What is a "face lift"?

[stevie.b]

I have just seen a car advertised as a Chimaera 4.0 R Face lift.

It also has Griffith wheels, could that be anything to do with it having a face lift?

If not what is the advantage of Griffith wheels? Are they better?

[Big Al.]

stevie.b said:

I have just seen a car advertised as a Chimaera 4.0 R Face lift. It also has Griffith wheels, could that be anything to do with it having a face lift? If not what is the advantage of Griffith wheels? Are they better?

Mk I, Pre face lift had a Mesh Grill in front of the rad. Face lift model (see my profile) hasn't got the grill.

Griff wheels? I think is down to personal preference. Got nothing to do with the face lift bit!

[zippee]

Pre face lift also had door buttons behind doors on the rear wing, face lifts (most of) had the under mirror buttons.
Depending on the year there were also tweaks I believe to the fans, brakes, boot and hinges, rear lights etc.

[TimW]

chav face lift??

[V8 Archie]

With apologies to Mikee on the club forum (it saves me typing it all out):

Mikee said:

The differences that I am aware of are as follows but they did not all come in at the same time and it is normal to find Chimaeras (around P reg ish) which have a mixture of all of the vairiations: Front grill, metal sheet with holes on the earlier one, open with a bar across the middle on later ones Headlights, there is an inspection pannel in the wheel arch to get to the bulbs on the later cars (althought it is still relitivly easy to change the bulbs on the earlier cars) Headlights, The very late cars are flaired in (similar to the Griffith) Changes in Bonnet, the vents down the side are bigger on a later ones and the back of the bonnet (at the bottom of the windscreen) is higher Door buttons, Push button with lock on very early ones, push button on pre-facelift and button under wing mirror on late ones Dashboard, controls are different, most noticible is the light switch which are push buttons on the earlier ones and a rotary switch on the post-face lift Interior door opener, the twist knob is in the same recess as the gear stick and handbreak on the very early ones, in its own recess on later ones Boot lid hinges, can be seen on earlier cars (there is more than one model of hinge) and hidden on later ones Boot lid, the later cars have a more pronounced lip at the back (over the number plate) Spare wheel, On the right hand side of the boot (when looking in from the back of the car) on earlier cars, in the middle on some later ones, and I understand that the very late ones did not have one! Number plate, back lit on earlier cars, light from infront (above) on later Rear lights, Fiesta units on earlier ones, fancy individual lights on later ones Rear bumper, earlier cars have a black rubber strip later have this molded in and colour coded. On thing to remember is that these are all individual cars and some customers specified other changes. There were also changes to the engine and drivetrain during the production, one of the most noticable changes was the gearbox that was used, Rover (I think) on very early cars and T5 on later, this can be seen easily as the T5 'box has reverse straight back from 5th, whereas the Rover (?) is up beside 1st.

The "Griff wheels" are probably the seven spoke Estorils that were fitted as standard to Griffs and 5L Chims. Some other Chims have them too though (mine for instance). I don't know that they are necessarily better (althought the wheel nuts are covered). Aparently they're worth up to £200 a corner. On the other hand, they aren't made any more so replacements will be hard to find. It's up to you whether you like them or not.