Bullseye TV Ford Fiesta Top Prize

[ZedLeg]

The Americans were masters of this going back to the 70s.

When fuel and insurance for young drivers started to go through the roof they decontented the cars to keep them cheap and affordable for insurance.

Want your 73 Plymouth Roadrunner with a 318, two barrel carb, bench seat and about 150bhp. No one does but it would cost about half what a big block car with a nice interior would.

Edited by ZedLeg on Wednesday 29th March 10:27

[dxg]

Evercross said:

Southerner said:

Not quite in the same league, but I've always thought French cars being fitted with 'wrong way round' wipers was a sh*te bit of design cheapness, my sister had an 03-ish Clio like that.

Mercedes did that too with the W124. Admittedly it was a single wiper blade and the swept area was symmetrical, but it 'parked' on the right regardless of whether it was a LHD or RHD model. Wouldn't have taken much at all to fix that compared to the French problem!

Wasn't there a bit of EU regulation which meant that, so long as the swept area was a sufficient size, it didn't matter where the wipers parked. I recall both the Merc and the Renaults having cammed and pantograph wipers respectively to make sure they swept a bigger area than the traditional arc...

[ChevronB19]

Puzzles said:

Non colour coded bumpers how much did that really save?

I guess it was to make you upgrade to a higher trim level.

Base Mk1 fiesta had no glovebox lid, it must’ve cost more to engineer it that way than it would’ve just to include the lid, as the designs were different.

[Voldemort]

I love that on the Citroen Ami the doors are exactly the same. And because of this one side of the car has a normal door opening and the other side has a suicide door.

[southendpier]

Evercross said:

Southerner said:

Not quite in the same league, but I've always thought French cars being fitted with 'wrong way round' wipers was a sh*te bit of design cheapness, my sister had an 03-ish Clio like that.

Mercedes did that too with the W124. Admittedly it was a single wiper blade and the swept area was symmetrical, but it 'parked' on the right regardless of whether it was a LHD or RHD model. Wouldn't have taken much at all to fix that compared to the French problem!

I'm Sure Porsche 944 from the early 80s did too.

[southendpier]

Wasn't it all to do with a being cheap, but also to upsell bits and pieces to add to your car?

I remember options being - Passenger side wing mirrors, Basic stereos... being well... mono and you could pay for stereo FM and a tape deck. "Digital" clocks. No rear demist, no rear wash wipe. Car mats.

My mum had base Mini, Fiat 127, Metro and Citroen AX. Oddly and contrary to popular belief the difference in the improved quality of the Citroen was noticeable, even to my young eyes. My old man claimed it was the only car he has ever known that he never had to change a bulb.

[BananaFama]

My 1992 car has single speed wipers and 1 wiper blade .

[ChocolateFrog]

My Duster has a rocker switch for the heated seats. I feel like it would cost 50p extra to have the rocker switch rock both ways and have a low setting to go along with the tanned backside setting.

[Dog Star]

tobytronicstereophonic said:

Watching Bullseye on Challenge and their Top Prize of a car brought to mind those absolute basic spec of cars in the 1970/80s.

Ford were the masters of the game of penny-pinch.
In the market for a Fiesta and on a tight budget?
How about: foot-operated windscreen washers? A rubber bulb screenwash which was from memory was next to the clutch pedal, but the single retaining self-tapping screw quickly sheared off, leaving the driver to find it by feel as it bounced around the footwell. It was a much like a miniature version of the foot-pump which you inflated one's 1976 mail order rubber dinghy.

Those needing an even cheaper Fiesta could have an electric cooling fan that operated continuously, saving the company the price of a sensor & relay.

My first car was an X reg Fiesta Pop+ 957cc. Being the + model it had carpets - go me!!!

I actually look back with some fondness at the bulb operated widescreen wash (amusingly the rear wash wipe had an electric pump) - it was really convenient and you actually gained a really good deal of control over the quantity and how far up the screen you wanted the fluid to go.

The continuously operating fan was absolutely bonkers - I got a new thermostat housing and thermoswitch for mine so it worked correctly.

Other stuff I had to add - a passenger door mirror. Since I had the + I also had the luxury of a passenger sun visor.

Until my current car it was my favourite car I ever had (trivia: my present car has 7 times more power, weighs over twice as much and is more economical on the motorway!). Served me through my student days, lived in France, drove all over Europe in it. Never broke down. Ever. Sold to a mate on 188000 miles. He had it stolen.

[gazza285]

Why pick on the Fiesta, it was no less poorly appointed than any other budget car of the era.

[XRMike]

Perfect thread for me to finally have a bash at Ford and their absolute failure to keep up with modern times.
Go back to autumn last year, and I start a new career in the NHS. Times are exciting for me, new job and that. Then imagine being sent out in a company van (2021 Ford transit connect) to find it has manual wind-up windows and manual door mirrors that are adjusted by actually pushing on the glass itself to move it! Utter madness! To top it off the window winders look identical to those found in a 90's Ford escort!
Wtf are Ford playing at?!

[RizzoTheRat]

M1C said:

RizzoTheRat said:

Southerner said:

Not quite in the same league, but I've always thought French cars being fitted with 'wrong way round' wipers was a sh*te bit of design cheapness, my sister had an 03-ish Clio like that.

