So my Goodwood Festival of Speed adventure starts ... with a 1976 1.0-litre Fiesta. Not much 'speed' in that little beastie but, as ever, it's always a delight to drive a timewarp example of such an ordinary car. The sports cars and exotica will always be preserved but it's usually up to the manufacturers to protect examples of the kind of cars that were once everywhere and then suddenly nowhere.
As old as your correspondent and better preserved
Why was I driving a Fiesta built the same year as me? Ford's gathered together some of its historic fleet mainly (but not all, as you'll see) themed around 1.0-litre engines to link in with the new 140hp Ecoboost Fiesta I've comprehensively failed to drive having been distracted by old stuff. No problem, someone else already has and you can
read the story here
The Mk1 Fiesta is a proper granny spec one (yes, my nan had one), the dull silver exterior contrasting violently with the tweed and bright orange vinyl on the interior. Very 70s! To be fair though it drove really nicely; slow and deliberate but charming in its honesty.
And then the Escort Mexico turned up. Evocative as the Fiesta was and all that...
A 32,000-miler bought by Ford's Heritage Collection in 1987 this absolute minter looks stunning in trademark black'n'orange and has the optional 'Custom Pack' with velour Recaros, walnut trim on the dash, carpets and - the decadence - a clock! Slightly offset to the left, the diddy little three-spoke wheel has welcome non-assisted heft while the four-speed manual feels all snickety and lovely. It's amazing how small a Mk1 Escort feels in modern traffic too, almost Caterham narrow on back roads indeed, and barrelling along Sussex lanes was an absolute ball. The Mexico isn't exactly rapid and the pushrod 1.6 is gruff and businesslike but with your world framed in bright orange pillars and bonnet and the RS centred wheel wriggling in your hands nothing else seems to matter. Lovely.
And just when I thought it couldn't get any better someone chucked me the keys to the 1965 Mk1 Lotus Cortina... A confession, I've driven this car before. So I knew what I was in for but, by heck, it was good to get another go.
Wasn't I meant to be driving a new Fiesta?
Though a generation older than the Escort, it instantly feels a whole lot more serious. Maybe it's the elbow-level scuttle or just the lowered ride height - the Lotus Cortina was doing 'stance' long before modders knew the meaning of the word - but where you tip the Escort into the bends the Cortina attacks them, even with its vaguer steering. Once you've taken up the slop at the deeply dished, slender rimmed wheel there's turn-in bite to lean against though and the engine feels so much stronger than the Escort's. At low revs the twin-cam has a surprisingly modern thrum; as the revs build you can hear the carbs sucking and beyond 4,000rpm it gets properly assertive. The slender Lotus-capped gearstick won't be rushed but there's a real attacking spirit about the way the Cortina tackles meandering B-roads that hasn't dated one bit. A wonderful, wonderful car - no wonder they were so loved back in the day and so prized today. I'd love one.
And the fancy 140hp per litre Fiesta I was really here to drive? I'll punt it up the hill tomorrow.
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