Fuzz Townshend takes us behind the scenes of the new series of Car SOS. This week – batten down the other hot hatches… it’s the Ford Fiesta XR2
‘A I have a soft spot for Ford Fiesta MkIs, having passed my test in my foster mum’s 1979, 1.1L (YOK 80T, if you’d like to know), way back in November 1981. I then became the car’s keeper, until I part-exchanged it for a 1950 Land Rover 80”, which didn’t go down too well at the old homestead. My point is that I had many wonderfully happy, formative driving experiences in that Fiesta, so I was delighted when I was informed that we were taking on a 1983 example for some Car SOS treatment.
‘IT engineer Brian had owned the car for 13 years, the first ten of which had seen him making steady progress restoring what had turned out to be a typically tired and corroded old Ford. Sadly, one of life’s cruel curve balls knocked Brian off his feet, robbing him of the energy he needed to continue his much-loved project.
‘Brian’s daughter contacted the Car SOS team – carsos@walltowall.co.uk – and so it was that a posse of Midlanders was sent to North Wales to assess the XR2’s potential. Word was that the car was in decent shape and came with a plethora of parts that Brian had bought to complete the project.
‘I’ll admit now that I was not a member of the recce party; often nowadays I am not, the reason being that I frequently have to report that the project is likely beyond the production’s budget or will have a negative impact upon the shoo
