Ford Fiesta...

[donkeychomp]

Ford made 2 great cars. The mighty GT40 that outdid Ferrari at Le Mans after Enzo told Ford to basically fuck off when they tried to buy the company. So they built the GT to prove a point...childish really and when you go back to the roots of Ford...Henry was the biggest racist out there at the time, a truly nasty man.

The other car was the Mustang fastback..think Steve McQueen in Bullit. Fuck yeah what a motor.

But the cars built these days by that company are just jelly moulds, no character, bland as a bland thing and then some. OK a Focus will do everything you want it to, take you from A-B with no issues but where's the fun in that?

That's why I love my old Suzukis. Every drive brings a smile to my face and if it breaks down I am 99% sure I know why and I can fix it myself. And modifications...I will never finish modding my LJ...can you say that about any Focus? No, you can't as the only mods are done by spotty twats trying to beef up the power with dodgy after market kits that probably make it slower...but louder.

So Anton bury your right foot and try to destroy the poxy derv engine in the horrible little tin box they have given you, get better very soon and enjoy your SJ.

[Martin86]

GT40 and Mustang are Performance Cars, not sure you can compare them to Daily Production Focus/Mondeo/Fiesta.

That's why I love my old Suzukis. Every drive brings a smile to my face and if it breaks down I am 99% sure I know why and I can fix it myself. And modifications...I will never finish modding my LJ...can you say that about any Focus? No, you can't as the only mods are done by spotty twats trying to beef up the power with dodgy after market kits that probably make it slower...but louder.

I do agree with this.

Martin.

[Anton]

I think that a lot of modern cars are guilty of that, DC. I love my SJ for all the same reasons, simplicity, honesty and fun. There aren't many vehicles out there as fun as a small zuk, certainly not for the kind of money little Zuks go for!

[donkeychomp]

Very true, all new cars look the same to me.

And I'm not comparing a GT40 to a Fiesta! Just saying those 2 cars were good 'uns.

One other point, we all drive the greenest cars on the planet...how many recycled parts have we all used in the past? Tons. And will a 1.6 Ford Fiesta be on the road in 35 years? Not a chance.

[Edweird]

The XR and Cosworth Fords are pretty bonkers. I'm a fan of the XR4x4 Sierra.

The more modern ST cars are also supposed to be pretty mental but I've never been in one. Not to say that they aren't boring to look at though.

On the 'green' front; SJs are very good for the environment, along with things like Series Land Rovers. Fuel consumption could be better, granted, but there is a minimal amount of plastic used in construction and they're built to last. Cars do more damage to the environment when they're being built than most live long enough to do through emmissions.

On that front, you put a catalytic converter in a diesel Series and a fuel injected engine in an SJ and you've got a couple of vehicles that are actually about as environmentally friendly as a car can get.

Once they get Hydrogen fuel cells sorted out I'd happily drive a converted classic but batteries are diabolically bad for the environment.

[Anton]

At the risk of sounding like a Grandad, I think Ford used to make underrated cars. The Mk1/Mk2 Escorts, for example, were kinda "chavvy" before there was such a word as chav. But now they're classic cars because their true qualities can shine through - simplicity, balance, rwd fun.

I hated Ford as a kid. I don't care either way now, I'm totally "meh" about everything they've done for decades - and that's probably worse than hating them. If they're too boring to hate - well...

But I now really like the early Escorts. I'd actually own one, given the chance. Like if one came up for a few hundred, and was repairable enough that I could do the work (and my health improved enough that I could).

Would I spend my own money on a Fiesta? God no. If I was given one as a company car, for example - meh, ok I guess.

The thing that strikes me though is this - how many modern cars are ever going to achieve classic status the way Escorts did? After 20 years, Escorts were already classic cars. Look at a 20 year old Fiesta, and unless it's got XR2 on the back, it's worthless and probably always will be. Ditto Focus, Mundano, Galaxy blah blah.

But again, that's not just a Ford thing. I don't think any manufacturer is currently making a bona fide future classic. The BMW Mini may one day have some kind of following - but nothing like the Austin Mini. The Fiat 500 maybe. But again, nothing like the original.

And their appeal will be purely because they're a "cutesy" fashion car that will go out of fashion (hard) then when they become rare, come flashing back into fashion fast as someone like Bono or Madonna buys one.

Nothing made for the last 20 years is all that remarkable, at least not to my eye. Ok, you've got Aston's or AMG mercs, Alpina Beemers and such, but that's not really the kind of car we're talking about here.

I genuinely think that in the future, there will be a real lack of true classics.

I think maybe MX5's might have a future as "classics" one day, but I'm having a real tough time thinking of anything else.

I even worry that the Jimny doesn't really have that certain "something" that the SJ and LJ had (has!) in bucketfuls.

I think of Swifts and Yaris's and Jazz's and Fiestas and such, and...

It's all just tin. None of it is really remarkable enough to ring the right bells. I don't think any of us are going to see one 30 years from now and stand back to admire it the way we do a Wolsley (I saw one today and totally checked out it's curvy backside in a way that'd make my gf jealous!).

we all drive the greenest cars on the planet...how many recycled parts have we all used in the past? Tons. And will a 1.6 Ford Fiesta be on the road in 35 years? Not a chance.

There's a school of thought that repairing old cars, even ones that use more fuel, is environmentally friendly since you rightly point out Ed, the energy required to make a new car (melting down metal uses a butt-ton of fossil fuel!) is far far more than the extra fuel that old car would use. It's called "Bangernomics".

A Prius does more damage to the environment while being built than most cars do in their lifetime - or so the saying goes. Probably true though.

There was a big push to make cars out of a type of biodegradable plastic extracted from hemp in the 1950's in the US. If we really want to be environmentally friendly, we should be pushing for Honda FCX Clarity type vehicles made from something like that.

I'd love a hydrogen fuel cell powered SJ. Electric motor hooked up straight to the t-case (no need for a gearbox). Every kind of awesome in a rusty tin mini monster can.

[BabySuzi]

A classic then...

[courior]

There are so many mk1 escorts over Herr. They have a cult following. Most are in showroom condition or better.. The others are fitted with the 2.1 pinto motor and drag raced.. Some make 9.5 second passes on 1/4 mile without a turbo!

[Anton]

Ok, ok, point taken, perhaps the Escort wasn't the best example. Also not sure about MX5's now I come to think about it.

Still, my point about current cars not having any classic-ness in them still stands, I think.

[donkeychomp]

I think the 'classic' status ended in the eighties...any car made after that really won't be a collectors item. The only cars that will make the grade are supercars. I do agree with Anton, the current cars on the market are so bland that after their production run ends they will be politely dusted under the carpet. I remember a while back that someone said the Austin Princess will become a classic because of it's blandness but the editor of Classic and Sportscar said something on the lines that he'd rather have his genitalia removed with a blunt grapefruit spoon than have that pile of excrement on the cover of his magazine.