I was sitting behind one of

[sabreuk]

the top fiesta is an st which im suren is a 1.6 turbo to compete with the vauxhall corsa vxr and renault clio rs all 1.6 turbo lumps the fiesta has been sold here in the uk since its creation. heres an original fieasta for ya. and the fiesta sporty rivals

[justsomeguy]

I remember the original Fiesta. It was sold briefly in Canada (and probably the US as well) in the late 1970s, maybe the early 1980s too. One of my neighbours had a yellow one. Seems that it wasn't very popular - either because it was not the kind of car people on this side of the pond were used to, or because of reliability, or both.

[sabreuk]

the culmination over here with the fiesta started with the xr2 series which was there sports varients which ended up being the best sellers then they went from xr to rs then rs turbo which was a flop then from that they stuck to the rs series until now and gone to st its only now that the euro fords have caught up with the rest of the marques and actualy become very good solid cars whearas they used to be rattly cheap budget crap things. take the new focus here not sure about across the pond but the new focus reverse parks itself without the driver, its got electronic fins and grills that move to direct airflow depending on speed ect the st rs is a fully road legal rally car 2.5 turbo kicking min 280bhp with the option of going up to around 400bhp if your pockets dig deep enough. heres some pics of these sporty more popular varients through the ages

[sabreuk]

heres the new focus rs beasty and a vid on the new focus reverse parking itself if you havent seen it already

[Jasen]

Yea, Chrysler's are fair game to.


Like this gem


Who remembers taking the ol' Mopar with the K frame out for a long drive and how nice it was to feel every crack, pebble and rut in the road transferred 3 fold right into the steering wheel

[Jasen]

Oh, I got a Chry V Chry story. As a young lad one of my buddy's went to the city or state auction and bought a 72-73 Ply FuryIII police interceptor, this was back in SPD's Dodge Diplomat phase.

Don't remember why they were chasing him but as I recall him telling the story once he got out of jail. He had 3 of them after him so he got on the I-5, at about 85 MPH he had 1 on either side and 1 riding his bumper, he stood on the throttle and left them in the dust. He said he looked up in the mirror and saw smoke pouring out of 1 of them, and the next time he looked another one started smoking. He decided to get off the freeway before the troopers showed up ( they drove Caprice's or Crown Vic's) He flew down the ramp, the light turned red before he got to the bottom and he tagged the tail end of a car going through the intersection and put the Interceptor into a light pole.
From what I remember about the story on the evening news is SPD blew up 4 Diplomat's trying to keep up with him. Now us old dogs know that a Fury III Interceptor will do 150-160 MPH. Once the Diplomat's reached the end of there police service life, SPD went back to Caprice's.

[redfury]

Well, @125mph in my 1965 FuryIII, I wasn't about to do anything but hold on. Loved that car though, even if it cost me a small fortune on a pizza delivery guys budget...yup, I delivered Domino's pizzas in it back in the 30 minute or less delivery days. Good times.

[justsomeguy]

That would be pretty cool delivering pizzas in a '65 Fury! I only used gutless, boring cars for delivering pizzas like a 1986 Dodge Aries, 1986 Toyota Camry and a puke green 1995 Tercel, oh and a (then new) 2006 Toyota Corolla. I delivered newspapers in a 1981 Datsun 210 (faded sh!t brown), a beat up 1985 Nissan pickup, a faded baby blue metallic 1981 Chevy Chevette (my 'Vette!), 1991 Ford Econoline (white cargo van), the same 1986 Toyota Camry (2 tone sh!t brown/beige), a (then new) black 1994 Ford Escort LX and a beat up 1986 Volkswagen Jetta diesel (non-turbo) with over 460,000 miles (700,000 kms) and a broken exhaust that also belched black smoke, and a 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais (the Gutless Cutlass, also two tone brown/beige).

I think my newspaper and pizza delivery days are over and behind me now, but I remember coming across a black 1966 Lincoln Continental (yeah, the one with suicide doors). I thought that would be so cool for deliveries, but unfortunately, while it was still parked on the seller's front lawn and before I had a chance to pay for it, someone lost control of their car and smashed into the Lincoln. Due to problems with the damage, registration and their insurance, I didn't end up getting that car. Instead I ended up getting a 1986 Buick Century and a 1987 Chrysler Fifth Avenue, to have a back up car. Yeah, gas was a lot cheaper then (like about half of what it is now) and so were used cars, back in the mid to late 1990s. Good times!