I had a ZX with a single wiper blade that parked on the left, meaning all the water it had swiped off the screen was dumped just below the drivers line of sight and then blew back up the screen. I assumed it was a cost saving thing until I was in France on holiday and looked at a LHD ZX to find its wiper blade parked on the right

I had a ZX (well, i had 3) But in one of them, we were travelling in snow. I always thought the single wiper was very cool....but it was a nightmare in snow? It would just keep building up below the blade to the point where i had to keep stopping every few minutes to scoop it away (as it the wiper couldn't perform it's sweep and was getting jammed all the time). I did wonder how this was happening as surely they get snow in France?

Yeah, I remember have snow issues too Handled nicely though (Volcane with the with passive rear steer)

[Triumph Man]

parabolica said:

Southerner said:

Not quite in the same league, but I've always thought French cars being fitted with 'wrong way round' wipers was a sh*te bit of design cheapness, my sister had an 03-ish Clio like that.

In fairness, the Clio had that odd-but-efficient wiper mechanism that meant much more of the screen was covered by the wiper, reducing the dirty-corner issue.

My E39 (as above) had that, and I thought it was actually quite a good idea - you can see more "up and to the left" (if you see what I mean), the cam in the mechanism means there isn't too much of a corner of disappointment to the right hand side, and you can still have the window slightly open if it's raining and not get drenched by the wipers throwing water at you.

[wpa1975]

Bmw E36 compact used the E30 rear suspension plus the pull out light switch that was also from the E30.

[anonymous-user]

My first car was a 1985 Escort Popular, poverty spec doesn't even come close. It had manual windows, manual mirrors, no power steering, no central locking, no rev counter (not even a clock in it's place) , 4 speed gearbox, no abs, no radio, no speakers for a radio.

I cannot think of anything it had other than a heated rear screen and a heater.

[gazza285]

XRMike said:

Perfect thread for me to finally have a bash at Ford and their absolute failure to keep up with modern times.
Go back to autumn last year, and I start a new career in the NHS. Times are exciting for me, new job and that. Then imagine being sent out in a company van (2021 Ford transit connect) to find it has manual wind-up windows and manual door mirrors that are adjusted by actually pushing on the glass itself to move it! Utter madness! To top it off the window winders look identical to those found in a 90's Ford escort!
Wtf are Ford playing at?!

You get what your employers are willing to pay for.

[Mr E]

XRMike said:

Wtf are Ford playing at?!

Selling what the customer wants to buy.

[soxboy]

ZedLeg said:

The Americans were masters of this going back to the 70s.

When fuel and insurance for young drivers started to go through the roof they decontented the cars to keep them cheap and affordable for insurance.

Want your 73 Plymouth Roadrunner with a 318, two barrel carb, bench seat and about 150bhp. No one does but it would cost about half what a big block car with a nice interior would.

In the late 1970s Chevrolet marketed their own version of the Vauxhall Chevette. The base model, the Chevette Scooter, had optional rear seat, painted instead of chrome bumpers, no glove box, door pull straps in lieu of handles (see where Porsche got it from?), cardboard door panels and no adjustment for the passenger seat.

[Bobupndown]

gazza285 said:

XRMike said:

Perfect thread for me to finally have a bash at Ford and their absolute failure to keep up with modern times.
Go back to autumn last year, and I start a new career in the NHS. Times are exciting for me, new job and that. Then imagine being sent out in a company van (2021 Ford transit connect) to find it has manual wind-up windows and manual door mirrors that are adjusted by actually pushing on the glass itself to move it! Utter madness! To top it off the window winders look identical to those found in a 90's Ford escort!
Wtf are Ford playing at?!

You get what your employers are willing to pay for.

No big hardship in a work van? The mirror thing would frustrate me unless I was the sole driver of the vehicle and didn't have to adjust them every time I got in.
My kids, 21 and 15 love manual windows, think they are 'retro' never knowing anything but cars with electric windows and love winding them up and down. I was the complete opposite in being blown away by electric windows in about 1985.
Really basic is my classic mini, from 1963. No seat belts, no exterior mirrors, one door lock (on drivers side, just a snib inside to lock passenger door), sliding front windows, external door hinges, foot mounted dip switch, floor mounted starter button, manual washer pump, single speed wipers without self park, no heated rear screen, 2 fuses to cover every electrical feature on the car (its the super deluxe model so has such high tech toys as interior door release handles instead of just the pull cord and temperature and oil pressure guages and a heater with single speed fan - hitech stuff!)

[Limpet]

southendpier said:

Evercross said:

Southerner said:

Not quite in the same league, but I've always thought French cars being fitted with 'wrong way round' wipers was a sh*te bit of design cheapness, my sister had an 03-ish Clio like that.

Mercedes did that too with the W124. Admittedly it was a single wiper blade and the swept area was symmetrical, but it 'parked' on the right regardless of whether it was a LHD or RHD model. Wouldn't have taken much at all to fix that compared to the French problem!

I'm Sure Porsche 944 from the early 80s did too.

Early Mk2 Golf also. It was sorted as part of the revisions in 1987 when they also deleted the front quarterlights.

We had a B plater, and being taller, I found the unwiped area on the right hand upper part of the windscreen very annoying.