Mk1 Ford Fiesta 1.1L Restoration Episode 3: FIRST START!! 

Sad to see the stripes go; that was the one Halfords thing I liked. But hey, it's your car. Looking forward to the further progress!

This is bringing back a flood of memories. I was farming when I bought my second Fiesta and pretty much used it as a farm pick up truck. I bought 800 lbs. of oats from a co-worker once. Loaded all those bags, 10 of them, in and on the car and drove it home. Glad a cop didn't see me. Oh, 800 lbs and a driver is a serious over load for this car. Then I ran to pick up supplies for my job. What I expected to be 8 gallons of flavoring, turned out to be about 600 lbs of freight. That was a 45 mile trip that at some point, the rear end of the car started to wiggle around. When I got to the job site and looked under the car, the anti sway bar was broken in half. I borrowed some tools and removed it. A mechanic welded it together for me and I reinstalled it. What I remember most about that is the car was six plus years old, but those chassis bolts came out like I had put them in yesterday.

Used to get a lift home from school in a MK1 Fiesta. Never forgotten the exhaust burble

Great the Fiesta is running & driving, engine note very nostalgic to me & sounds so sweet. Original pin stripe & Chrome mirror / window trim, quietly denote the L spec beautifully

The first Fiesta I had I bought from a cute coworker when it had 106K miles on the clock. I drove it to almost 200K when it developed what I thought was a tappet noise. Being February I decided to wait for spring to address adjusting the lifters. Wrong decision. I was cruising about 80 mph when that tappet started to sound really loud. For some reason, I stepped on the clutch to let the engine rev down to see if it would quiet down a bit. Well it did quiet down. Threw a rod right out of the front of the engine. But the noise quit. I had enough momentum to roll almost two miles to the next off ramp, catch the traffic right and roll right into a parking spot at the gas station at the end of the ramp. The only walking I did was to walk to the pay phone to call for a ride. The guy behind the counter even bought the car off of me. That was a nice car for the money, but I never got more than 35 mph out of a tank of gas. I've always wondered what it would have been like had I not stepped on the clutch the instant before the rod went. Locking the front wheels of a front wheel drive car at 80 doesn't sound like it would have had a benign out come.

Well done, Siôn! I would change out all the bulbs in a car like this, it gives you peace of mind and will also make detecting real issues easier 😀

Nice on! I just bought myself a 1.0 1981 fiesta as my first car

Good job you put those hazards on to indicate a BDV, all 50% of them 😂

Siôn, haven't ridden in one in over 40 years! Poverty spec like this one, I don't think it even had a rear wiper, it was an option not many chose. The Fiesta imported into the US had the 1.6 litre with a Weber carberettor.

This is what owning a 1980s Ford Escort/Fiesta was like back in the day. Though, it was usually the winter months that they really played up.

Its actually quite scary how valuable early Fiestas are getting.

A brilliant city car. Such unique styling that hasn't dated much, in my eyes anyway. Makes me want to get something small and basic again!🙂

Identical to my first car other than pi stripes and red seats. Dad bought it new in 1980. clocked up 150,000 miles before it died.

i love how simplistic yet low key awesome these old fiestas are

I found the light switch is really easy to knock with your knee when getting out......flat batteries are no fun!

Looking a lot better without the stripes, you are making great progress.

That cranking bought back memories!

What a great little car! I remember one my neighbour had a T-reg Fiesta in two-tone brown/gold with a vinyl roof.

Look forward to many more. Cheers

Love a nice long crank though! Wish there were more videos like that on your channel 😍😍

Thoroughly enjoyable series. I used to own a crystal green Mk1 L and have fond memories of driving it. Looking forward to more content on this little bargain!

and now you know why FORD stands for "Found On the Road Dead".......lol :P

That Ford life when you are so happy to be able to drive your car, you think is fantastic and the next thing is a bit of jogging back home. 😅

Well done sIon a great video and great to see progress made on the fiesta it is getting better and better every time it will be lovely when finished Sorry to see you broke down but hope its due to it being stood for some time and I like it without the Halfords bits on!

Those exhausts are hung from the front and back only... so they snap in the middle 😢 We replaced one 3 times back in the day!

I had a W reg Fiesta back in the day. Metalic gold with a brown vynil roof. Was OK but the wheel bearings were naff on this and the next two fiestas. Similiarly, I'n not big on flaps either.

Least you got to drive it. How do they feel compared to the mk3?

Soooo much better without the stripes! Mac

Nice, is that a Dagenham or a Valencia assembled example?

Oh noooo. Should've kept the stripes so 80s vibes and although non factory they come across as period correct.😢

Steve Erkel that bish