[sabreuk]

looking at the chrysler pic posted why did your car manufacturers start putting wood on the sides? its always puzzled me why they did that????? think it looks strange but then the only things that had wood on the sides of anything here were from the 60s like the morris minor.
on chryslers here we have the voyager, 300c, calibre, neon, cross fire and pt cruiser however its mostly neons and voyagers you see the most of. we also have a few vipers and rams sold through chrysler as we dont realy have dodge dealerships here.

on cars ive had my first was a vauxhall astra mk2 gte (vauxhall to us is gm to you guys same company) then had a vauxhall cavalier mk3, then a rover 400sli then a nissan 200sx s13, then a nissan primera from there i had a vauxhall cavalier mk3 sri which i rebuilt then a toyota hilux surf then the mitsubishi galant vr4 then the astro out of them the 200sx and vr4 where my babys the rest was get ya from a to b cars realy but ive always had a passion for your muscle cars my dream muscle would be a 69 charger rt 440, then a smokey and the bandit trans am the 6.6 then id have a 67 mustang like elenor. if my arm was twisted id maybe consider a dodge challenger or hemi cuda but all the muscle ive mentioned are mortgage material here and just slightly out my reach i just love that v8 burble the cars here are realy rather characterless and are all starting to look the same and drive the same but i reakon you guys would love some of our cars as much as we love some of yours
but you could of kept the chevy matiz on your side of the pond that is nasty lol

[justsomeguy]

Real wood used to be used on cars, I believe back in the 1930s and 40s. Henry Ford used to specify that suppliers sent their parts in wooden crates of a specific size, which were then used on the cars (the sides being one of them). Of course, a wooden body did not offer much crash protection, so they used steel. But for nostalgic reasons, they used vinyl woodgrain designs on the steel for looks. Eventually, it went out of style, though people still add it aftermarket, like on the PT Loser.

And the Chevy Matiz is not sold in the US or Canada.

[Bread Van]

well many wagons/estates used to be made of wood. Some of it having a nice finish and looking pretty stylish. So, at some point, in the 70s I believe, some marketing genius decided you could make a few extra bucks slapping some wood grain stickers and trim on a car and selling it as upscale model. I believe that was the birth of the Town and Country models. Ah those were the days...I bet that guy was a regular "nose duster"

[justsomeguy]

well many wagons/estates used to be made of wood. Some of it having a nice finish and looking pretty stylish. So, at some point, in the 70s I believe, some marketing genius decided you could make a few extra bucks slapping some wood grain stickers and trim on a car and selling it as upscale model. I believe that was the birth of the Town and Country models. Ah those were the days...I bet that guy was a regular "nose duster"

Looks like some manufacturers used real wood until the 1950s! And then in 1966 GM introduced the simulated wood. There's an article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodie

[Bread Van]

Ahh, the ford squires! There's even a mention of the pontiac astre safari. I forgot the pontiac safari was an integral piece of this history...so we have a direct lineage!

[ccookie66]

Actually, on my moms Furd Freestar, it says SEL on the rear. So it means Service Engine Later? I guess Furd had some budget cuts or something.

[justsomeguy]

Actually, on my moms Furd Freestar, it says SEL on the rear. So it means Service Engine Later? I guess Furd had some budget cuts or something.

It's FORD!!! (you can say the actual word, despite being a GM website, the sensor won't block out the name if you spell it the right way) And yeah, with the SEL models, you can service the engine later, usually around 275,000 miles for the first time around. Or in French, remember SEL means "salt" (take it to mean what you like).

[ccookie66]

It's FORD!!! And yeah, with the SEL models, you can service the engine later, usually around 275,000 miles for the first time around. Or in French, remember SEL means "salt" (take it to mean what you like).

Right right, I keep saying Furd....F-FFORD. Ford. There we go. Does SEL really mean anything special?

[ccookie66]

Wait...why would the site block out the word Ford? Its not bad or anything...Its like being racist against Ford.

[justsomeguy]

Yep, don't want anyone to be accused of being racist towards a certain manufacturer, or be a car fascist. It's time we started celebrating automotive diversity!

[ccookie66]

Yep, don't want anyone to be accused of being racist towards a certain manufacturer, or be a car fascist. It's time we started celebrating automotive diversity!

Yeah, what about Kia? Toyota? Sparta? Dodge? Deadleaf? and Cryslier?

[justsomeguy]

Oh man, this thread has gone waaaaay and been so badly!

I think I'm going to take off the stock lettering on the back of my van and replace "Chevrolet" with a "Ford" logo and "Astro" with "Grand Caravan" And a "KIA" logo on the grille over top of the Chevy bowtie