Tim has gone for the full Nineties rep experience…
For most of last year, our ‘modern’ had been a VW Beetle – not one of the classic air-cooled, rear-engined ones but one of the newer ‘Golf-in-a-party-dress’ ones. It was a highly reliable turbo diesel example, but while it was a fun thing to own it didn’t fill my heart with joy each time I saw it parked outside. We had already decided that whatever replaced it had to have more classic credentials but also be capable of covering significant distances in comfort.
Just before Christmas, my old-friend Matt Richardson’s YouTube channel, Furious Driving, featured a Ford Mondeo MkII that he had dragged out of a hedge (with a fair amount of that hedge still attached) and was planning to get it back on the road, to sell to finance one of his other projects. I don’t think Matt could quite believe the interest that it generated, and the project took on quite a life. Meanwhile I started to get nostalgic thoughts about Mondeos. You see, when I first started out as a motoring journalist these were current cars, and often they would be the hire car of choice for photoshoots – usually covering huge distances full of the detritus needed for these activities, including a snapper, cameras, ladders, tripods, flasks of tea, sausage rolls and tea-stained maps (before sat navs). The Mondeo would do this effortlessly and often ‘invisibly’, but as a result I realised I had quite a soft spot for these old Fords. They are fast disappearing too – once a common sight in most B&Q car parks, the firs-tgeneration Mondeos have vanished leaving the plethora of oversized soft-roaders we see today. The lower-spec models such as this one are even less common because… well, most enthusiasts want the Ghia or ST24 models.
So, following a couple of emails, Matt and I thrashed out a deal whereby I ended up with the Mondeo and he ended up with the Beetle. The video of this encounter is on his channel should you wish to check it out (and indeed if you want to hear what I actually sound like).
A long story short
So, what’s the history of the car? Well, it was originally sold to Arriva as a lease fleet car and ended up with Bovis Homes. When that lease came to an end, it was bought by the family of the Bovis employee – clearly it was a ‘good’ one. It was then used for trips to the golf course an
