“♬ ♩ Hey! Hey! Tonight we’re gonna party like it’s nineteen eighty-nine…♩ ♫” Author photo (and car!).
Quick! Who remembers what they were doing back in 1997? If you’re like me, you’ll remember turning 24 at most… But happily, many of us car guys & gals remember specific years based on what we were driving. A few of us lucky ones with
OCD
sharp eyes and minds remember specific years based on cars we saw curbside. 1997 is one such year for me: late in the year I was holidaying nearby and whilst out walking one evening, I spied with my little eye, something beginning with…S! Yes, that’s right, a Sierra station wagon, curbside!
I’d been Sierra mad (details in here) since 10, learned to drive in my parents’ one, and by 1997 owned my third. I had the brochures and knew the details like the back of my hand. So as I approached this one, I knew that the ‘V6′, ‘4×4′ and ‘Ghia’ badges meant it was a Very Special Sierra Indeed. I immediately fell in love! But we had a dinner reservation and had to keep walking; when we returned the VSSI was gone, destined to remain a cherished memory. Fast-forward to August 2014, and I was geocaching in a town north of my home. Suddenly…what’s that in that sales lot…is it?…Oh…OHHHH! Unintentionally finding the very car I craved 17 years earlier blew my mind!! It was meant to be!!! And without giving it enough thought, it became mine!!!! Get your superfluous exclamation points here!!!!! To celebrate the splendacious wonderousity of the occasion, let’s delve into the life and times of a Superbly Innovative, Excitingly Ravishing, Remarkable Automobile!
Some of you will recognise this splendid example of a 1978 Ford Cortina! (“It’s not Bucket, it’s Bouquet!”).
In the late 1970s, the Cortina/Taunus twinlets were Ford’s entrant in the European/Australian/New Zealand family-car market. They sold well, being the market leader in the UK and New Zealand. But the basic structure had been around since 1970, and although updated for 1976 (and again in 1980), it was a conservative design – especially compared with the avant-garde creations British-Austin-Morris-CousinBob-Rover-WhoeverTheyWereCalledThen had on the showroom floor (which is where they often stayed…)
Early Project Toni sketch. Picture from aronline.
Charged with deciding the direction of ‘Project Toni’, the Cortina replacement, were Ford exec Bob Lutz, long-time Ford designer Uwe Bahnsen, and up-and-coming designer Patrick Le Quément. Led by Lutz (I’m going to trademark that phrase), the team came up with concept sketches which must have scared the crap out of the top Ford managers!
I can imagine the conversation: “Hey guys, check out Toni!” “Nice headlights, but Bob, isn’t this your wife?” “Sorry, wrong sketch, here’s Toni” “…uh…um…can we look at the picture of the pretty lady again?…” “C’mon guys, Toni’s gonna revolutionise the mid-size family car!” “By scaring our customers away, screaming?”
Despite misgivings, management allowed the Led-by-LutzTM team over a billion dollars to proceed with Project Toni. They could have bought all the pretty lady pictures they desired, but wisely spent the money developing the car. As the styling became finalised, management remained nervous – there was a very real fear that the buying public would gather around Toni with flaming torches, pitchforks, garlic and
steaks
stakes.
To prepare the public for the radical new ‘Cortina’, Ford displayed the Probe III concept car at 1981’s Frankfurt Motor Show. Designed by Le Quément, the PIII was Toni wearing contact lenses, falsies and a lot of makeup. Ford probably figured the buying public would be so shocked by the Probe (“Turn your head and cough III times sir”), that the production version would be a pleasant surprise.
Toni d’Sedan nips on over to clay studio to see how her sibling Toni d’Wagon is getting on. Picture from aronline.
As it turned out, Probe the III wasn’t badly received at all, but it must have been with tremendous trepidation that Toni teetered on stage at Britain’s International Motor Show on 22 September 1982. Toni, who’d changed her name by deed poll to ‘Sierra’, represented such a shocking departure from the Ford ‘norm’, that pictures immediately began filtering around the world. I remember my BL/Honda-mechanic Dad showing us a picture in the newspaper and saying “See this? It’s replacing the Cortina. One of these will be ours one day.” I was 8 and our family car was a 1975 Cortina wagon, so that Sierra picture seemed unimaginably other-worldly!
