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Skip to the last update (found a car)
History It was monday, 26.8.1991 when I got my driving license. A few days later, on friday, I bought my first car which was a red Ford Fiesta 1.1GX '82. I had it only for a few months before I drove too hard and crashed it. I didn't do anything special to the car, so it was almost 100% original 'till the bitter end. Between 92-95 I had some other cars, Escort 1.3 LX '85 (European Escort, but this LX model was made in Mexico and it had a Volvo/Renault -based 1.3 or 1.6 OHV engine), Seat Ibiza 1.5XL '89, and a Toyota Hiace '83. In the beginning of '95 it was again time for a 'new' car. Didn't have a much money to spend, and surprise, surprise. Another 1.1GX '82 arrived 10.3.1995, this time it was a white one. This was the 1st car I really put time and effort on. Mods included for example a tuned 1.3 Valencia-OHV and a '87 1.4 CVH and a fine soundsystem. I build up also a small site about things and modifications done and going on with it, but as it's almost ancient history, I didn't upload it anymore when building up this 76s.net doman (11/04). Some photos still remain online, check them out. In August '98 the gearbox lost the 4th gear when I missed on a gearchange while 'racing'. Because my financial situation was a bit better those times, I garaged the Mk1 and bought me a 1.6S '90.
The gearbox had been fixed a year ago, but the car was not in use and all the paperwork etc was undone, and I kinda had lost the interest in it. I wasn't selling it actively, but in June a guy wanted to buy it. Even if I hadn't done anything with the car for ages, I wasn't very willing to sell it, but I realized that it was the smartest thing to do at the moment. The new owner 'tuned' it as he liked (nothing to do with performance), and I understood that he was quite happy with it. But then. 19.10.2001 he had 'a little accident' with the car and that was that for this car. To see some 'before and afer' photos, click here.
A short time before that accident, an idea rised on my mind. I would've liked to build another Mk1 1.4 CVH, propably from an older one this time but there was a problem about the engine. Where could I find a _good_ one 'for free' or as near as possible. And this was the answer. The same night the car crashed, I offered to buy the complete engine and some other parts for a certain price. Soon I found myself dismantling the car. I got the engine with the weber carb and the starter, Lucas Sports -ignition coil, water hoses and some other 'made by me' special parts. I took the engine home, washed it, painted it and changed the oilsump gasket. In the crash the timing belt tensior got it hard and it was stuck, but otherwise the engine seemend to be in good condition. I changed the oil and the oil filter, ran it for a while with the starter, changed the oil again and ran again. Then I stored in a warm and dry place to wait for a car to be attached to. A few days later I took the carburettor under modification and changed the electronically controlled choke to be manual since it would've been much too much needless work to be done to get it to work. Click on the images
  
So, now I had to start looking for a car to build up. First I thought that any Mk1 will do, but when I noticed that at least 90% of Mk1's for sale were those 81-83 1.1GX's which I've already had two, I decided to go for something a bit more special. At this point I'll have to tell all foreign readers that there are virtually no original Mk1 XR2's here in Finland (never been officially imported), so that is something I didn't even think about. So for a few weeks I placed adds 'everywhere' that I want to buy a Mk1 S or Ghia, and only originals are of interest. Nobody called, but I wasn't worried since I'd have the whole winter to wait. Oh, well, one guy did call, but his reading skills were obviously kinda low since he would've liked to sell me an 1.3 GX -83. He even offered to get me some interiorparts to get it look like S/Ghia :-) Then I found an 1.0L '76 and I almost bought it. Eventhough it would've been only 1.0L, it would've been also the first Fiestamodel ever, and it would've been nice to restore and install the 1.4 CVH to. But then, last tuesday, I think I found the right one for me. On a national 'free adds' -magazine there was an add that said "FORD FIESTA 1.3 SPORT -78, whole car or in parts, ~120 euros". For two days I didn't know what to do, but then on Thursday a friend 'made' me call the add. Luckily it was still not sold. I asked a lot of questions to be sure that it was really an original Sport, since it wouldn't have been the first time I was going to buy an 1.3 and found out it was 1.0... According to the discussion on the phone, the main things to do/get are at least new headlamps, a new paintjob, a complete overhaul of brakes, a new radiotor and of course there is some (?) welding to do. The engine should be 'in a fair condition' - whatever that means in a '78 car - as well as the interior. And now, on Saturday, 2:13am I'm just sitting down and writing this stuff because I can't sleep since on Sunday morning I will go and get it :-D The car isn't registrated so we have to tow it home on a trailer. But no worries, it's only 400kilometers/250 miles away from here :-) There isn't much more to say at the moment, and if everything goes as planned, 1st photos and texts will be online on Sunday 2.12 @ 9pm GMT
The car was a D_I_S_A_S_T_E_R_!_! There are some photos, but the texts are in Finnish. But you can compare the photos to the text I wrote above. Click to see!. And the search continues..
Last weekend I went to Järvenpää (~130km) to meet some of my IRC friends and guess what I saw there. In a parking lot there was standing an 1.1S! Naturally I took some photos. Later next (this) week I then searched after the owner (takes 1 minute on the phone here in Finland) and phoned him. He sounded quite surprised about the reason of my call. I just told him that I saw the car and would like to buy it. I offered him 200 euros, but I think I sounded much too anxious to get the car, and he tried to get 250 euros. For a while we discusted about the price, but that really wasn't the issue here. I'd be happy to pay him 250 just to get the car. Now, the problem is, that he needs a car almost every day, and he has to get another car first. And since I didn't even have the money ATM, I told him that I'll call again in the end of the month. Yesterday I heard about an 1.1 '84 (mk2) on sale for 100e and went to look at it. Since it didn't look bad at all for the price (NOTE! I *DO* live in Finland :-DD) I decided to buy it in the next few days. I'm going to do some quick make-up, pay the yearly 85e 'käyttömaksu' and try to offer him this as his new car. Maybe even get 100-150e's :-) Let's see how things go..
The mk2 business went off, since I couldn't get it to work properly. Anyway. Next week I'm going to get the '77 which I mentioned on the 26.1 update :-DD
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