1988 LX - in general, any differences ?

[MJD]

Was wondering, ...are there any early model built differences in the Festivas that were first built ones ?
I have a June of 1987 build date on our 1988 white LX. Built by Kia for Ford Motor Co.
Maybe there is an answer here, but I have not been on here a lot lately, just curious, thanks for any answers. Our '88 has 215,000 plus miles on her, and I saved it from a deer collision to save on the road still, interior is so mint, I just had to keep it going ! Tan interior with some options, but no underseat tray, no air cond.
Thanks for any comments, hope to hear from you,




MJD

[batstiva]

Well, there's this....

http://web.archive.org/web/20010203131900/www.fordfestiva.com/AboutFordFestiva/options.html

[m715]

Well.... the list is pretty complete there, but there are *some* mistakes on it. There was also a thread somewhere that compared lowest vin #/earliest build date. Do you have a rear wiper on your car? Not all 88LX's had those for example. The early cars had the most variation on them IMO. I have to believe that they built those cars with whatever they happened to have on the shelf that day!

[MJD]

Well.... the list is pretty complete there, but there are *some* mistakes on it. There was also a thread somewhere that compared lowest vin #/earliest build date. Do you have a rear wiper on your car? Not all 88LX's had those for example. The early cars had the most variation on them IMO. I have to believe that they built those cars with whatever they happened to have on the shelf that day!

Thanks for the info guys. You are right on the rear wiper, do not have it. I do think there is some kind of rails under the seat for the underseat tray, though the tray is gone. The options listed in that chart are pretty neat to see, and the '88 LX has some. It is still a great car to drive, with a little care they can last long time. Lots of people seem to put down the little cars though. But in Europe they sure have a lot of them, pretty neat looking too...

[m715]

As if you can't tell from the cars I own, I like the carb setup on the early cars, and the options the early LX's had myself. I never saw an underseat tray in any I have owned, but all the early headrest seats had the slide brackets for them. I will say that the 90 only headrests are nice with the "halos", but I keep them out of the cars the Kids ride in because they crack open so easily when they use them to pull themselves out of the back seat. The solid ones are MUCH more flexible, and durable being covered on a vinyl slip over cover like our 88&9 cars have.

Michael