't leave it in a parking lot without something bad happening to it. It never ended.
And the Ford dealer absolutely disrespected the car - on one occasion, they did a terrible job repairing one of the fenders and when I complained, said "What do you expect, you buy a cheap car and then you complain that we do a poor job fixing it." I told him "I didn't say you did a poor job, I only said you forgot to undercoat the fender, put the new fender on crooked, left out one of the hood supports, forgot to put on the stone guard, broke the radio aerial, and tore the under dash padding fixing the aerial. I never said you did a poor job, you said you did a poor job."
I don't think Ford dealers were ready for small cars in 1978.
Ecotourist
I had a co worker way back who had a Feista and he said the exact same thing...He ended up giving it away to someone and bought a Grand Marquis...I never heard any complaints from that one.
" .....who remembers, or even owned, the original Fiesta Ford sold here in the 1970's?"
I had a 1978 Ford Fiesta. It was my first new car. It was a peppy, fun to drive but quite basic little car. The gas mileage was terrific. It had really comfortable front seats and european controls which were uncommon here at the time (but are all pretty normal now). The powertrain seemed really stout but mine had two problems:
1) the small stuff all broke. Things like door handles, radio knobs, heater switches, stuff like that. It drove me crazy. The final straw was when the heater motor started to get really noisy and the whole dash had to be pulled out at great expense to change it.
2) it was unlucky. I think every panel was dented at some point. Someone sat on the hood and dented it, someone shot at the back window, stuff like that. I couldn't leave it in a parking lot without something bad happening to it. It never ended.
And the Ford dealer absolutely disrespected the car - on one occasion, they did a terrible job repairing one of the fenders and when I complained, said "What do you expect, you buy a cheap car and then you complain that we do a poor job fixing it." I told him "I didn't say you did a poor job, I only said you forgot to undercoat the fender, put the new fender on crooked, left out one of the hood supports, forgot to put on the stone guard, broke the radio aerial, and tore the under dash padding fixing the aerial. I never said you did a poor job, you said you did a poor job."
I don't think Ford dealers were ready for small cars in 1978.
Ecotourist
I had a co worker way back who had a Feista and he said the exact same thing...He ended up giving it away to someone and bought a Grand Marquis...I never heard any complaints from that one.
I rememeber them well enough to recall Ford advertising them as the "First WORLD car". Wasn't there a rectangular badge on the rear hatch that had a bunch of international flags on it?
Originally Posted By: paulo57509
I rememeber them well enough to recall Ford advertising them as the "First WORLD car". Wasn't there a rectangular badge on the rear hatch that had a bunch of international flags on it?
Yep!
Contrary to what some others have said I had no such problem with the small items breaking, the thing was dead reliable, solid, and fun to drive, a quality product, much much better than the steaming pile of dung that Dearborn introduced in late 81 the US spec Ford Escort. There was also a FoE Ford Escort. I don't think the two shared one part between them. The European Escort was a really nice product I think it must have been an inside joke to name them both Escort. The truly bad days at US Dearborn Ford were from the mid 70's until the mid eighties. ON the contrary most FoE cars of that time were darn good!!!
I rememeber them well enough to recall Ford advertising them as the "First WORLD car". Wasn't there a rectangular badge on the rear hatch that had a bunch of international flags on it?
Yep!
Contrary to what some others have said I had no such problem with the small items breaking, the thing was dead reliable, solid, and fun to drive, a quality product, much much better than the steaming pile of dung that Dearborn introduced in late 81 the US spec Ford Escort. There was also a FoE Ford Escort. I don't think the two shared one part between them. The European Escort was a really nice product I think it must have been an inside joke to name them both Escort. The truly bad days at US Dearborn Ford were from the mid 70's until the mid eighties. ON the contrary most FoE cars of that time were darn good!!!
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