Apologies if this is classed as too 'new' but seem to be a few popping up similar age.
So where to start, I think I have to admint i'm a slut when it comes to a fiesta, I've only had 2, but growing up with my parents running a driving school we must have owned 40ish of them. My first car was a mk6 1.4tdci, I managed to crash it badly once, write it off another time, put nearly 100k on it in 4-5 years and then realise I needed a family car.
The fiesta always had a soft spot in my heart, I just love the shape or it and it handles really well.
Heres Dave, in his prime
This was taken 2 days before he was wrote off, I had just fitted smaller MP3 alloys, 300mm mondeo brakes, sideskirts, flocked dashboard and black suede headliner - I was gutted. (he was repaired and used for a few more years)
My daughter was born when I was 22, and I picked her up and dropped her off daily to nursery, 9 months of carrying a baby in and out of a 3 door screws your back up, so I started searching for a suitable replacement. I should have done the decent thing and bought a mondeo or focus but I wanted to get away from fords, so I bought a mazda 6 and the less said about that the better. The fiesta ended up being used for a further 3 months whilst the mazda broke (it had done 1/3 of the mileage the fiesta had) After 3 months I took the decision to cut my loses and bought a Vectra, now this wa a smart move by me, as it was at the closest garage to my house and the cable ties holding the gear linkage in place would only last so long!
Anyway with some more growing up, my wife was made redundant and we made the decision she should go to university. I done the maths, whilst we could afford to keep both cars, it made no sense, especially with the vectra brake line popping on me I wanted rid, so I decided to go car-less and get the train to work, a 2.5 mile walk in the morning to the train station is quite refreshing
Queue 2.5ish years later, We had done well with just one car, but with my daughter in school, my wife in Uni, my son in nursery we really needed another car, we looked at cheap leases, but I'm better than that! Without me knowing my wife had put the feelers out amongst people she know to find a cheap little fiesta, and she found my holy grail.
Enter Dave Ja Vu, a bit of a wierd name for a car I agree but you need the full picture.
My first car, FM54SJV, ink blue fiesta finesse TDCI named Dave, because he looked like a Dave
Dave Ja Vu, VK03ZLU, ink blue fiesta zetec 1.4 petrol, with a SUNROOF! He was pretty much identical to Dave apart from the one piece bumpers and alloys (although I did have these fitted to Dave for a short while)
She paid around £300, it had been sitting for a year and had no MOT, it flew through its MOT needed brakes pads and a tyre. Insurance cost me around £300 for the year, tax £150? so for the yearly cost it comes in under the £100 leases we looked at!
Now My wife knows I like to tinker and she bought a great base for me - initial thoughts:
-seat tilts broken, common issue
-both mirrors broken, wood screws holding them together
-petrol flat seized
-wheels as round as a 50p piece
-steering wheel worn
-has had a lot of paintwork, full rear end, both quarters, both front wings, front bumper and passenger door, front bumper had primer showing through the paint, passenger door and wing was visbily poorly painted with rust at the bottom of the door.
The good, it was my perfect spec with the sunroof, and had around 72k on the engine.
I wasted no time in raiding my brothers part stash:
Sideskirts, facelift rear lights and door stripes stolen from him - those eagle eyed people will also note the facelift mirrors I stole a few days prior already fitted.
What I may have forgotten to add, when I bought the vectra the fiesta was stripped for parts, but I couldnt bring myself to scrap it, it had doors, boot, engine and dashboard left, and one day my brother called me 'I'm gonna buy a corsa van as a project' queue me doing the unthinkable, talking sense into him, I sold my fiesta too him.
Thankfully he's one of the people I would trust to rebuild it and he wasted no time in buying a wrote off fiesta ST and transplanted the engine over, now hes no mechanic but he done that engine swap single handed and it started first time. Unfortunately 2 years ago by parents where moving so he lost the garage, fortunately I said I would store it for him and help finish off the project, so here they are, together at my house, 6 years after I stopped using Dave! New brake lines, brakes, driveshafts, sparks, leads, some wiring, tightening up a few steering bolts and it was driving again!
