My... 1996 Fiesta Classic Quartz with under 5000 miles
Discussion
Hi all,
This is a bit of an odd one, but I thought I would post it anyway. If you want the short(er) version, scroll down. If you want the long version click below!
I did warn you that this was the long version, so from the beginning.. my first car was the following 19k mile example which was bought in 2003:
Over the period of a year or two, I transformed it including making it a bit of an XR2i replica, with upgraded brakes from an Escort Cosworth, suspension, the rear beam from a later Mk5 Zetec S, Si 16v interior etc. At the time it was fairly well received compared to some modified first cars!
Unfortunately, I wrote the car off in 2006 after spinning it on ice into a tree before I could complete a planned engine conversion to a 2.0 16v Zetec.
I needed another car and a friend was selling a Mk4 Fiesta with a Puma engine which was a bit of a different style but was well sorted so I bought that in 2007 as below:
The car was great and I had it featured in Fast Ford magazine but it just made me want another Mk3 and I ended up buying a ~275bhp 2.0 16v Zetec Turbo engine package before finding a base car for another project.
In 2008 I found the following car on 44k miles and quickly snapped it up. It was probably in a similar condition to my earlier white car but still needed a few bits of rust sorting out here and there before starting on the mechanicals.
I then started the slowest build known to man, with the car finally being near to completion in 2014. Everything was changed or upgraded, including the gearbox, LSD, suspension, brakes, interior, etc. The only thing I didn't really change was the outside...
Following this, I decided to sell it to another friend in the Ford scene to free up cash for a house purchase and leased a BMW M135i instead. The car was then featured in Fast Ford magazine sporting some silver steel wheels and a few other changes.
The M135i ended up being returned to the lease company after 18 months as it didn't get much use. I then owned a series of other cars (see profile) but always had the want for another Fiesta...
I was on the lookout for a clean Mk3.5 Fiesta after having one as my first car in 2003 and stumbled across this one on eBay - with ~4700 miles on the clock. I had to have a look and it luckily wasn't too far from home but was unfortunately at a trader rather than with the one original owner who had recently passed away.
There was not much of a story behind the car and little in the way of history, just every MOT from new. Stupidly I viewed it in the rain but after taking the car for a drive (unsurprisingly the brakes were terrible!) but I mulled it over for a week or so and had to have it.
I also collected it in the rain - once the car had dried out I wasn't quite expecting the paintwork to be as bad it was which revealed some fairly deep scratches, swirls, a load of small parking dents and one larger dent in the door thrown in as well.
Luckily I am good friends with one of the best detailers in the country (I'm not sure if I am allowed to state who, so if you want to know send me a message). The car has been given a full exterior only detail including paint correction, paintless dent removal and a ceramic coating.
This will probably seem total overkill and a waste of time, effort and money to most and even if you don't get why I have done it I hope you can appreciate the results below!
A few final photos of it outside, which show the gloss to the paintwork but not so much the flake or the actual colour of the car as it was 3 pm on a winters day, unfortunately:
The observant amongst you will have noticed that the car is already slightly modified, with lowering springs, 1" wider steel wheels, RS Accessory rear lights and a test fitted Recaro seat. Basically, I can't leave anything alone and there will be few more modifications to follow but most importantly everything is fully reversible.
Thanks if you made it this far and apologies if this is of no interest to anyone!
This is a bit of an odd one, but I thought I would post it anyway. If you want the short(er) version, scroll down. If you want the long version click below!
I did warn you that this was the long version, so from the beginning.. my first car was the following 19k mile example which was bought in 2003:
Over the period of a year or two, I transformed it including making it a bit of an XR2i replica, with upgraded brakes from an Escort Cosworth, suspension, the rear beam from a later Mk5 Zetec S, Si 16v interior etc. At the time it was fairly well received compared to some modified first cars!
Unfortunately, I wrote the car off in 2006 after spinning it on ice into a tree before I could complete a planned engine conversion to a 2.0 16v Zetec.
