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I bought my carbureted Festiva new in April 1989. We’ve been together 37 years, forsaking all others. I wanted low cost transportation. I got low cost transportation. I paid $5,000 ($4,200 cash and $1,800 trade-in). I read people buy a new car every ten years or so. An equivalent new car would cost ten times as much now. I got three new cars for the price of one, and a low price at that. At the end of 1990 after driving the car almost two years I left the workforce. If I wanted to have a car I would have to learn how to do maintenance and repairs myself. So I bought a Haynes manual for $25 at Canadian Tire and started looking for used tools at rummage sales and garage sales. With the help of the Haynes manual and of other owners at the FordFestiva.com website over the years I replaced most of the driveline from the transmission back among other things including all the brake line, taking my time and learning as I went along, spending many happy hours with my head in the engine compartment or lying on the garage floor looking up at the underside. I started spraying underneath and inside the body panels each year with canola oil to prevent rust. I read that Japanese cars would run trouble free for 100,000 km (60,000 mi) and then stuff would have to be replaced after which they would run trouble free for another 100,000 km. The car has 144,000 km on it now. I only used it to commute to work for the first two years so it is a low mileage vehicle. I don’t stress my Festiva. My grandfather told me if you take care of your things they’ll last a long time. He was right. When I first bought the Festiva I removed the back seat to make room to carry stuff. The back seat is still sitting in the basement. I had a dog when I bought the car so I removed the passenger seat to make a place for him to ride. We went on month long road trips. He liked the car as much as I did, maybe more. Later I began making small boats out of thin plywood and carrying them around on the roof of the car to explore lakes and rivers. I found a used bike rack for the back of the car and went cycling. I just turned 80 and have taken it in to be repaired the last two times. I still change the oil and winter tires myself and spray the canola oil. The Festiva has been a once in a lifetime experience, mainly because a person’s life isn’t long enough to do that more than once. The Festiva has seen me though a heart attack, cancer, two pacemakers, numerous girlfriends, and other human frailties. (Okay, maybe not numerous girlfriends.) It’s in better shape than I am. I’ve been very pleased with the Festiva and if I get resurrected after I die I want another one just like it.
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