Ford Fiesta
It was a frightening time for the domestic auto industry. American automakers had been caught off-guard by volatile gas prices, an uncertain economy, and a customer base that was rapidly turning its emphasis from flash to thrift. The domestic manufacturers' most profitable products--the huge, outdated, gas-guzzlers that had sold like hotcakes for more than a decade--were suddenly out of step with consumer demand.
The market’s turn to smaller, more efficient cars exposed the domestic small-car catalog as obsolete and uncompetitive compared to the more refined and better-engineered offerings from the imports. American consumers reacted by purchasing the imports and excoriating the domestic offerings for their inadequacies.
Confronted with shrinking market share and even the threat of bankruptcy, the domestic automakers were under pressure to respond quickly with potent, up-to-date small cars of their own. Luckily for Ford, a contemporary and competitive subcompact was already available from its European division to bolster its sagging American small-car fortunes. Enter the savior ... the Fiesta.
Okay, time for a quick break to explain. Despite my best efforts to be clever, I'm guessing that the ambiguity of my language and the pictures of late-1970s Fiestas have tipped you off that I'm actually talking about the late 1970s fuel crisis and the 1978 Fiesta, not the current economic crisis and much-ballyhooed 2011 Fiesta. But I think the parallels between the two situations are fascinating, and it's very interesting that, 30 years later, Ford is once again importing a Fiesta to help revitalize its sagging small-car fortunes. Truly, what was old is new again.
The original Fiesta was only sold in the United States for three years, and it wasn’t an influential smash sales hit in America in the same way that the Volkswagen Rabbit was. For a car that Car and Driver called the most important Ford since the Model T, the Fiesta just didn’t make that big an impact--at least not the kind of sweeping market-changing impact one would expect of an efficient, front-wheel-drive Ford in 1978.
For people like me, though, the original Fiesta was an icon for perhaps the most important reason--because it was a blast to drive. Don’t confuse the Fiesta with the later, more polished, and more ponderous Festiva. While both had suitably festive names, only the earlier Fiesta backed that up with real fun.
With only 66 horsepower on tap from its unsophisticated 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine, the Fiesta wasn’t exactly a muscle-bound powerhouse with obvious performance potential. But with only 1,800 pounds of mass and an excellent manual transmission, the Fiesta was quick--at least by the standards of the time. An 11.9-second 0-60 time doesn’t sound particularly exciting today, but the Fiesta was comfortably quicker than the Chevrolet Chevette (13.0 seconds) and even the upmarket Honda Accord (12.6). The Dodge Magnum XE had a 400-cubic-inch V-8 for motivation, but it was only slightly quicker than the Fiesta at 11.0 seconds. The much more expensive BMW 320i was only slightly quicker at 10.5 seconds. Even the first-generation Lotus Esprit, tested in the same C&D issue as the Fiesta, only managed 9.6 seconds. The fact that a base 2006 Kia could smoke these cars isn’t nearly as important as the fact that, for its time, the Fiesta was a pretty swift little economy car.
The quality of the Fiesta’s handling dwarfed its accelerative capabilities. Like its archetypal predecessors, the original Mini and Rabbit, the Fiesta combined light weight, cat-like reflexes, and an eagerness to be pushed up to and beyond its limits. The Fiesta’s spunky agility made it perfect for close quarters cut-and-thrust; it was an urban warrior par excellence. C&D’s Pat Bedard called the Fiesta a “gifted broken-field runner.” The Fiesta may not have had a sports car’s ultimate level of grip, but as a fun, spritely little runabout it excelled.
I find the wrapper for this dynamic package extremely appealing. The simplicity of the Fiesta’s clean, angular lines and understated proportions make it a classic, like a saucier Rabbit/GTI, or a slimmed-down Lancia Delta. I much prefer the Fiesta’s styling to the swollen, overdone lines of today’s compact cars; if I could purchase a modern VW GTI that looked like a 1978 Fiesta, I’d buy it tomorrow.
Europe loved the Fiesta; Ford sold more than a million Fiestas in the first three years of production, and more than 10 million have been sold in the series’ life span to date. Unfortunately, Americans didn’t get the same chance to love the Fiesta. As mentioned, Ford withdrew the Fiesta after only three years; the larger Escort replaced it in 1981. Despite the Escort’s charms, I don’t think much of that trade; nor of the fact that we never had access to the sporty XR2i variant or all of the other interesting Fiestas made over the subsequent three decades.
