End of an era as budget British motoring icon bows out after 47 years on the go

04 July 2023 , 19:51

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Nell McAndrew poses with an original Mk I Ford Fiesta (Image: UK Press via Getty Images)

The party’s over. Or rather the Fiesta. After 47 years of production the last Ford Fiesta will roll off the production line at the company’s factory in Cologne, Germany, on Friday.

It was the first front-wheel drive car made by Ford for the global market and was even sold in the US, a nation not known for its love of small cars.

But although Ford is an American company, the Fiesta has always felt like it’s as British as warm beer.

It’s a small car that almost all of us have had at some point – and 22 million have been sold around the world. In 1978, two years after the Fiesta was launched, my mate James’s mum bought one. Yellow, and in the most basic spec. That was when manufacturers used simple names for their trim levels like L and GL.

Names you could understand unlike the twaddle used today. I mean, what’s a Accent Pro Business +? Fiesta L sounds simple. And it was. James’s mum’s Fiesta didn’t have a passenger door mirror as that was an extra.

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End of an era as budget British motoring icon bows out after 47 years on the go

I don’t know what she paid for her car but the Fiesta cost £1,854 when it was launched in 1976.

It also had the smallest engine available, a 957cc four-cylinder petrol engine called the Valencia engine after where it was built.

So too was the Fiesta, but it was also built at Ford’s plant in Dagenham, East London. It was Ford’s last passenger car made in Britain until the last Fiesta rolled out of the factory in 2002. In 1983 Ford launched the MkII but not before I’d taken my driving test in a blue MkI. It was perfect for learning to drive in: easy to drive, great visibility and a nice gearbox.

The Mk II came out in 1983

In 1981 my mate Des got a Fiesta Supersport as a company car.

Its full name was 1.3 L Supersport and was powered by a 1,300cc engine that was also used in the Escort.

I remember stickers and bits of trim made the Supersport look a lot faster than it was. With the Volkswagen Golf GTI newly arrived and a nifty version of the Renault 5 also available, Ford needed to harder to woo the young British petrolhead. So in 1981 Ford launched the Fiesta XR2. It had round headlamps and sexy features such as alloy wheels.

The Mk III had a six-year reign from 1989

You’ll have noted the absence of the important lower case “i” in the XR2’s name: that’s because unlike the Golf GTI the XR2 didn’t have fuel injection.

It had to wait until 1989 and the arrival of the MkIII before the XR2 became the XR2i. Ford never made much of an effort to turn the Fiesta into a sportier car because it didn’t want to rob sales from the Escort XR3.

The MkI and MkII Fiestas could only be bought with three doors or as a van but when the MkIII came out in 1989 buyers could get a five-door version.

The Mk IV Fiesta, released in 1995

Ford launched the Fiesta RS Turbo in 1990 that had a then impressive 133bhp. I remember driving one and thought it was one of the most incompetent fast hatchbacks ever made.

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Ford did not have a good reputation among critics in those days. The Escort MkIV got a panning for the way it drove and Ford, in a panic, decided to up its game. When the MkV came out it was a revelation. Better made, tidy styling and brilliant to drive.

There was a hot one, too, the ST. Keenly priced, fast and fun, it put high performance motoring into the hands of the masses.

The Mk V Fiesta, produced from 2002 to 2008 (Ford)

As the Fiesta went through its sixth and seventh generations it got more sophisticated with infotainment systems, DAB radio and safety technologies as standard.

The MkVII became available in Active spec, essentially a body kit to make the car look more like a crossover and also in Vignale trim that turned the Fiesta into a junior luxury car.

Ford has given the Fiesta the chop to focus on electric cars and because it’s hard to make a profit on small cars.