February Festivas .... my drivers

[Prafeston]

If you ever want your money back plus some, I will be the first person on your front door step! SERIOUSLY

Whatever he'll give...add $50

[Lannis]

Thanks for the compliments on the car, guys, but I think I'll be holding on to it. It's just the perfect car for me; not "old technology" like a VW Beetle or Citroen 2CV or Renault Dauphine, but not all computers and airbags and pork, either ....

LOTS of room inside, visibility is second to none, peppy when you wind it up and use the 4000 RPM mark (probably why the mileage is a little lower than on my old one - I don't rev it much out of respect for old metal) in traffic. I put a new exhaust line on it, upgraded the radio, and serviced it front to back, and now I think I'll just drive it when I'm not on the motorcycle (my main mode of transport).

I plan on keeping it clean and serviced, so it'll never go through the stage when some broke high-school kid used it for a beater, buddy-hauler, and fishing car ... hope it'll stay nice for a long time!

Lannis

[Festevil3]

Whatever he'll give...add $50

I was waiting on someone to say this :highly_amused:

[Bert]

The fact that those cheese-hound vinyl "L" seats haven't come undone is amazing. My elderly parents were very careful with theirs and parked it out of the light and direct weather but their "L' seats had come completely unstitched by the time year 15 rolled around. Lucky I found a dead LX with much more cloth and swapped it over a few years ago. Those seats are at the very least much better.

[Prafeston]

Those aren't the stock L seats that had even more vinyl! They at least have cloth all across the seat cushion!

[Festevil3]

Looking back at the pics again, I like the KETCHUP and MUSTARD theme :thumbs_up:

[Bert]

There's always the thing about "It'll only be original once" and maybe it should be parked and shown; I do feel a little pang about driving it - I've put 2000 miles on it since November. But I believe that these cars are for driving - I enjoy driving this one, it's cheap to run, and other Festiva owners and I wave frantically to each other when we pass each other in town or on the highway!
If it lasts as long as the red one, it'll probably outlast me!
Lannis

Gems like this don't come up very often. To be practical here you'll just have to find a similar condition Aspire undercarraige and a Mazda B6 engine in order to take this old girl up and into the next century without making it look anything but OEM.

[Prafeston]

Looking back at the pics again, I like the KETCHUP and MUSTARD theme :thumbs_up:

Awesome! So true!

[Festevil3]

Did they make seats that was all vinyl? If so i have never seen a set

[Prafeston]

I don't believe so. But the L seats had vinyl on each side of the cloth center on the seat cushion. The vinyl to cloth stitching never seems to last. That was a bad design choice!

[David88]

Gorgeous car. It seems its in very good hands. I like the L Plus interiors. Upholstered door panels in the same tweed fabric as the seats. Should be in a calendar. FOTM or both.

[Twistiva]

I found the yellow one via a guy on this list who knew I was looking for a pristine Festiva, and he forwarded me a message from "Corvette Dave" who was putting the car up for sale in North Carolina.

Several people had responded to his email asking questions, but I knew that if it were "as advertised", there were no questions to ask, so I threw a pair of Festiva license plates in the car and went down there post-haste.

I was amazed when I saw it - as mentioned, it didn't even look like it had been sat in. According to the owner, it was originally bought by a Mead Corporation executive and kept in his garage and only driven when he was in the country, which wasn't often. When he died, the family knew that "Corvette Dave" was interested in it and called him. The only place he drove it was to Raleigh to the "madness" event every year, and the plaques and trophies that came with it (along with orginal window stickers and receipts) prove it.

He was ready to sell, put up the Email, and now it's on the road. It was by NO means the highest-priced Festiva I've seen - not to be too specific, but slightly north of $2k.There's always the thing about "It'll only be original once" and maybe it should be parked and shown; I do feel a little pang about driving it - I've put 2000 miles on it since November. But I believe that these cars are for driving - I enjoy driving this one, it's cheap to run, and other Festiva owners and I wave frantically to each other when we pass each other in town or on the highway!

If it lasts as long as the red one, it'll probably outlast me!

Lannis

Lannis -

You paid a little over $2,000 for that piece of heaven?!?!?!?!?

My drool factor AND my jealousy just increased by a factor of 10.....

[Team Lightning]

Did you buy the car on the Coast? There was one that looks a lot like it at madness 5. Guys name was Dave.
He lived in the Kill Devil Hills area I believe.

[Twistiva]

I don't believe so. But the L seats had vinyl on each side of the cloth center on the seat cushion. The vinyl to cloth stitching never seems to last. That was a bad design choice!

Hmmmmm.....don't think so. My "L" had cloth material all the way across, no vinyl. (Of course, I had to shut my eyes tight and scrape some old brain cells while I tried to remember since my trusty "L" has had seat covers on the fronts for at least 8 years. THAT will be remedied this summer....NEW upholstery is a comin'!)

Anyway, I can tell you that not all "L"s had vinyl cuz mine didn't.

[Prafeston]

Hmmmmm.....don't think so. My "L" had cloth material all the way across, no vinyl. (Of course, I had to shut my eyes tight and scrape some old brain cells while I tried to remember since my trusty "L" has had seat covers on the fronts for at least 8 years. THAT will be remedied this summer....NEW upholstery is a comin'!)

Anyway, I can tell you that not all "L"s had vinyl cuz mine didn't.

Well then the all cloth L seats would be an upgrade to mine!