1982 Sierra range.
Upon launch, the Sierra greeted the world in three different body styles: a 5-door estate and 3 and 5-door hatchbacks. The 3-door was available with a single side window, or as a sports model with two smaller side windows. Despite the revolutionary styling, the Sierra remained rear-wheel-drive, and most running gear was Cortina carryovers. Engines ranged from a
lively
asthmatic 1294cc 4-cylinder to a 2792cc V6. Ford tried to ensure there was a Sierra for everyone, so there were more variations than you could shake a Ford-branded stick it! Unlike the Cortina, the top-spec Sierra Ghia came loaded with electronic features – like a warning light for worn brake pads and a digital vehicle display that gave frost warnings and showed blown bulbs.
Those of you in the United States will recognise the Mk1 Sierra XR4i coupe above as the Merkur XR4Ti. We’ve previously featured XR4Ti outtakes on CC, including a red one Robert found here, a red one Brendan found here, and a
red
uh white one Jason found here. Jeff Nelson also wrote some XR4Ti history here.
NZ-assembled July 1983 Cortina 2.3 V6 Ghia.
While the Sierra was launching in the northern hemisphere, the Cortina remained New Zealand’s top-selling car; the default purchase for families and fleets. But its time was over so Ford NZ followed Ford Australia and replaced the Cortina with the Telstar – a lightly made-over GC Mazda 626 sedan or hatchback. But the lack of a Telstar station wagon left Ford NZ in quite a quonsiderable quandary, as Kiwis love station wagons – they suit our ourdoorsy lifestyle. So it wasn’t surprising when Ford decided the family-wagon market was too big to abandon, and to replace ‘tina with Toni.
Publicity coup: install the Prime Minister in a Sierra, chase him down the motorway!
To get unsuspecting Kiwis used to the Sierra’s spacey styling, Ford NZ broke the ice by importing a limited number of V6 hatches – the sporty XR4i 3-door and the luxury Ghia 5-door. They even persuaded Prime Minister Robert Muldoon to trade his Triumph 2000 for a V6 Ghia! The publicity ramped up when numerous publications revealed that Muldoon generally didn’t bother with government limos, preferring to personally drive his Sierra to Parliament every day.
By August 1984, Ford NZ began assembling CKD Sierra wagons. There were two engines and spec levels: the 1600/2000cc ‘L’, and the 2000cc Ghia. Transmissions were 5-speed manual on all, with the option of Ford’s C3 auto on the 2-litre only. The L came with a rather unattractive grille (made far uglier on the UK base model by being unpainted black plastic); the Ghia came with a smooth front panel with no grille opening.
Photo casually swiped from eBay.
My first Sierra experience was in late 1984, when family friends bought a Ghia wagon. I remember my first ride in it – and being fascinated by my first introduction to a trip computer – it had so many intriguing functions! At 10, this was the future – today!
I learnt to drive in this beautiful burgundy beast! White diamond sticker was mandatory requirement indicating dual-fuel LPG-petrol. Author photos.
In mid-late 1985, the facelift Mk1 arrived, with the 1600cc dropped, and the L gaining the Ghia’s bigger-headlit degrilled front end (although unlike the Ghia, the built-in spotlights were fake on the L). I first experienced a facelift Mk1 in January ’89, when my parents realised my (hehehe) dream and traded their ’83 Cortina on an ’85 Sierra L. I had just turned 15 and gained my learner driver’s licence, so the timing was incredibly convenient! *rubbed hands with glee at the time*
After years of riding in Sierras, I was finally able to drive one myself! It was a great car to learn to drive in, but sadly for me, Mum and Dad sold it a bit over a year later, when three growing kids required something with more seats (a Toyota Townace Super-Extra).
NZ-new 1990 Sierra Sapphire Ghia. Only sedans scored the little grille; the bonnet on wagons and hatches went down much closer to the bumper.
Meanwhile, in 1987 the Mk2 Sierra was released. It received new frontal design and slightly bigger side windows, but the big news was the introduction of a sedan variant, the Sierra Sapphire. With strong Mercedes-Benz W124 overtones, it was really rather handsome!