I’m looking forward to the new Fiesta coming Stateside, but the new car has big shoes to fill. The original Fiesta’s combination of high-mileage efficiency, hatchback utility, and eager agility made it one of the inspired used-car beater buys of the 1980s. I’m sure the new Fiesta will be a competent car; but will it be as fun as the original? Will it have the same spark? Here's hoping it will.
The top photo is an early Fiesta press shot; the second image is courtesy of Flickr user .Robert., the print ad comes from AdClassix, and the final picture is of a parts car from a Fiesta owner page.
--Chris H.
Tim Holtan on March 17, 2009 at 08:50 AM
As the former owner of the car in the last picture, I heartily give a thumbs up to this article and the comments. I did have my share of issues with my Fiestas, but they were mostly due to my beating on them. Delivering pizzas probably shortened their lives as much as anything, too.
They were awesome in the snow with their narrow tires and when you grabbed a big, dumb handfull of hand brake, you could slide the rear end around just about any corner at any speed on nearly any surface. The blue one on my site died because of this when I moved the whole rear axle over a couple of inches when I hit a curb sliding the rear end around.
Good times.
charles on March 17, 2009 at 09:12 AM
I don't remeber what year mine was, but we called it the "Fiestarossa"
ray martin on March 17, 2009 at 10:50 AM
my first car, got totalled in memphis after a brief stop at the lorraine motel (now the civil rights museum / then a house of ill-repute; was with my wife at the time we wanted to see where mlk had been shot). mpg was something like 26.7.
BobMc on March 17, 2009 at 03:39 PM
I had an 80, purchased new. Mine was not quite red and not quite orange; they called it Chinese Red. Great little car -- one of the favorites from the many I've owned over the years. The only oddity was that once I replaced the original thermostat it never again ran at the proper temp, despite putting in several more thermostats, bleeding the system over and over, and even contacting Ford to see if there was a TSB on the problem (there wasn't). It remains one of the few problems with a car that I was never able to solve. But it was super reliable, and when I eventually sold it for parts to a guy who campaigned one in SCCA racing, it felt good to know that somehow my little Fiesta would live on, at least in part(s), in a befitting way. (I'm surprised that no one here mentioned that the engine was also used, in a much more highly tuned version, in Formula Ford racing.)
I never considered it a "German" car. "Euro" seemed more appropriate to me, since the engine was British and mine (as I recall) was assembled in Belgium.
Brian on March 17, 2009 at 11:09 PM
Looks like a totally under-appreciated classic that will produce the same raw visceral fear that you might get with a vintage Porsche driven to the limit.
submandave on March 18, 2009 at 08:56 AM
My buddy Blakely had one. I well remember summer of '87 in Groton, tearing up the roads in the "Fiesta-rosa".
smitty on March 19, 2009 at 10:44 AM
Just gave away my mildly hopped-up '79 Fiesta S to my nephew who just moved here and was car-less and going to school.
All of you who think we ought to have a lightweight, simple car like this today CAN HAVE such a car, if you hurry. Get an old Fiesta, overhaul it, upgrade it. The engine is the best part, a dead-simple pushrod four, no overhead cams with their damned belts or chains. Years of racing development, primarily by Fezzer fanatics in England, has produced a great body of free expertise and reasonably-priced aftermarket speed parts. There are several Fiesta websites, most of them in England, where the Fiesta we had in the USA is known as the Mk1. The Mk1 is as beloved a cult-car there as the Datsun 510 is here.
Rebuild the engine with modern "hyper-eutectic" (high silicon content) pistons, and deck the block for about a .035-.040" squish (Brit. "Quench") dimension. We have a good block, but the Brits had a somewhat better cylinder head, if you want to run with the rice-rockets. Better manifolds are in order. A Ford Cortina S camshaft will bring the engine to life.