I needed another car and a friend was selling a Mk4 Fiesta with a Puma engine which was a bit of a different style but was well sorted so I bought that in 2007 as below:
The car was great and I had it featured in Fast Ford magazine but it just made me want another Mk3 and I ended up buying a ~275bhp 2.0 16v Zetec Turbo engine package before finding a base car for another project.
In 2008 I found the following car on 44k miles and quickly snapped it up. It was probably in a similar condition to my earlier white car but still needed a few bits of rust sorting out here and there before starting on the mechanicals.
I then started the slowest build known to man, with the car finally being near to completion in 2014. Everything was changed or upgraded, including the gearbox, LSD, suspension, brakes, interior, etc. The only thing I didn't really change was the outside...
Following this, I decided to sell it to another friend in the Ford scene to free up cash for a house purchase and leased a BMW M135i instead. The car was then featured in Fast Ford magazine sporting some silver steel wheels and a few other changes.
The M135i ended up being returned to the lease company after 18 months as it didn't get much use. I then owned a series of other cars (see profile) but always had the want for another Fiesta...
I was on the lookout for a clean Mk3.5 Fiesta after having one as my first car in 2003 and stumbled across this one on eBay - with ~4700 miles on the clock. I had to have a look and it luckily wasn't too far from home but was unfortunately at a trader rather than with the one original owner who had recently passed away.
There was not much of a story behind the car and little in the way of history, just every MOT from new. Stupidly I viewed it in the rain but after taking the car for a drive (unsurprisingly the brakes were terrible!) but I mulled it over for a week or so and had to have it.
I also collected it in the rain - once the car had dried out I wasn't quite expecting the paintwork to be as bad it was which revealed some fairly deep scratches, swirls, a load of small parking dents and one larger dent in the door thrown in as well.
Luckily I am good friends with one of the best detailers in the country (I'm not sure if I am allowed to state who, so if you want to know send me a message). The car has been given a full exterior only detail including paint correction, paintless dent removal and a ceramic coating.
This will probably seem total overkill and a waste of time, effort and money to most and even if you don't get why I have done it I hope you can appreciate the results below!
A few final photos of it outside, which show the gloss to the paintwork but not so much the flake or the actual colour of the car as it was 3 pm on a winters day, unfortunately:
The observant amongst you will have noticed that the car is already slightly modified, with lowering springs, 1" wider steel wheels, RS Accessory rear lights and a test fitted Recaro seat. Basically, I can't leave anything alone and there will be few more modifications to follow but most importantly everything is fully reversible.
Thanks if you made it this far and apologies if this is of no interest to anyone!
Edited by Max M4X WW on Wednesday 30th December 22:38
That looks great. 
I have very fond memories of Fiestas.
My late Mum had some. In fact the first (and only) new car she ever bought in 1979 was a MK1 1.1S in Midnight Blue.
Followed by a 1985 Strato Silver MK2 1.1 Ghia.
Then she bought a 1992 Vauxhall Nova 1.4 LX Plus from Jack Brabham garages in Worcester Park (that is now a block of flats) which had central locking and front electric windows. But it wasn't exactly quick, which was probably just as well given how it handled (or didn't)!
But sadly she had breast cancer and her treatment involved removing lymph glands so she needed a car with PAS.
Enter Fiesta number 3, a MK3 5 door Fiesta 1.3i Chianti that had central locking, electric windows, glass sunroof, PAS and even a driver's airbag!
Then she replaced it with a 1999 minger of a navy blue Fiesta Finesse with PAS, but b*gger all else. Because of her Lymphodema she couldn't wind the driver's window down.
Eventually in 2010 we talked her out of driving at 88, but I'll always remember those Fiestas and how well they drove compared to almost anything else that was around at the time.
Although her 1971 Fiat 127 drove better than any of them, it just liked to rust!
Apologies for getting slightly off-track, but I think I'm still trying to come to terms with Mum passing away last month.
How long until the OP starts modifying?
I have very fond memories of Fiestas.
