You know that time is marching on when the cars you considered everyday suddenly become regarded as classics and you keep saying, I used to have one of them. Wish I’d kept it.
Ford recently announced the demise of the Ford Fiesta and I am sure that almost everyone has owned one or at least been in one. I had a basic Ford Fiesta in 1990. It was already 10 years old and had 90 000 miles on the clock. No carpets, no radio it was as basic as it comes. But it was incredibly reliable and cheap to run.
Since the announcement by Ford, Car & Classic, the biggest classic and niche vehicle marketplace in Europe, has reported a substantial increase in Ford Fiesta searches. It recorded a 206 per cent spike in searches on its online platform, compared to average Fiesta searches in the four weeks prior to the announcement. Within the model’s versions, the most interest was garnered by the Fiesta XR2 (up 107 per cent) and RS (up 52.1 per cent) in the days that followed the news compared to a week before.
Even without taking into account the initial reaction to the news of the last Fiesta ever produced, interest in the model is strong overall, up 14 per cent in the period 9/16 July, compared to 25 June/2 July and ignoring the weekend of the announcement. Ford is still the most-searched brand on Car & Classic’s online platform, with the Escort, Capri and Cortina making up around 34 per cent of overall Ford searches whilst the Fiesta is currently responsible for 6 per cent.
The humble Fiesta’s resurgence may even have an impact on the model’s future values, but at the moment demand follows the same pattern to which most classic cars are sensitive: “low-mileage cars in good, unmolested conditions with a documented service history continue to be sought-after,” adds Vinten.
Bearing all this in mind, do I wish I had kept mine? No, If I was buying a Fiesta it would be a luxury or sports model.
What’s your favourite car of the 90’s? We are looking more features on 90’s cars so reply in the comments about which cars we should cover.