By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

One of the cars that caught my attention at the Ford Fair last weekend was this 80′s Fiesta. I’m pretty certain it’s the MKII variant as the MKI had round lights. The Fiesta has long been associated as a reliable town car and with the exception of the XR, ST and RST variants has lived a relatively sedate life. The decision to turn this simple city car into a caged, stripped and powerful track car was pure wisdom.

It’s not the first and it won’t be the last Fiesta in this style but it’s definitely one of the finest examples I’ve laid eyes on. Powered by a DOHC Zetec engine, although I’m not sure what capacity, it certainly has the power to propel this featherweight car to some quick laptimes. See more of this hot UK hatch at Speedhunters.

-by Patrick McGrath

Continue reading "Zetec Fiesta" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

How’s this for an across-the-pond barn find: a reclusive mechanic in the UK countryside who passed away recently was found to be sitting on a goldmine of rare mostly-British iron. Thirty vehicles were found stashed within a series of dilapidated out-buldings on the property, with some scattered outside in the brambles. The mouldy rides will get a new shot at life after being auctioned off April 4. See more pics below the jump, and read more at The Sun and Mail Online. Via Jalopnik.

Continue reading "Hoard Of Mossy Relics Discovered In Norfolk" »

Our pals in the UK really have a knack for really over-the-top road-safety ads, complete with grisly mayhem and (always) young love cut short—longtime readers might remember this pro-seatbelt TV spot I posted a long time ago. The anti-speeding PSA below is apparently part of a series called "The Faster the Speed, The Bigger The Mess" that started airing in Ireland last year. Somehow, I can’t imagine such a thing turning up on TV in the US. Sure, we had our blood-on-the-highway bout of drivers’ ed films back during the Cold War, but we seem to have developed a real taboo around the spectacle of the accident scene. Maybe it was the Vietnam War that triggered a tightening up of the rules, or maybe we’re just not comfortable reenacting the kinds of scenes that regularly give post traumatic stress disorder to big burly state troopers. Whatever it is, I think it’s fair to say that driving-related PSA’s here in the US are positively tame compared to what gets shown in other countries. How about you, ever seen one that really pushes the envelope?

(Video warning: screaming, light gore, traumatic amputation—not safe for all workplaces).

The turbodiesel version of Ford’s new Fiesta gets its astounding mileage through a highly-tuned 1.6L powerplant as well as some standard Ecomodder tricks. To improve aerodynamics, it’s equipped with the Zetec Fiesta’s lower suspension, as well as air deflectors, drag-reducing hubcaps, and low rolling-resistance tires. It’ll get a five-speed manual geared for efficiency, at 3.055:1. Needless to say, this version will only be offered on the other side of the pond#&151;the closest thing you’ll be able to get in the US is the gas-powered Fiesta that gets 39 mpg. Ouch! On the other hand, we made such a stink about not getting the Euro-spec Focus that Ford eventually decided to bring it over, so you never know. More pics after the jump!

Via Carscoop.

Continue reading "63 MPG Ford Fiesta Diesel!" »

I’m not a fan of SUV-based limos, though admittedly, they’re fun to laugh at when they get into embarrassing mishaps.  For the most part, though, they just kind of gross me out: they just seem so totally in-your-face wasteful. This one claims to be an entire nightclub on wheels, with disco floors and ceilings, great sound and trippy lighting throughout, and not one but two VIP lounges. It’s also purported to be the first triple-axle H2 in the UK, and the site renting it promises it’ll "make all other Hummer limos look like dwarfs." Ugh.

Apparently, automotive sheetmetal is ideally suited for producing the precise geometrical ice-crystal patterns known as "fern frost." Bodywork takes on and loses heat rapidly, encouraging the little guys to form long chains of hexagonal-shaped units—which, interacting with tiny irregularities on the car’s surface, result in the organic-looking formations you see here. A guy in the UK found a whole forest of the crazy patterns growing on his Rover over a couple of nights, and snapped a bunch of pics—check them out at Daily Mail, via AutoMotto.