Sadly the Teutonic sedan was verbotten in NZ, as the Telstar fulfilled Ford’s sedan needs. We continued to get the Mk2 Sierra wagon, in a single L spec. But we were also blessed with the expensive 5-door XR4x4 and the even more expensiverish 3-door Cosworth.
But in 1988, Mazda introduced a 626 wagon, which meant Ford could introduce a Telstar wagon. So the Sierra’s fate was sealed and 14-year-old me was mortified! There was a huge rush on sales in the Sierra’s last few months – it achieved unheard-of sales for a single engine single-spec single-body car, and even topped the sales charts for one final month.
Not my parents’ Telstar.
The Telstar wagon duly took the Sierra’s slot in our market. It was more modern and space-efficient, with far better engines, but didn’t gain anywhere near the Sierra’s following. My parents owned a 1990 Telstar wagon from 1994-96, it was nice-looking, but the interior comfort and the ride and handling weren’t patch on the Sierra. Ultimately its FWD unsuitability for boat-towing meant Mum and Dad traded it on a 4wd Subaru Legacy – beginning a love affair with Legacys that continues to this day.
Back to the Sierra: in 1989 I was visiting the local Ford dealer with my Grandad while his XF Fairmont was being serviced. Grandad was having coffee with the dealership owner and told him that I loved Sierras. I remember my elation when the dealer said “You know it’s coming back later this year don’t you?”. No! No I didn’t!! I was even more elated when he opened his cupboard and gave me the latest UK Ford range brochure, full of Sierra variants I hadn’t even heard of – like a 4WD V6 Ghia station wagon! True to the dealer’s word, the Sierra was indeed resurrected in NZ in late 1989 in facelift Mk2 form (new engines and updated dashboard).
Our resurrected range was 2.0 GLX wagon, 2.0i Sapphire Ghia sedan, 2.9i V6 XR4x4 5-door hatch, and as Ford NZ’s flagship, the 2.0i turbo Cosworth sedan. NZ was unique in selling the Sierra and Telstar side-by-side on the showroom floor – Ford was at the top of their game in our market then, which was reflected in their sales. I first experienced a Mk2 Sierra in 1991, when one of the Church elders bought a Sapphire Ghia and let me sit in it – oh I was still in Sierra-love!
The Sierra gained a new interior for 1992, but fuel compatibility issues saw it withdrawn from NZ. I was saddened, but it was a 10-year-old design by then, and no longer a revolutionary style leader. European production ended in December 1992, ready for the 1993 Mondeo to step into the Ford family-car role it still fulfills today.
Hot damn! Slim and sexy! And I’m not bad either at age 20! (I possibly haven’t aged as well as the Sierra’s styling though…) Author photo.
Although I was in Sierra-love when the resurrected range arrived here, all I could afford for my first car in 1991 was a 1971 Ford Escort 1300XL. It was nice but not a Sierra. Sigh. But in January 1994, in my third year at University (BA in History seeing as you asked), I found an August ’84 Sierra L auto on the local sales lot for only $3,495! At the time that was extremely cheap for a Sierra, so I happily sold my Esky and spent a large part of my student loan making the red beast mine! Of course it transpired it was cheap for several amusing reasons:
The factory red had faded to 11 different shades of reddish-pink
There was an interestingly large hole in an A-pillar
Extensive rust in the doors – around the windows and the bottoms. The driver’s inner door structure was so bad at the bottom, I could prise the skin out, slide my arm up inside and unlock the car without the key…
It had an exciting habit of stalling
Lots of weird electrical anomalies
It was an ex-Hertz rental car, which probably explained all the above
I got the pillar fixed, and repaired the holes around the side windows with copious silicon sealer (used to great effect on my recently-sold Honda), which I coloured red using a permanent marker-pen. The door bottoms weren’t repairable, so I ignored them. The stalling issue was traced to an over-height battery that was moving slightly forward under braking and shorting out on the bonnet’s underside. The burnt hole in the bonnet eventually gave that one away, and a proper Ford battery with recessed terminals sorted it.
