Factory Fresh Festiva

[Mercilesslee]

Ok so assuming I win the lottery does anyone actually know how to acquire a brand new festiva from overseas? Is it possible anymore I have heard people importing form the Philippines but never a brand new festiva.

Thought it would be a fun topic to bring up!
Maybe 10 festiva members want to go in on one and have a car time share hahaah. Oh to sit in a brand new festiva....

Thanks

[bravekozak]

I actually gave some serious thought to sending this puppy to Newark last week.

Pride production ended a few years ago. I think it was 2010. You can't get a brand new one. The Saipa 111 from Iran does closely resemble the old Nasim. You would have to buy a 111 and put on some Pride fenders, headlights and grille from Four Green. That would certainly be strange.


Doors: The car Saipa Nasim was made only in option with 5 doors.
Seats: The salon of the car has 5 seats.
Saipa Nasim was issued with the following types of a body: hatchback (liftback) sedan.
The smallest model is Nasim which length makes 3615 millimeters.
The longest Saipa Nasim is the model Nasim, which length - the 3615 millimeters.
Saipa Nasim was equipped with only one option of the engine which volume is equal 1323 cubic centimeters.
The car Saipa Nasim is equipped with only a manual transmission.

[Bert]

Seems like Iran has them (slightly updated, and 4 door, to meet "their" standards) and so does Brazil. This is sort of like what happened when USSR bought into the obsolete technology of 60s RWD Fiat 124s and purchased all of the drawings, machinery, presses and molds in the late 70s. Only to produce a now-iconic piece of junk (Lladas) that somehow looked like a real car but were built and assembled by Comrades that were fueled on Vodka. There are a few die-hard Festy/Pride/121 Iranians on this site and they have subtly commented on the quality (or lack of) of their own State-made Saipa equivalents.
A new vehicle imported to n. America would have to meet current emission and safety standards and even FoMoCo gave up trying to make a safety-compliant Festy already in 93 and came up with an effeminate-looking dud that had ABS brakes, an airbag or two, and 3-400 pounds of more redundancy in it for the 'slightly improved' B3 engine to push around.
I'd buy a new-old Festy in a heartbeat. But I strongly suspect these type of vehicles would only be allowed for use on golf courses, private roads and for agricultural purposes. With ATVs expanding in size; up, down and sideways, these days it may well be that a re-engineered and AWD Festy with turf tires, Sirius radio, bluetooth-connectivity, GPS and a winch could make a serious comeback.

[bravekozak]

Bert, If they offered a luxury Festiva that had cruise, air, power windows, power antenna and black leather seats in conjunction with a polished advertising campaign, they would sell.

[Festevil3]

Bert, If they offered a luxury Festiva that had cruise, air, power windows, power antenna and black leather seats in conjunction with a polished advertising campaign, they would sell.

I completly agree

[Spike]

With how proven these cars are - and if they were made the same way, well - these cars would easily sell the same numbers they originally did if they were legal to today's standards. A car without drive-by-wire steering and giant battery packs stuffed in the fender walls that gets 40+ MPG is what this country needs..

Then bring us the diesel 121 and "We'd all be drinkin' that free Bubble-Ub and eatin' that Rainbow Stew!" 65-70MPG would kill nearly anything coming out of today's plants.

~Joe

[Festevil3]

Sign me up for the diesel 121

[Mercilesslee]

then its settled. We will band together buy manufacturing equipment from Russia and Iran then create our own bare minimum safety standard festiva's (will probably have to come up with a sweet new name for legal reasons). The airbags and other equipment will be easily removable and we will make a diesel version. Everyone on this site becomes a millionaire and we drive luxury festivas everywhere.

But seriously thanks for the info I guess we will have to just keep resurrecting these things of beauty. The auto I bought with my gf is running fantastic with 65000km on it and I'm on the hunt to rescue a 5 speed.

[drddan]

..... and I'm on the hunt to rescue a 5 speed.

Whew- hoo! RUIDD:

[Bert]

Bert, If they offered a luxury Festiva that had cruise, air, power windows, power antenna and black leather seats in conjunction with a polished advertising campaign, they would sell.

I understand what you're saying but these cars couldn't meet today's safety standards through any stretch of the imagination short of a built-in rollcage and having the whole works enveloped by an air bag. Cruise is a nice feature but these are not dedicated highway cruisers and cruise on a manual tranny is less than satisfactory. And personally I have no use for power mirrors/windows or any of that other frivolous stuff because it adds complexity, and weight, to a fuel economy car.

[Safety Guy]

What Bert said.

My plan is to eventually buy an overseas Festiva/Pride/121 and bring it over, preferably in a Con-ex and in conjunction with two more Festivians to put three in a 40 footer.

Either Mexico or a S. American country may be the best bets, as the shipping is "less than overseas" and may be more affordable.

I should be ready to do this in a couple years, and most states will allow use on roads for cars over 25 years old. Or maybe that's Federal law. Not sure.

Karl

[TorqueEffect]

have it shipped over in pieces' and rebuild it. Then you can classify it as a kit car, and you won't have problems with safety regulations.

[Eaglefreek]

As much as I love my Festiva, if I won the lottery, like the OP mentioned, a new Festiva would be the last thing on my mind.

[drddan]

...but a turbo'd, injected, firebreathing, 10-11 second Festiva would be high on the list !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Oren09]

As I suggested in another thread- kit car.
We need a millionaire investor. And Ford/Kia/Mazda's blueprints
Texas, and I assume many other states, have a "if you build it, you can drive it" thing for kit cars. Not sure about emissions requirements but any fresh B series built for street shouldn't have a problem with that.