Accepting Entries for March FOTM

[Damkid]

Post away!!

[fastivaca]

March FOTM submission

Introduction:
I’m Ian and I’m live in Calgary, Alberta.

My Festiva is a 1992 GL Sport 5 speed purchased in June 2002 with 100,100km, probably close to 300,000km now (not sure as I’ve changed the cluster a few times and lost track). This is my second Festiva; my first was a white 92 GL Sport that was written off after being rear ended while stopped at a red light. I used to subscribe to Motor Trend and remember reading their Festiva article back in ’88 and have liked the Festiva since. Part of the challenge with the car is that it’s my daily driver so I can’t afford to have it out of commission for very long. I’m honoured to have my car featured in the ff.com 2008 calendar (August).


Mechanical:
- B6 swap (’86 block, ’88 injection)
- FMS lightweight flywheel
- FMS clutch
- 2 ¼” custom exhaust front to back with performance muffler and Ractive stainless tip
- Modified airbox for K&N filter originally intended for Chev Beretta ( I might have a copy of the article that was on the original ff.com)

Suspension:
- FMS lowering springs
- KYB GR2 shocks/struts all four corners
- Adjustable strut bar
- Replaced front suspension bushings, lower control arms etc.
- 13”x5” Mazda alloys, one set for the summer tires, one for the winters
- Currently running Falken 175-60-13 Ziex 512’s in the summer and Continental 155-70-13 Contact Viking 3’s in the winter.

Exterior:
- Clear corner lights (early Kia Pride from England)
- Clear, flush mounted signal lights
- European tail lights
- High mount LED third brake light mounted inside
- Body color door handles
- Early grille
- “Swoopy” power mirrors.
- Stainless steel hydraulic hood struts
- Tinted rear windows
- Tint across top of windshield.

Interior:
- Seats from a first generation Toyota MR2
- Custom console with dual cup holders
- “Hot Wheels” floor mats
- “Personal” steering wheel
- Factory clock
- Tach cluster with custom 200 km/h speedometer (a work in progress)
- Variable speed intermittent wipers
- Chrome interior door handles
- Chrome trim rings for window winders
- Mazda 323 rear view mirror
- Grab handles for front & rear passengers

Sound:
- Kenwood head unit
- Sony 5 ¼” (I think) speakers in the doors
- JBL/Ford 6”x9” three way speakers in custom cargo cover
- Soon to have upgraded Kenwood head unit, Alpine amp/equalizer and Kenwood 10 disc CD changer.

Upcoming upgrades; I’ve got the bits but haven’t had the time to put them in:
- Pacesetter short shifter and new shifter bushings
- “bee-sting” antenna (do I install it front, back or middle?) I even have the antenna delete.
- Mazda 121 head and corner lights (trying to find the grille)
- Power windows
- Remote gas and hatch opener
- Flip up sunroof (not sure on this one, I really like 25horseplay’s power sunroof)
- Bosch fog lights hooked up to factory switch.
- Factory air conditioning

Other bits and pieces:
- August 88 Motor Trend with “the” Festiva article
- December 88 Car & Driver issue with the Festiva included as part of an “8 under $10,000” comparison test. There’s an article on the Taurus SHO in this issue too.
- 1992 Festiva dealer brochure. This one is from the US, I’d like to find a Canadian version
- Original owner’s manual, warranty manual, stereo manual, warranty card and a blank emergency key card in its original cover.
- Factory repair and EVTM manuals
Check out photos:













The car is beginning to show signs of age (so am I come to think of it ) so there are a couple of rust spots that will have to be repaired soon. I'll be trying to get to those over the coming summer...


Thanks

[rotarykidd]

if I can, I nominate lil reds yellow festy

[lilred]

Thanx Kyle, I have a 91 festiva L. It has just over 225,000 miles on it. I bought the car 2 year ago from a friend of mine. Back then the car was in rough shape. It was well known for having a red driver side door and teeth. I have since put over 35,000mi on it and have been slowly fixing it up. The next biggest thing that i want to do is get it painted so it is all one shade of yellow. Since i have owned the car i have made many modifications.

ENGINE/TRANS:
Custom made cold air intake
Custom made header
2in exhaust
FMS clutch
BODY:
Modified grill(not shown in pic)
custom made chin spoiler
flush mounted turn signals
smoked lenses(not shown)
tinted glass
15in Motegi MR-7's w/ cooper tires
old style tail lights
SUSPENSION:
KYB GR-2's
INSIDE:
sony XPLOD cd player
Dual speakers
10in MTX sub
off brand 120w amp








Here is a shot of the CAI and custom header. I really dont have any recent pics with the smoked lenses and wheels and grill all on at the same time... the car is in winter mode

[Maxtiva]

You have both nice car !!!

