50 years of Fiesta ... from the driver's perspective
The first Ford Fiesta was produced in May 1976. Based on the "Bobcat" project, which had been kept secret for a long time, a "Mini" was created and manufactured in Spain. Parts of the new small car (silhouette, interior) were shown to the public for the first time at the Barcelona Motor Show at the beginning of May 1976.
The Fiesta was a success, thanks to its great everyday utility and attractive prices. Initially, there were rather staid versions with 40 to 53 hp, but the desire for more power soon emerged.
The XR2, the most powerful and sporty version of the first-generation Fiesta for the time being, was finally launched in the summer of 1981. 84 hp from a displacement of 1.6 liters was enough for a 0 to 100 km/h time of 10.1 seconds and a top speed of 170 km/h. Widened fenders, spoilers and a special color scheme illustrated its special status.
For the 50th anniversary, we managed to photograph and drive the Fiesta quartet pictured above together with the first three generations. 84 hp, as in the early XR2, doesn't sound like much, but when you're dealing with a kerb weight of just 800 kg, it does feel quite lively. And there's nothing like compact dimensions and good all-round visibility. The Fiesta and especially the XR2 were able to offer all this.
As a personal anecdote, the Fiesta was one of the first cars I drove myself. The mother of a colleague owned a Fiesta 1100 and we drove it to Strasbourg one weekend to recover from recruit school. I can still remember the rather loud engine at 140 km/h, but also the moderate drinking habits of the small red car.
Over the next few weeks, we will be publishing an article on the Fiesta in SwissClassics Revue, as well as a driving report on the extraordinary Fiesta X and perhaps other articles. In any case, we had a lot of fun on Fiesta Day!