USA-version Mk1s got 2" of extra ground clearance, giving them a dorky, Yugo-like stance. Getting the Brit springs will get the car down from the stratosphere and improve handling. The stock brakes were crap, the worst aspect of the original car, but these also can be upgraded; go to the websites for specifics. If you're willing to do some work to get outstanding fuel economy, there is a 5-speed transmission swap the Brit sites also can tell you about; I never tried it. If you retain the four-speed box, be aware that they eventually will shatter the retainer of the input shaft bearing. If you hear an odd new noise form your tranny, drive the car gently home and park it until you change out that bearing and remove the pieces of reatainer, which haven't done any real harm. If you keep driving the car, however, it will eventually break the bearing race and spit hardened steel balls into the transmission gears . . . .
Whether you build a rocket, an econo/green machine, or some combination of the two, your Fiesta will be an enormously pleasing and practical car, a long-term keeper, and you'll be the envy of the contrarian-car cognoscenti wherever you go.
meccano on March 24, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Wasn't the Fiesta the car that Ford advertised as a World Car? Their concept being that it was wider in appeal than just an American, European or Japanese car. There was a competitor TV ad derailing the concept of the world car that showed a world globe on four wheels chugging along with white smoke pouring out of its tailpipe with the tagline making reference to not settling for a World Car when you can have XYZ. The Ford Festiva (which I think was really just a crappy Korean made Kia or something) sticks in my mind more than the Fiesta. Literally! For the past two decades I have had the original Ford Festiva jingle stuck in my head. To this day, apropos of nothing, I will start singing out loud "It's a Ford, It's a Fes-tiv-a!"
I agree that the Ford Fiesta looks like a Fiat 127. Of course for those of us in North America during the 80's and "thanks" to Malcolm Bricklin's car importation savvy, that is the nice way of saying that it looks like a Yugo.
Steaming Pile on March 24, 2009 at 01:29 PM
"Imagine an 1,800-pound car, or even a 2,000-pound car (with safety upgrades) with a more modern engine."
Imagine how small a modern engine could be and still put out 66 horsepower. I say it can be done on 800cc displacement. 8 valve DOHC EFI with no turbos or any other special technology. It would be light enough for two able men to remove and replace in one's garage, and probably get 60 MPG. Heck, you could even design the thing so that it would be EASY to change engines. If only the rest of the car could be made immune to sodium chloride. If only.
That Car Guy on March 24, 2009 at 04:44 PM
Steaming Pile, they may make a new MG Midget based on the Smart Roadster. The car fits what you are describing, except it's 1750 lbs. and 81 hp.
Steaming Pile on March 26, 2009 at 10:27 AM
MG + NaCl = epic fail, unless the Brits have fixed that already.
Upstate New York is merciless to badly rustproofed cars.
Shawn on March 30, 2009 at 05:12 PM
It's great to see so many others that feel the same way I do about the old Fiesta. My brother bought an '80 S new (Matallic Green). He sold it to my dad and I inherited it in 1985. First of all it was a solid, tough dependable little car. Secondly it was quick! A 10 sec 0-60 time was very respectable for its time. I knew two other people back in the day who had Fiesta's in their family, and we all raved about how car was of such high charector that was unexpected - we all gushed about how sporty they drove. Ours never failed us ever after 10 years,countless burnouts, and many drivers. Nits: the front rotors were prone to warping, and they did rust. Good looking, practical, dependable and sporty - I still bleed Ford blue and love German cars because of these great little cars!
Shawn on March 30, 2009 at 05:31 PM
Hey Bryan - bear in mind these are 0-60 times for a car from the late seventies...one of my brothers had a '79 Buick Century Turbo, neat car, but heavy, soft and not really any faster to 60 than a lowly Fiesta...though I am sure it had a better top.
John B on April 01, 2009 at 03:53 PM
In mid 1982, as a new Air Force Second Lieutenant I bought a slightly used 1980 model for my wife to drive to college. I had heard great things about them from magazines like Car and Driver, and her sister whose rocket scientist husband (okay, really an aerospace engineer) had one in LA.
It was fun to drive and better built than my 1979 Mustang.
It was gold just like the one in the photo.
Sadly, I didn't have it long as within a year my wife passed away and it was sold along with washing machine, and basset hound puppy and other married couple items as I reverted to single status and living in apartments.
Still, I have fond memories of it.
Several years later, I was stationed in England and I met my current wife. She had a 1986 model, it was virtually identical to the ones sold in the U.S. until 1980. It was a great car, much better than the used Toyota Starlet I was driving.