If you were the next owner of LT182, ignore the sealant gun on the passenger seat, the car didn’t leak a bit – honest! I just pulled out the dashboard to, uh, see how it was put together… Author photo.
The electrical issues remained, and whilst removing the dashboard one day, I discovered surface rust high up on the firewall, and strange disfigurements in the wiring loom. I surmised it had been immersed in salt water, as salt eating the wiring would explain both the electrical glitches and the spectacularly bad rust (all Sierras rusted around the windows, but I’ve never seen another with such rotten lower door skins).
After a year or so of ownership, Ol’ Rusty needed an engine rebuild. Once the head was off, my mechanic Dad pointed out it shouldn’t be possible to put one’s hand on a piston and rock it from side to side in the bore… After being rebored and reconditioned, it ran great! For a month…when the C3 blew its rear main seal, dumped its oil and left me with no gears…
Ol Rusty, showing early Mk1 headlights/grille combo. See the rust holes? No you can’t! Repairs sponsored by Silastic silicon sealer and Sharpie red marker pens! Author photo.
I loved Ol’ Rusty, but it was too rusty, so in 1995 I graduated Uni, started working and traded Ol’ Rusty on a January ’87 Sierra L. It was also an auto, but a C4 this time. It wasn’t rusty, but after a few months blew its rear main seal, dumped its oil and…well, see above…
Shortly thereafter the clearly altered chassis number got me curious, so I contacted the first owners, who confirmed they used to own rego NF9517 and very much liked their silver Sierra. Except the NF9517 I had was champagne and had never been silver in the engine bay… Further investigation proved I had actually bought two wrecked Sierras welded into one…
My ’87 2.0L behind my ’86 2.0 Ghia. I found out the hard way that the MkV Cortina Ghia wheels I’d put on the Ghia only cleared the calipers if the brake pads were half worn (the calipers were too wide with new pads). Author photo.
Owning a Frankencar of dubious origin was a bit of a worry, so in July 1996 I traded it on an August 1986 Ghia wagon, also champagne – see both cars above. Owning a Ghia was a revelation after my two Ls! The velour trim was luscious, and it had all the fruit, including my first ever sunroof – a glass tilt-slide affair. I loved that sunroof, and even today rate a sunroof as a must-have if possible (even going as far as doing a full roof swap on my old Nissan Skyline to get a factory sunroof). The trip computer was the only thing that didn’t work, dammit, and enquiries at the Ford dealer about fixing it were met with laughter… My Ghia was a C4 auto, and ran well for 4 years until the C4 blew its rear main seal and…oh, you get the idea, see above and abover. I had it fixed but it blew again a year later… Is there a support group for survivors of Ford C3/C4 transmissions?
Magnificent in magenta! The ‘V6′, ‘4×4′ and ‘Ghia’ badges still present and calling out to me 17 years later. Author photo.
It was while I owned my Ghia in 1997 that I spied the magnificent magenta Sierra in Rotorua. I loved mine, and wished I could upgrade to the 4×4 Exciting Estate! But time marches on, and in late 2000ish, my Ghia was getting high in mileage and the paint was deteriorating, so I sold it to an acquaintance. He enjoyed it for a couple of months until the C4 blew its…oh never mind…
Over the 14 years since selling my Ghia, I went on to hate a 1986 CA Honda Accord, (Ol’ Pile Of Poo), to love a 1992 C33 Nissan Laurel (Ol’ Smoky), to adore a 1994 R33 Nissan Skyline (Ol’ Sporty), to detest a 1994 C34 Laurel (Ol’ Devil Incarnate), to fall in like with a 1993 Honda Ascot (Ol’ Not Horrible), and to love my current daily-driver of several years, my Glorious 1997 C35 Laurel (Ol’ Reliable). But I missed my first love, the Sierra, and every week for years I surfed the Sierra listings on our Trade Me internet auction site, just hoping that the magenta marvel might materialise.
