Now in June i needed wheels, and I was a bit short on the cash front. I looked at a few cars for around £500 and a few things took my fancy but not enough to buy them. Then this little fiesta popped up for £200 down te road. Now it is well known that I am a Ford man, and in particular I have a probably-far-to-big soft spot for Fiesta's. I went and had a look, and yep, I ad to have it. the guy wanted rid, as he had a new car and was convinced the fiesta was beyond rotten. i wasnt convinced of that, and I wanted it, so... A bit of negotiating got me the little Fizzer for £100.
So.. arches rusted through, exhaust shot (back box and mid section totalled, oh didnt the boy-racers love 'challenging me' haha) tracking out at almost right angles, and eater jammed on hot!
however... everything structural is solid! a little spot at the bottom of the nearside b post but only surface, otherwise suspension mounts (notorious on these) already welded at the last MOT and too a very good standard I'm told. 1.6 16v Zetec Engine and a sporty look! Oh, and working aircon (although hot lol) even has an incar phone, central locking and other toys ive never had. Fortunately tho, being a Ford she is still somewhat old fashioned, certainly feels more retro tan 2001 which is a good thing of course. Drives really well!
However, this car grew on me massively very quickly. Frtankly as I was in a difficult position this car never faulted, and now I'm in a better place so is the car! I have slept in it, its boot my wardrobe.I moved house with it (amazing what you can transport in a fiesta!). I have met my new girlfriend in it, to-in and fro-ing to London from Somerset in it, and trips to my childhood home town in Devon. The new girlfriend drives it (no girl has ever driven MY car before lol) It has been a hen party transport, i have waited for over 7 hours in it just to see said girl after work, the kids have played in it, its out dragged more cars than i should admit, its one traffic light Grad-prix's.. its a great car. and so far, since June, she has racked up just over 9000 miles. 9000, for a purchase price of £100.
due to all of the above, and more besides, I decided I would fix her up!
I did do the tracking pretty sharpish, infact this was sorted the week of purchase. besides that however..
First to go was the exhaust, i couldnt very well visit London and get pulled over by the met everytime anyway.. £60 saw a new part, I fitted it in an afternoon and thus she sounded much better, and that was the only MOT advisory last test. Whilst she was up on a ramp at a friendly local garage (shout out to Protyre in Wells here!) an mot inspector had a cursory purusal underneath and confirmed all the strcture was very good indeed! bits that cause trouble all done, everything else was ok! result.
next was the heating.. £30 from car spare shop sourced a tempreture control valve, a notorious thing on these models of fiesta, paid a bit more than online to get the genuine part. few fiddly bits but, with the assistance of mother dearest, replaced in half an hour and fully working icecold aircon!
two replacement, basically new tyres sourced from the scrappy as the terrible tracking had caused the front to tyres to be knackered, tis had the added bonuc of getting me a fifth alloy wheel to be the spare and replace the stell, £20 for two tyres inc and alloy!
whilst in London the osr shock absorber went.. (i may be a bit to much of a country boy when it comes to london, those speed bumps are uge lol!) found a good spares shop in tooting, did a bit of a naugty thing as I'm on a budget still only replaced the broken one... but £30 saw me get a brand new shock and fitted it accross the road that day.
few other niggles, blocked washer bottle filter. On this model the screenwash reseviour is inside the ofside wing.. very annoying! filter repaired (read, hole put through the sponge with a braddle) and then some jets from a scrap car (as no matter what cleaning one wouldnt work) saw the screen washers working well.
this week however saw me decide to MOT the Fiesta early, to see what was about. (SC autos in cheltenham, legends for MOT's and great guys, major shoutout t them and to MS autos who managed to squeeze me on a ramp!) Still not got a car through first time, however the offside suspension arm had excessive play at ball joint, and i needed a sidelight bulb (which apparently blew during the test!)
Picked the car up at half three, ran around to my friend who owns his own garage, ran down to the car spares shop (GSF, trade price for me woo!) after calling in advacne the part was waiting on the side for me, at a cost of £30! fitted in 15 minutes, then run back around for a retest and she passed with no advisories! obvisoulsy there will be some welding long term, but this car is a true legend. I have spent somewhere in the region of £250 on bits and bobs to get her to a decent standard, in addition to the £100 purchase price, but she doesnt miss a beat, has reached 121mph (i don't belive it myself) (airfield btw!) and as said has done over 9000 miles and counting. is fun to drive, and looks pretty good too. little fairly hot hatch! and i can proudly say that A) I still havent bought a car with one of the new fangled number plates on it, this is as new as i wanna go! and B) tihis fiesta, named Fiezi) is a great car! onwards for more driving!
