Classic Ford June 2021
Classic Ford is rammed full of expert technical features, the best feature cars from across the world, a dedicated motorsport section plus all the news, products and information you'll need from across the entire classic Ford scene. Please note: This digital version of the magazine does not currently include the covermount items or content you would find on printed newsstand copies
in this issue
welcome
It was a huge financial risk for Ford (and as Steve Saxty reveals on page 22), an initially reluctant one at that, but I think it’s fair to say that the Fiesta was a risk well worth taking for the big Blue Oval. The longest-running model in the European line up celebrates its 45th birthday in 2021, and this anniversary year should finally see the original Mk1 gain the momentum and status it richly deserves, both as part of our scene and the incredibly-important part it played in Ford-of-Europe’s direction and success in the decades that followed — even if it did help to see the demise of mass-production, rear-wheel-drive models! To help cement that status, much of this issue is dedicated to the Mk1, and we’re looking forward to celebrating in…
track & road
We first met Gary Lali at Croft circuit when he was typically creating a stir with his innocent-looking burgundy Mk2 Fiesta track car back in 2019. Intrigued by this impressive display and the number of exotic cars he’d just overtaken, we discovered Gary’s frantic Zetec-propelled Fiesta was packing 207 bhp in a car that weighs in at just 750 kg! “I’ve continued to make a few improvements to my Mk2, and it still sees regular track use,” Gary explains, “but when this Fiesta RS Turbo came up for grabs, I saw the potential for a new project.” Working as an engineer for Rolls Royce means Gary is far from daunted by tackling most jobs in his garage at home. His wealth of skills appears to be ever expanding and this time…
mondeo bows out
The Mondeo hit the national headlines recently following the news that it will be phased out after 29 years in production — with no successor planned. Production will stop at Ford’s Valencia plant in early 2022, bringing an end to a model line that’s sold over five million units since it first appeared in 1993 as the critically-acclaimed replacement for the Sierra. The Mondeo became a byword for an entire genre of motorist when ‘Mondeo man’ was popularised by Tony Blair at the Labour Party Conference in October 1996. It was made in reference to the kind of no-nonsense, hard-working voter that Blair hoped his party could attract. But while the Mondeo remained popular long after that, sales have dwindled each year as those pesky SUVs and crossovers have stolen its…
an e-fuel future?
Some potential good news for the future of internal combustion engines (ICE) — Porsche has suggested that synthetic fuels could allow the form to continue selling combustion-engined cars even after 2030, and according to the firms’s CEO, Oliver Blume, could allow classic models to be driven ‘almost carbon neutrally’. Synthetic fuels, or e-fuels, are used by engines the conventional way but their production involves processes that are carbon-neutral or even capable of offsetting the CO2 released during combustion. Blume said the firm has joined with partners like Siemens to push the industrialisation of e-fuels, investing around 20M Euros in a pilot plant. The UK government will impose a ban on the sale of new combustion-engined cars from 2030, but Porsche’s R&D boss, Michael Steiner claimed that it would make more sense…
show us your shed
Footman James has launched its new Show Us Your Shed competition to celebrate the spaces of all shapes and sizes that house our classics and collectables, from the clinical to the chaotic. These include the traditional garage space, but also spare rooms, outbuildings or even aircraft hangars — basically, places that have provided an invaluable refuge for many over the last 12 months. The two-month social media competition will award one space the inaugural Shed Head trophy. It’s open to anyone and is easy to enter via a form via www.footmanjames.co.uk/ show-usyour-shed-2021. You can then share your entry on social media using the hashtag #FJShowUsYourShed. David Bond, Managing Director of Footman James, said: “It’s not about how much the shed costs, or how big it is, but the passion and the personality behind…
david sutton
Sadly, David Sutton, the man who masterminded Ari Vatanen’s 1981 FIA World Rally Championship title behind the wheel of a Rothmans Escort RS1800, has died. He was 81. The former David Sutton Cars team boss and founder of Historic Motorsport (seen here, second from left, with Bjorn Waldegard and the Mk1 Escort RS1600 that Historic Motorsport built for the 2007 East African Safari Rally) took on Ford’s WRC hopes when the Blue Oval withdrew from the series at the end of 1979. Sutton and his team pulled everything together to become the first privateer outfit to win the world title. We’ll be publishing a full tribute later in the year.…