So where to start, I think I have to admint i'm a slut when it comes to a fiesta, I've only had 2, but growing up with my parents running a driving school we must have owned 40ish of them. My first car was a mk6 1.4tdci, I managed to crash it badly once, write it off another time, put nearly 100k on it in 4-5 years and then realise I needed a family car.
The fiesta always had a soft spot in my heart, I just love the shape or it and it handles really well.
Heres Dave, in his prime
This was taken 2 days before he was wrote off, I had just fitted smaller MP3 alloys, 300mm mondeo brakes, sideskirts, flocked dashboard and black suede headliner - I was gutted. (he was repaired and used for a few more years)
My daughter was born when I was 22, and I picked her up and dropped her off daily to nursery, 9 months of carrying a baby in and out of a 3 door screws your back up, so I started searching for a suitable replacement. I should have done the decent thing and bought a mondeo or focus but I wanted to get away from fords, so I bought a mazda 6 and the less said about that the better. The fiesta ended up being used for a further 3 months whilst the mazda broke (it had done 1/3 of the mileage the fiesta had) After 3 months I took the decision to cut my loses and bought a Vectra, now this wa a smart move by me, as it was at the closest garage to my house and the cable ties holding the gear linkage in place would only last so long!
Anyway with some more growing up, my wife was made redundant and we made the decision she should go to university. I done the maths, whilst we could afford to keep both cars, it made no sense, especially with the vectra brake line popping on me I wanted rid, so I decided to go car-less and get the train to work, a 2.5 mile walk in the morning to the train station is quite refreshing
Queue 2.5ish years later, We had done well with just one car, but with my daughter in school, my wife in Uni, my son in nursery we really needed another car, we looked at cheap leases, but I'm better than that! Without me knowing my wife had put the feelers out amongst people she know to find a cheap little fiesta, and she found my holy grail.
Enter Dave Ja Vu, a bit of a wierd name for a car I agree but you need the full picture.
My first car, FM54SJV, ink blue fiesta finesse TDCI named Dave, because he looked like a Dave
Dave Ja Vu, VK03ZLU, ink blue fiesta zetec 1.4 petrol, with a SUNROOF! He was pretty much identical to Dave apart from the one piece bumpers and alloys (although I did have these fitted to Dave for a short while)
She paid around £300, it had been sitting for a year and had no MOT, it flew through its MOT needed brakes pads and a tyre. Insurance cost me around £300 for the year, tax £150? so for the yearly cost it comes in under the £100 leases we looked at!
Now My wife knows I like to tinker and she bought a great base for me - initial thoughts:
-seat tilts broken, common issue
-both mirrors broken, wood screws holding them together
-petrol flat seized
-wheels as round as a 50p piece
-steering wheel worn
-has had a lot of paintwork, full rear end, both quarters, both front wings, front bumper and passenger door, front bumper had primer showing through the paint, passenger door and wing was visbily poorly painted with rust at the bottom of the door.
The good, it was my perfect spec with the sunroof, and had around 72k on the engine.
I wasted no time in raiding my brothers part stash:
Sideskirts, facelift rear lights and door stripes stolen from him - those eagle eyed people will also note the facelift mirrors I stole a few days prior already fitted.
What I may have forgotten to add, when I bought the vectra the fiesta was stripped for parts, but I couldnt bring myself to scrap it, it had doors, boot, engine and dashboard left, and one day my brother called me 'I'm gonna buy a corsa van as a project' queue me doing the unthinkable, talking sense into him, I sold my fiesta too him.
Thankfully he's one of the people I would trust to rebuild it and he wasted no time in buying a wrote off fiesta ST and transplanted the engine over, now hes no mechanic but he done that engine swap single handed and it started first time. Unfortunately 2 years ago by parents where moving so he lost the garage, fortunately I said I would store it for him and help finish off the project, so here they are, together at my house, 6 years after I stopped using Dave! New brake lines, brakes, driveshafts, sparks, leads, some wiring, tightening up a few steering bolts and it was driving again!