So.. arches rusted through, exhaust shot (back box and mid section totalled, oh didnt the boy-racers love 'challenging me' haha) tracking out at almost right angles, and eater jammed on hot!
however... everything structural is solid! a little spot at the bottom of the nearside b post but only surface, otherwise suspension mounts (notorious on these) already welded at the last MOT and too a very good standard I'm told. 1.6 16v Zetec Engine and a sporty look! Oh, and working aircon (although hot lol) even has an incar phone, central locking and other toys ive never had. Fortunately tho, being a Ford she is still somewhat old fashioned, certainly feels more retro tan 2001 which is a good thing of course. Drives really well!
However, this car grew on me massively very quickly. Frtankly as I was in a difficult position this car never faulted, and now I'm in a better place so is the car! I have slept in it, its boot my wardrobe.I moved house with it (amazing what you can transport in a fiesta!). I have met my new girlfriend in it, to-in and fro-ing to London from Somerset in it, and trips to my childhood home town in Devon. The new girlfriend drives it (no girl has ever driven MY car before lol) It has been a hen party transport, i have waited for over 7 hours in it just to see said girl after work, the kids have played in it, its out dragged more cars than i should admit, its one traffic light Grad-prix's.. its a great car. and so far, since June, she has racked up just over 9000 miles. 9000, for a purchase price of £100.
due to all of the above, and more besides, I decided I would fix her up!
I did do the tracking pretty sharpish, infact this was sorted the week of purchase. besides that however..
First to go was the exhaust, i couldnt very well visit London and get pulled over by the met everytime anyway.. £60 saw a new part, I fitted it in an afternoon and thus she sounded much better, and that was the only MOT advisory last test. Whilst she was up on a ramp at a friendly local garage (shout out to Protyre in Wells here!) an mot inspector had a cursory purusal underneath and confirmed all the strcture was very good indeed! bits that cause trouble all done, everything else was ok! result.
next was the heating.. £30 from car spare shop sourced a tempreture control valve, a notorious thing on these models of fiesta, paid a bit more than online to get the genuine part. few fiddly bits but, with the assistance of mother dearest, replaced in half an hour and fully working icecold aircon!
two replacement, basically new tyres sourced from the scrappy as the terrible tracking had caused the front to tyres to be knackered, tis had the added bonuc of getting me a fifth alloy wheel to be the spare and replace the stell, £20 for two tyres inc and alloy!
whilst in London the osr shock absorber went.. (i may be a bit to much of a country boy when it comes to london, those speed bumps are uge lol!) found a good spares shop in tooting, did a bit of a naugty thing as I'm on a budget still only replaced the broken one... but £30 saw me get a brand new shock and fitted it accross the road that day.
few other niggles, blocked washer bottle filter. On this model the screenwash reseviour is inside the ofside wing.. very annoying! filter repaired (read, hole put through the sponge with a braddle) and then some jets from a scrap car (as no matter what cleaning one wouldnt work) saw the screen washers working well.
this week however saw me decide to MOT the Fiesta early, to see what was about. (SC autos in cheltenham, legends for MOT's and great guys, major shoutout t them and to MS autos who managed to squeeze me on a ramp!) Still not got a car through first time, however the offside suspension arm had excessive play at ball joint, and i needed a sidelight bulb (which apparently blew during the test!)
Picked the car up at half three, ran around to my friend who owns his own garage, ran down to the car spares shop (GSF, trade price for me woo!) after calling in advacne the part was waiting on the side for me, at a cost of £30! fitted in 15 minutes, then run back around for a retest and she passed with no advisories! obvisoulsy there will be some welding long term, but this car is a true legend. I have spent somewhere in the region of £250 on bits and bobs to get her to a decent standard, in addition to the £100 purchase price, but she doesnt miss a beat, has reached 121mph (i don't belive it myself) (airfield btw!) and as said has done over 9000 miles and counting. is fun to drive, and looks pretty good too. little fairly hot hatch! and i can proudly say that A) I still havent bought a car with one of the new fangled number plates on it, this is as new as i wanna go! and B) tihis fiesta, named Fiezi) is a great car! onwards for more driving!
