Ford Handling Genius Richard Parry-Jones dies at 70

[biggbn]

People laugh...and they might be right to, but one of my favourite cars owned was a freakishly low mileage immaculate StreetKa, an absolute blast hampered only by its boat anchor engine...The big standard Ka were probably as much of not more fun as they were incredibly supple as well as biddably chuckable

[J4CKO]

biggbn said:

People laugh...and they might be right to, but one of my favourite cars owned was a freakishly low mileage immaculate StreetKa, an absolute blast hampered only by its boat anchor engine...The big standard Ka were probably as much of not more fun as they were incredibly supple as well as biddably chuckable

Funky looking little thing, was a shame about the engine as really a more powerful car should have been awesome, needed the 1.7 from the Puma as that was alright I beleive.

I do like the way Fords handle, even in the dim and distant an Escort was better than a Viva and way better than a Marina in that respect but the Mk1 Focus was a revelation after the very mediocre Escorts.

We have two Fiestas (one regular an one ST) and they really do handle well, especially the ST, special mention for the Galaxy we had which despite being a big old bus was lovely to drive.

Hopefully his ethos and methods live on in future Ford products, he obviously really knew his stuff.

[biggbn]

J4CKO said:

biggbn said:

People laugh...and they might be right to, but one of my favourite cars owned was a freakishly low mileage immaculate StreetKa, an absolute blast hampered only by its boat anchor engine...The big standard Ka were probably as much of not more fun as they were incredibly supple as well as biddably chuckable

Funky looking little thing, was a shame about the engine as really a more powerful car should have been awesome, needed the 1.7 from the Puma as that was alright I beleive.

I do like the way Fords handle, even in the dim and distant an Escort was better than a Viva and way better than a Marina in that respect but the Mk1 Focus was a revelation after the very mediocre Escorts.

We have two Fiestas (one regular an one ST) and they really do handle well, especially the ST, special mention for the Galaxy we had which despite being a big old bus was lovely to drive.

Hopefully his ethos and methods live on in future Ford products, he obviously really knew his stuff.

I loved the look of the wee Ka too!! As I said earlier I'd love to find a decent solid hatch or StreetKa just to have for $hits and giggles!!

[Rich1973]

Did he appear on wheeler dealers?

[Benmac]

Such a shame. My wife had a Puma co car when we first got together and a Focus estate was the first car we had together. Despite having owned loads of fancy stuff over the years I still consider that Focus as the "best" car I've ever owned. Cost buttons to buy and run, usefully quick (it was the 2.0 petrol) and a quality of handling balance that it simply had no right to have.

On Gareth Jones' podcast he interviewed RPJ last year (or thereabouts) it's worth a listen.

[Olivera]

Funny to note that Ford enthusiasts, of which there are a lot in the UK, aren't particularly interested in and don't value anything from the Mk1 Focus & Mondeo period.

Almost every Ford of the 60s, 70s and 80s can be worth from decent money to a fortune, then values drop down to 6p for Mk1 Focus and Mondeos. Very low volume specials such as the Mk1 Focus RS and Racing Puma excepted of course.

[Richard-cqpvd]

I was remarking to my son the other day that I found my Disco 3 a more entertaining drive that’s my A6 allroad, that’ll be down to the RPJ magic. He certainly improved the lot for ordinary drivers and raised the bar on expectations on how a car should handle, something that is now sadly being buried under a surplus of technology.