[Maxtiva]

Put more pic lilred please

[Damkid]

rotarykidd - i'll only accept entries from the owners of the car

[93 FordFestiva93]

FOTM

Well, here my story, i have been into Festiva ever since i first saw one, so small and fun looking, when i was 16, i finally got one i was a sparky young chap who was quite good at bodywork, so i decided to make a "Trucktiva" (pic in my sig) after that i bought a white 89L, it was sitting in a field for some time, i bought it for 100 dollars threw some break lines in to it and i was off roaming the town once again happy and cozy as can be in my Festiva. i have been trying to make one of these fast and unique for some time now, but a kid like me couldn't get a good enough job to do that, i then FINALLY caught a break, i won a contest on the radio called "Hubs To Dubs" where i could get $1,000 worth of work don't to my car well some jealous person vandalized my car that night, smashed 4 of the windows and cut all the tires. it would have cost me like 400 dollars to fix it all, so i gave up my dream and sold it in search of a new Festiva... a full year later, i found one a Red 90L Plus with "FOR SALE $700" on the window, i called, and bought it for $400, and now I'm finally getting back on my feet, i have a BP swap about to go underway, and everything going great and i have been trying to get a nice enough Festiva to win FOTM for years now. that's all






^^ thats my BP

[rotarykidd]

sorry. i tried. thats why i told him to post info. i did not mean to break any rules. good luck caleb. :thumbright:

[Axlander9289]

My first Festiva memory comes from 1990. I was four years old, visiting my grandparents at Christmastime in Steubenville, Ohio. My grandfather, who always kept his cars impeccably clean, was backing his 1988 Festiva L out of the garage, while I was in the front yard playing in the fresh eastern Ohio snow, and in a bout of youthful playfulness, I whipped a snowball right into the side of his spotless Festiva. Instantly he stopped the car jumped out, scooped up a handful of snow, and in a bout of grandfatherly playfulness rubbed that handful of snow in my adorable little four-year-old face. I always had this memory when I rode in this car, which I frequently did whenever visiting my grandparents. My grandpa used to drive me around in it just to spend time with me, while I enjoyed time with him and his car that I thought was cool even as a preschooler.

Skip ahead thirteen years.

My grandparents had since retired and moved close to my immediate family in Kentucky. The red Festiva is long gone, having been traded in on a new Escort wagon in 1992. I've listened to my grandpa rave about what a great little car his Festiva was for over a decade at this point, listening to him brag about its bulletproof reliability and fuel economy. Additionally, my great-uncle had picked up a 1988 Festiva L Plus, and he bragged similarly. I was a senior in high school, driving an '89 Escort Pony Automatic that I hated. I knew what I had to do. I had to find a Festiva, which by this time, were super cheap. I mentioned this to my grandpa, who is a hopeless car nut, and he agreed to do whatever he could to help me with finding one. It wasn't long before I found an aqua 1992 Festiva L. It belonged to a friend's father. He had tried to trade it in, and the dealership wouldn't take it. I bought it for $100, and promptly parked it in my grandfather's garage to replace the badly slipping clutch while he was in Florida. My buddy, Doug and I would go down and work on the Festiva whenever we had the chance, and one chilly evening in February, the Festiva was ready to hit the road. I sold my Escort in May and started driving the Festiva. I got the car just in time to drive to my senior prom with a girl who was less than excited about going to the prom in a Festiva. That summer I put in a JVC head unit and Jensen speakers in the rear, as well as a very clean GL interior from a 60k mile car that was inexplicably in the junkyard.

I took the little Festiva with me to Illinois in the fall for my first year of college where we had all manner of adventures, including the Festiva being vandalized twice. The first time, a drunken frat boy jumped on the hood, luckily the campus police caught him and he was forced to pay restitution based on a $700 estimate I got at a Ford body shop. I simply found a $50 junkyard hood that was the same color and bolted it up, and pocketed the rest of the money! The second time, I wasn't so lucky. Someone smashed the rear glass and the cops weren't able to find out who it was. I was still ahead from the previous incident though, when I found a $60 junkyard tailgate with defrost that I put on. I returned home that summer to find that my grandfather had bought a 1988 Lincoln Town Car that he wanted to sell me. For reason's I still don't fully understand, I sold my Festiva for $650 and bought the Lincoln. The following week the price of gas jumped 50 cents a gallon. I missed my Festiva right away, though between the vandalism and the final sale I had made quite a bit of money on it.

Skip ahead two years.

I was a junior in college, home for the summer working at a Ford dealer. The Lincoln sold the previous spring, and I was driving a hand me down Taurus wagon. I'd occasionally entertained thoughts of getting another Festiva, but could never find one. Then, one day my grandpa called me and said he found a 1989 Festiva L Plus 4 speed on a used car lot. I went and looked at it, and the next day he bought it for $1200 with the intention of giving it to me as a graduation present in a year. I checked the service records, and the clutch wheel bearings and brakes had all been recently replaced, and it had cold AC to boot! He let me drive it to work all summer, where it was beloved by all the veteran Ford technician and salesmen who remembered them from when they were new. Driving a Festiva again was the best feeling in the world. I've got a semester of college left before I can start driving it. I plan on giving my Taurus to my sixteen-year-old brother, and making the Festiva my principal, and only vehicle, at least it will be until I can find additional Festivas.

The '89 L Plus:
Current Modifications:
Passenger Side Manual Mirror
LX-Style red moulding stripe
Planned Modifications:
5 speed transmission
Aspire Brake swap




Me and Grandpa changing the oil the day he bought it:


Grandpa cleaning it up:


Reenacting The photo at the top of the page:


The cover of the 2008 Festiva calendar, from my hockey stripe:


Creatively stored until graduation:


Thanks for reading, everybody!

[jglutz]

Dammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......keep up post like this and I'll never get a chance
I vote for all
Going back to sit in the corner

[freshtiva]

Going back to sit in the corner

Eating a Christmas pie ??

[Damkid]

now that we have a few entries for March we're going to do this a bit different this month

on the 23rd i'm going to lock this thread like usual and i'm going to start a new thread for everyone to vote on the winner

[chrisofna]

FastivaCa, that rocks... I'm doing that when I get a Festiva, putting my MR2 seats in that beast.

[threephin]

Good, so I have until the 23rd to get mine back together and get some good pictures.