I was rewarded in December 2013, when what appeared to be the one I saw in 1997 was listed for sale for NZ$1,000. I couldn’t be sure it was the same though, as it was a good 6-7 hour drive away from me. It was also cheap because it was “rough around the edges, requiring TLC”, and had been lightly crashed with the front bumper (though thankfully not the rare-as-hens-teeth RS skirt) and front-right fender destroyed. Even though I was fairly sure it was the very car I’d seen in 1997, I couldn’t bring myself to bid on an untidy accident-damaged car, especially one so many hours away. Even so, I was saddened when someone else won the auction.
My marvellous magenta
M
Sierra. Note the NZ-new 1986 Mk1 Sierra XR4x4 hatch above it – also for sale and a very rare colour but not in great condition. Author photo.
Fast forward to August this year, and as noted in the intro, I found my – MY! – magenta Sierra in the car sales lot! Further investigation revealed it was indeed the one I’d seen on Trade me in December, and was indeederer the one I saw in 1997! It had been bought on Trade Me by a Sierra fan who’d shipped it north and had it repaired (badly, as it turned out). I test-drove it, and although it was still “rough around the edges”, it drove amazingly well for a 25-year-old car, so I couldn’t let it get away again! So after coughing up NZ$3,700, which had been my new-bathroom money (who needs modern plumbing anyway!), my 17 year dream finally came true . Of course I knew the “rough around the edges” spelled further expenditure, and since buying it 12 weeks ago, it’s spent 11 weeks and four days in my mechanic’s premises. I’m not restoring it as such, but I want it to be made sound enough that I won’t have to spend much money on it for 10 years or so.
Yucky two-spoke wheel being ditched for a later three-spoker. Author photo.
On the list to repair or replace are the headlight wipers (bought), the alarm/remote locking (replaced), the rear shock absorbers and springs (ordered), the air-conditioning (re-gassed and surprisingly actually functions), the light switches (bought), a better steering wheel (bought); all oil seals and gaskets (being installed as I type); the ABS (someone illegally pulled the bulb to disguise the fact it only works for two of every three brake applications); the original RS front bumper/skirt (repaired and in my garage as we type); the trip computer (the electrician tried for a day before discovering it’s out of a 1982 Sierra, has been retrofitted to my car and is thus missing all the sensors! But the calendar works, so I’m leaving it at that). Thankfully the 4×4 Sierra was only ever available with the 5-speed manual transmission, so no C3/C4 oil seal issue to worry about! While working through the repairs, my mechanic has uttered many, many words about my choice of wagon – words like “obsolete parts” and “unavailable anywhere now”…
Hmmm, this is the sill. Metal contains woven strands, right? No? Oh… Author photo.
Disappointingly, the fresh WOF (Warrant of Fitness, NZ’s stringent 6-monthly road-worthiness certificate) my purchase was conditional upon turned out to be issued by a dodgy garage! The faulty ABS is unWOFable, and thanks to spending the first eight years of its life in the UK (where roads are salted in winter), there is some serious rust underneath – under the side skirts, the sills are largely made of fibreglass and air, and the right-rear floor isn’t even attached to the sill any more…!
Ford family car engineering, circa 1989. Rust not supplied new. Author photo.
The rust repairs will cost me over NZ$1,800, which 99.9% of folks will think is madness to spend on an old car, let alone a plebian Sierra. But the V6 4×4 Estate was rare to begin with, and is even more so now. The wonderful UK resource, howmanyleft, tells me that there are only 224 left, of which only 40 are licensed. Add to that grand total of four that are currently in New Zealand, and you start to see why I’m spending far more than it’s actually worth in keeping it alive and healthy.
My precious! Author photo.
Of the 1989 models like mine, the only year to get the 2.9 V6 (1986-8 got the 2.8, 1990 got the 2.0 twin-cam 4-cylinder), there are only 64 left (including mine), of which only 9 are licensed! Even more awesomely, mine’s a factory Special Edition (hence the RS bodykit, ABS and aircon) that was only produced for a few months in late 1989! Its original UK number plate matches the number series Ford used on their press cars at the time, so it may even be one of those. Regardless, it makes me feel awesome to know that I have something so rare, and I’ll be keeping it forever! Even more awesome is the indescribable feeling of unintentionally stumbling across a car I’d first seen and lusted over 17 years earlier. But the most awesome feeling in the world is knowing that finally – finally! – it’s mine and dreams can come true!