Tuesday 12th November 2013

Ford Fiesta 1.1 L: Spotted

Timewarp Fiesta gets Dan's rose-tints all steamed up

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You wait for one Fiesta story and then two turn up at once! OK, you probably weren't waiting for one about a beige Mk2 1.1 L but here it comes anyway, wheezing in the wake of its younger ST sibling.

What could possibly appeal about a car like this, quite possibly priced at 10 times what most equivalents would go for?

From ubiquity to obscurity in two decades

Well, there's some personal nostalgia in it for your correspondent. Currently in the market for a shopping trolley Mk6 Fiesta the PH classifieds inevitably delivered all sorts of tempting alternatives to the white bread five-door 1.4 Zetec I'm supposed to be buying. That required door count rules out all sorts of otherwise suggestive alternatives, STs of various vintages included. And, probably for the best, this car.

There's always something beguiling about a once commonplace car somehow plucked from the expected lifecycle and cryogenically frozen in time while its many millions of contemporaries make the inexorable downward slide through shed-dom, first car (ab)use and eventually the scrapyard. Indeed, most Mk2 Fiestas have already made that journey from white goods transport and fixture of every street in the land to obscurity and near-extinction in seemingly the blink of an eye.

Yep, it's pretty beige in here too

My personal connection with the Mk2 Fiesta is that both my grans had them and let me drive them at a tender age, creating an unbreakable association in my head between the dumpy little Ford and the joy and freedom a freshly printed licence represented. So I'd have it. Even in beige.

But what would I do with it then? Use it? Well, that'd ruin its unique appeal obviously. Polish it and take it to the occasional Ford concours event? Not sure I've got the patience to be honest but I'd shake the hand of anyone willing to shoulder the responsibility and keep this four-wheeled slice of nostalgia alive for my future reminiscence.

Meanwhile here it rests, surrounded by all sorts of exotica at vendor Maundrell & Co. Would, at any other point in its life, this humble little Fiesta ever have expected to find itself rubbing shoulders with Maseratis, Porsches and Ferraris? Not likely. But here it is, an entirely unexceptional car elevated to the exceptional purely by the gift of a charmed life.

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FORD FIESTA 1.1 L
Engine: 1,117cc 4-cyl
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Power (hp): 53@5,700rpm
Torque (lb ft): 59@3,000rpm
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
First registered: 1985
Recorded mileage: 31,736
Price new: £5,083
Yours for: £1,999

See the original advert here.

[Sources: tech info from carinf.com]

[graham22]

My Granda had one like that, in light blue, B-reg too.

He replaced it with a lower spec F-reg Popular Plus, was so proud of it when he brought it round to show me - was the last thing he did as he died in his sleep that night

[BeirutTaxi]

I'm not sure I get the point. It was an average car in it's day and it's certainly no driving legend now.

I never get the idea of only putting a few miles on it, seems a waste.


The plan with my MX5 is to use it as much as possible since that's what it's built for.

[Patch1875]

Learned to drive in a 1.1 Mk2 Fiesta, best left as a memory.

[Garlick]

Love it.

The point (for me) isn't that it was a great car, but a car that evokes strong memories.

[Bionic Billy Nav]

The worlds gone crazy!! £1995 seriously? I had a B reg 1.1l in 1995 purchased for £700 my second car loved it until I got a C reg Escort 1.4lx both probably been crushed by now..

[161BMW]

My grandad had one of these but the pre facelift version with embossed number plates I think ? No rev counter. Red. Collected me from school. WANT :-)

[Bionic Billy Nav]

161BMW said:

My grandad had one of these but the pre facelift version with embossed number plates I think ? No rev counter. Red. Collected me from school. WANT :-)

That'll be the Mk1 Fiesta then this is a Mk2 but pretty similar to be fair..

[tomoleeds]

Garlik, I see your point ,but as I sell cars I had a couple of these when a few years old and I cant think of anything nice to say about them. even the XR2 was very slow and horrible to drive. The mk3 is much better to drive, power steering better interior a F/G/H/ reg XR2i . There rare now and are reasonably cheap ,about the same price as the featured fiesta,

[X5TUU]

my mum had a red Popular Plus 1.0l model on an 87 D plate, ex demo and classed as relatively fully loaded at the time lol, she ran it from it being 6mths old for over a decade, then sold it on to a friend of hers for her son's first car, which he then piled it into a stationary (parked up for th night) Volvo 960 estate ... needless to say there was very little left of the fezza after that.

then my sister got one as her first car when she passed her test, it was also an 87 plate, in a light blue, but neither 'popular' nor 'plus' ... this was my first experience in behind a wheel in full control when I was about 13 (in 1995) ... and even managed to spin the wheels with my heavy right foot lol (nothing changes much)

these def hold a certain fondness in my heart

always had another hankering for a mk3 RS Turbo Fezza, but finding an unabused one without the standard DV addition, or other boyracer gubbings is becoming rather difficult

[K2iss]

Woahah, a beige 1.1L fiesta on pistonheads! Had an exact same one when I was a student. This brings back fond memories...

[Housey]

My second car was a rare Mk2 1.3 Fiesta Ghia. It broke it's cam belt and was never the same again so I sold it but it was, at the time, a 6 minute lapper of the Ring....I'm convinced.

[Funkycoldribena]

Mate of mine managed to roll a 950 popular plus version of one of these...

[Podie]

When I was at Ford there was a guy who had a Mk1 Fiesta in a similar condition. It had been his mothers, and she'd used it sparingly and only in the dry. It had very few miles on it, but she was happy with it - he used to take it out every now and then to give it a run.

[renaultgeek]

Housey said:

My second car was a rare Mk2 1.3 Fiesta Ghia. It broke it's cam belt and was never the same again

probably because the engine didn't work with no cam belt

[Thebaggers]

Ah, fantastic. My first car was a 950cc variant in the 'finesse' limited edition. C108CCR, I am sure most remember the reg of our first car. I think 'finesse' that meant it had a stripe down the side and a middle rear seat belt.

Great memories, exactly what this find is about!

[phast]

If I could find my first car a 1.2L Vauxhall Nova "coupe" (saloon with 2 doors, it's a coupe I tell ya) i'd buy it.

[anonymous-user]

Many years ago we had a sky blue Mk1 with black vinyl roof of all things! TVX 958R.

Served the family well and was sold to a friend of the family to serve as his son's first car in the early 1990s. It served him well too - for all of a month or so at which point he managed to write it off.

[nawarne]

One of these was my daughter's first car...Think we bought it for 750 quid.

The inner wings had zero rust protection - had to almost rebuild the nearside, and then put on a new outer wing. he engine was fine though....Then I spent a Saturday afternoon installing a stereo/single play CD and putting in speakers behind the trim panel by the rear seat. She flogged it to her cousin and it met its demise on a stone wall in Ireland.

[Housey]

renaultgeek said:

Housey said:

My second car was a rare Mk2 1.3 Fiesta Ghia. It broke it's cam belt and was never the same again

probably because the engine didn't work with no cam belt

I replaced it with a denim belt from my jeans, it was fine.

[CYMR0]

I've seen this before. I believe at one stage it was on at £8k.