My late Mum had some. In fact the first (and only) new car she ever bought in 1979 was a MK1 1.1S in Midnight Blue.
Followed by a 1985 Strato Silver MK2 1.1 Ghia.
Then she bought a 1992 Vauxhall Nova 1.4 LX Plus from Jack Brabham garages in Worcester Park (that is now a block of flats) which had central locking and front electric windows. But it wasn't exactly quick, which was probably just as well given how it handled (or didn't)!
But sadly she had breast cancer and her treatment involved removing lymph glands so she needed a car with PAS.
Enter Fiesta number 3, a MK3 5 door Fiesta 1.3i Chianti that had central locking, electric windows, glass sunroof, PAS and even a driver's airbag!
Then she replaced it with a 1999 minger of a navy blue Fiesta Finesse with PAS, but b*gger all else. Because of her Lymphodema she couldn't wind the driver's window down.
Eventually in 2010 we talked her out of driving at 88, but I'll always remember those Fiestas and how well they drove compared to almost anything else that was around at the time.
Although her 1971 Fiat 127 drove better than any of them, it just liked to rust!
Apologies for getting slightly off-track, but I think I'm still trying to come to terms with Mum passing away last month.
How long until the OP starts modifying?
SaturnsPattern said:
Beautiful detailing work and photos, and it looks just right ride height wise with those springs. Nice work.
I can't take any credit for the detailing, but as I said above the transformation is unbelievable and looks even better in person.I was lucky with the springs, a cheap Facebook purchase but I fear they may be a little low on the front for future plans but we will see.
Don Roque said:
Your old Fiestas look great, particularly the white one. The exhaust on that one looks pretty cool, was it a branded part or custom made? IMO the rolled tip was a classic touch on modified Fords.
I actually had 4 different backboxes on the car as it was difficult finding one for a 1.1! The one in the photo was a "Rage" item modified to fit a Fiesta that I got from a friend. It was a bit OTT and after this one i had the following which I think was pretty much perfect (apart from the fact it was mated to a 1.3 engine, but there you go).
Mr Tidy said:
How long until the OP starts modifying?
Sorry to hear about your mum, these cars are often talking points of what cars family members had previously. You must have missed my last comment in my post above where I mention that its already slightly modified zedstar said:
Looks brand new now - excellent detailing work! Must have been a 2/3 stage polish?
I assume so, being honest I didn't really ask as I was so amazed by the results. I know it has Titan Coatings Zeus over the top which I'm hoping will make it easy to maintain.sutoka said:
My mother had a 1996 Fiesta Classic in maroon when I was about 7/8, bought it brand new I think it was around £6500. Which sounds cheap but think it might have been pre reg and looking rid as the MK4 came out the same year.
The first thing I said when I saw the car following its detail is that this must have been what it was like new out of the showroom (probably better!). I'd love to get it in a Ford showroom one day but we will see. The Classic models actually have Mk4 door mouldings - pointless fact.Thanks everyone for the replies.
Thanks for all the comments again.
Otherwise, it runs perfectly as you would hope, pulls through the gears OK for a 50bhp vehicle and just about keeps up with other traffic. I always found them to drive well, be reasonably refind and fairlycomfortable. I regularly did a 200 mile trip from Surrey to Stoke back in 2003 when my other half was at uni but I guess back then I didn't know any different!
0a said:
Strangely alluring! How does it drive?
I absolutely love it (obviously) just for the novelty factor really but the stand out worst part for me is the steering. The PAS equipped cars have a quicker rack and perfect weighting. My first one was, fortunately, a 1.3 with PAS and I fitted PAS to the red one when the engine went in. Unfortunately, this car doesn't have it, which results in very slow and vague steering (to me).Otherwise, it runs perfectly as you would hope, pulls through the gears OK for a 50bhp vehicle and just about keeps up with other traffic. I always found them to drive well, be reasonably refind and fairlycomfortable. I regularly did a 200 mile trip from Surrey to Stoke back in 2003 when my other half was at uni but I guess back then I didn't know any different!
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