{"id":46732,"date":"2016-11-25T13:49:11","date_gmt":"2016-11-25T13:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/?p=46732"},"modified":"2022-06-22T16:57:54","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T15:57:54","slug":"ford-fiesta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/ford-fiesta\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford Fiesta at Forty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of all the working class heroes that have been produced by Ford\u2019s of Dagenham – the Fiesta is the longest surviving.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It may not be the most spectacular or glamorous inheritor of the company\u2019s blue collar legacy – but the very fact of its ongoing existence is testament to how simple, straightforward and adaptable the car has always been<\/p>\n

In fact, it is arguably lodged deeper into the automotive psyche of this country than either the Escort, the Capri or the Cortina. We reckon that absence has made our hearts think fonder of those cars than perhaps is justified.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the Fiesta that is Ford\u2019s true survivor.<\/p>\n

Making its first appearance in 1976 – the Fiesta was the child of the Oil Crisis. Every European manufacturer was putting out cheap, economical, front wheel drive hatchbacks. Fiesta was the answer to a question that is still relevant. Can we buy a little runabout that won\u2019t cost us a fortune, and which we can love?<\/p>\n

Over the forty years since it launched there have been hundreds of different models. At one point, as many as fifteen versions of the same model year were on sale at Ford dealerships. But there\u2019s an obvious star of the show, as far as we\u2019re concerned. The XR2, of course.<\/p>\n

The XR2 was a true base level boy racer. First appearing in 1980 in MK1 trim and flowering on until the late mid-nineties, it came with distinctive colour-coded trim, those distinctive \u2018pepper pot’ wheels (at least until the MK3 version came along) and a whole revised attitude that reached out to a demographic of younger drivers.<\/p>\n

The XR2 seemed to appeal to many younger women, too – who loved the XR2\u2019s racy cuteness.<\/p>\n

The XR2 proved perfect for an entry level driver who wanted a bit of fun and attitude as well as the rock solid practicability and reliability.<\/p>\n

It was a stalwart of the Essex A-roads for years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\nHeading over to Ford\u2019s Dagenham-based heritage collection this month it was a pleasure to see a fleet of pristine Fiestas.<\/strong> The silver 1976 MK1 (pictured) is an immaculate slice of 1970s automotive history. And to drive the immaculate Mk2 XR2, with only about 30,000 miles on the clock, around the Dagenham estate was like stepping back in time.<\/p>\n

By today\u2019s standards the performance of the car isn\u2019t off the radar – but you can feel in the directness of its drive, the tightness of the gearbox and the acreage of glassy visibility that\u2019s available – why the appeal of the XR2 was so great.<\/p>\n

Ford had updated the engine in the Mk2 version of the XR2 – and running gear tweaks as well as a new five-speed transmission meant that A127 to Clacton was a high velocity cruise – but could deal nicely with the roundabouts and the back-turns of the estate too.<\/p>\n

It goes without saying that the Fiesta proved popular all over the country and the rest of the world too – but it’s interesting to think how much the environment around Ford\u2019s atmospheric Dagenham plant would have fed into the design and evolution of Ford\u2019s base-level stalwart.<\/p>\n

The XR2, of course, wasn\u2019t the only hot version of the car to appear. RS, \u2018Rally\u2019 and \u2019S\u2019 trimmed versions kept the faith of boyracer-hood alive…<\/p>\n

We particularly like the Tuareg too (pictured), which was a Dakar-ish concept from the end of the seventies that clearly fed into the XR2 and other hot trimmed versions of the car – and we can only surmise that the RS 1800 would have been a blast.<\/p>\n

Though the world is saturated with affordable, economic runabouts – the Fiesta\u2019s seventh generation pushes on to its fifth decade – the ST line keeps the XR2\u2019s candle burning.<\/p>\n

We look forward to celebrating the half century.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t