PS. Just got back from a vacation the UK, the new fiesta is a real looker.
frank on April 20, 2009 at 12:55 PM
I race a 78 in scca road race events. 110 hp, 1650 lbs, people laugh until they see you pass and keep up with 30-40K $$ vehicles. It is fun, great engine, and I can keep up with a race prepped '08 Z06 vette in the corners...a lot of fun, and a good old car!!
Albert Pope on May 02, 2009 at 10:52 PM
I had a tan one with cloth seats...very basic but a wonderful little car. It had 12" tires that were cheap to replace but impossible to balance. If you were quick with the shifter you could get "rubber" in all four gears...amazing? 30 MPG was no problem...and you could easily go faster then the 80 MPH speedometer could read...I had mine reading "unleaded fuel only" more then one time. My favorite models were bright yellow with black interior and sunroof. Wonderful memories.
Kevin MacNutt on July 22, 2009 at 12:35 PM
My second car was one of these. I bought one the fall of 1992 after my first car, a 1980 Buick Skylark proved to be rather unreliable. I saw one of these for sale at a local gas station and had to have it because it was cool in it's small size and overall simplicity. While it was a bit frightening on the interstate since it combined small and light with a fairly boxy shape, it not only was blown about by crosswinds, but other trucks on the highway, it was an absolute blast on back roads. My major gripe with this car is one I have had with Ford for years is the fact that the European's were given sporty versions with improved suspensions and more spirited engines and we only get the most basic models. Imagine if they imported a version to this country to compete with the Rabbit GTI. That would have been very cool.
Shattuck on September 09, 2009 at 04:57 AM
My first new car was a 1978 White Fiesta Sport with orange interior. My mother had a yellow 1978 basic fiesta. I loved the handling and the looks. The wider tires, aluminum wheels, and pin striping really made a difference in the looks of the car. I also loved that the sport had a 2 barrel carb that acted like the 4 barrels of the time, kicked in when you stomped on it, lifting the front end and squeeking the tires while you wrestled with the torque steer. What a blast. Made driving to my first job out of college something I looked forward to almost as much as getting a paycheck. Took that car on vacations all over the country finding the twistiest roads I could, drove it hard, and always averaged over 30mpg. This was auto heaven compared to my 1970 Ford Maverick college beater. The car finally died when I took the 35mph S curve on the way to work at 60 mph (like normal) not realizing there was black ice on the curve. Countersteering the slide sent me for a wild series of spins when I hit the dry pavement and I eventially ended upside down in the swamp beside the road looking at fish through the side window. I have worn seat belts ever since.
Kris on September 25, 2009 at 04:33 PM
STILL trying to find another (or two to make one runner) Fiesta! I LOVED this car! If they sold these today, I would jump all over it! Mine got a comfortable 38 mpg, and it was like buzzing around in a souped up go cart! What an absolute fun, sprightly car! If anyone knows of one for sale....PLEASE forward me an email! Thanks for the memories!
Kevin MacNutt on October 05, 2009 at 09:20 PM
I had one of these in high school, it was my second car replacing a horrendous 1980 Buick Skylark. I really liked mine and thought the styling was excellent (was Ghia involved with this car?) and it was a blast on the back roads. Unfortunately it was also white knuckle frightening on the interstate as this car was smaller than most everything else on the road, not very powerful and subject to crosswinds.
I have a feeling that this car was designed more for European city driving where it's agile suspension was a must and horse power was not. That said, I believe they marketed it in Europe with some larger and more powerful engines that never saw the light of day in the US. While the gas mileage was decent (although probably not great for a car of it's size by today's standards) the fact that it had only a 6 gallon gas tank also got a little old after awhile.
The front drive layout made it great in deep snow, although it's overall lack of weight made it a bit uncontrollable in slush since what it lacked in power, it made up for in torque. Mine found an untimely end when I crested a hill into some slush and then into a tree. The car held up pretty well, although it was totaled (although I was only doing 35mph when I hit the tree) since the fenders on this car were welded on, rather than bolted.
I am actually looking forward to the new Fiesta that comes out next year which is supposed to be quite the car.
Peter Renardo on October 17, 2009 at 06:10 PM
My very first car was a bright yellow '78 Fiesta, which I bought in the summer of 1980, with 18,000 miles on it, for $3,200.00. I drove that car back and fourth to work, and it ran like a scared rabbit! I loved driving that little car, it was so agile and it ran so good too, and was soooo cheap to maintain! I even put its first muffler system on it, in my dad's garage, it hung on just a few j-hooks with rubber bushings, and the tires could be bought at Dunkin' Donuts, they were so small, but I replaced the front to with identical Michelins. The only thing I did not like about this car was you froze in it in the winter, their heaters were bad,and living in Chicago, it gets awfully cold. But, still, I loved that little car. I kept my Fiesta for four years, so it was almost seven years old when I sold it to a scientist for $800, and he kept that car another four years. I think, I may have one of the very-first Fiestas that were imported to the U.S. I had the original window sticker in the glove compartment, and it said that this car was brought over to the U.S. in August of 1977. For a nineteen year old kid, just starting out in the workforce, it was a great and inexpensive first car. I wish, the Fiesta was imported since it stopped for the new, 1981 Escort, the Fiesta was far superior, although more spartan. I am anxious to see the 2011 Fiestas, when they arrive in late 2010. Who knows? Maybe I'll buy one, or maybe I'll buy a Fiat Cinquecento. I drove one of those in Sicily, back in 1987, one of those two-cylinder ones! Ciao ciao, Pete
David B. on January 23, 2010 at 01:53 PM
The Classic 1978 Ford Fiesta. No a/c, no p/w, AM Radio but it was the pioneer of one thing, it was the first car that put wiper and light controls on the steering column, something Consumer Reports called "Cumbersom and Illogical" , not sure if they would say that 30 years later. The first car I ever bought and I owned it for 10 years, it got totaled with 99K miles on it.
OK, it took forever to warm up in the winter(you could not drive this car from a very cold start), I had to repair the tranny once and the brakes were always being repaired and lets face it, it didn't get me laid a lot either, but make no bones about it, this car was awesome.
It got 40 mpg, it handled like a dream and there was not a snow storm that could stop me from going somewhere. There was no other way about it, this car was a great BMT - Basic Means of Transportation.
Alan LaRue on February 01, 2010 at 01:32 PM
I found your page by Googling "fiesta a blast to drive". I bought a '79 Fiesta S in 1985 for $1600. It was, indeed, a blast to drive. Unfortunately, if you drove the way it begged you to, it wouldn't stay in alignment. (Car and Driver had the same problem during their comparo.)
I reserved a 2011 Fiesta (no obligation) just in case I decide to buy something new this year. I'm sure that, at 50-years-old, I'm not in their target market, but I still love driving tiny cars. The new Fiesta, from the numbers I can find, only weighs about 2200 lbs. That's about 400 lbs heavier than the old one, but it may be the lightest car available in the U.S. And I bet it'll stay in alignment.
Victoria on February 04, 2010 at 08:55 PM
Hey All! My name is Victoria and as luck (not what my father would call it) I happned to be born in a 1978 Ford Fiesta!! It was sliver with black cloth seats. I was born in the parking lot of the hospital on a cold February morning, in Philadelphia, PA. My father working as an EMT driver at the time delivered all 9 pounds 8oz of me!!
After the joy of my birth he realized that his car was, how do you say riuned! The cold air froze all the afterbirth right to the cloth seats. It was my parents first brand new car! This February I will be 30 years old and I would like to take a picture with a 1978 FORD FIESTA, as it is the theme of my party. I have not been able to find one in my area of NEW YORK but am willing to travel to get to one. If you are the owner of one or no of someone selling it, please contact me via email. My dad passed away three years ago and that story was always the hgihlight of my birthday of how I messed up his brand new car. I would LOVE to see one in person! Thank you in adavnce for all who are able to help.
victoriabevin@gmail.com
victoria bevin (face book)
jaime on April 05, 2010 at 10:04 PM
I drove a white 1980 fiesta from albany, through the adirondacks into Ontario,over to Quebec and back down to ny.What a blast that thing was to drive!Throw fishing rods in the hatchback,4 speed with effortless clutch.My 2003 mazda shifts alot harder!It had a 1 barrel weber carburetor similar yo what was on 78 rabbits before they were fuel injected.