New Ford Festiva Owner

[Lazer]

Hello eveyone. My name is Andrew aka Lazer. I work as a field service tech. traveling fixing medical lasers. I just purchased my first Festiva. It's a L model with only 63,000 miles on it. I acquired it from a very nice lady who purchased it new in 1993. It's not perfect, but since it lived some of its life in Florida it not all rotted out yet. I bought this car for 2 reasons. One is that I've always wanted one. It's on my list of cars I must own before I die (my wife calls it my rust bucket list). And two I wanted something that got a little better fuel economy that what I had been driving for work. I started out with a GMC Savanah and now I'm currently driving a 1995 Toyota 4runner which is doing about 21 mpg on the highway
I've so excited to finally have one. I think I may have overpaid for it $1200.00 seems high when I've been seeing headlines here for $500 festivas or even cheaper. I hope the expirience will be as fun as I dream it will be. I put on @ 50000 miles a year for work. I may not always drive it, but once in a while I think will be a blast. Any tips regarding highway driving would be greatly appreciated. Maybe mods? I'm hoping it will be comfortable enough for long trips. I can't drive it for a month since I'm waiting for Wisconsin Collectors plates. Well, that's about it for now. I just want to say thanks for what seems to be a great forum and resource for festiva lovers.

[red90festyonair]

1200 is a good deal for a rust free running festy...... Mods can be as easy or tough as you decide them to be...... Pick yourself up a k&n replacement filter(use search tool for the correct #) change ALL the fluids and do any maintenance that you think may have been overlooked in the past few years like plugs wires cap rotor wheel bearings etc.... That may be a couple weekends worth of work but it should easily pay you back in reliability on the road...... Since you will have to wait a bit to get it going it will be well worth it in the long run. These little cars are a joy to drive and easy little machines to service. Good luck and enjoy. Welcome to the forum.

[rickbz28]

Save you all the searching.K+N #33-2222.

[sc72]

Lazer, when you get time the members would like to see some pictures of your new car.

[Eaglefreek]

Welcome. I recently paid $1200 for a Festiva with 3 times the miles that yours has, so I think did ok.

[Lazer]

Thanks for the info. I will post up some pics as soon as I figure out how. Seems difficult on my phone. Mine's white. It has a big dent in the drivers fender that I already found a replacement for from another member on this forum. I found the part on ebay and he was nice enough to direct me here. Worst rust on the car is around the back hatch. It has rust spots forming like bullet holes. Nothing thru though. I was thinking of getting the car plasti dipped. The whole car can be done professionally for about $500.00 and I can get any color and finish you can think of. Nice thing about plasti dip is that if you get tired of it you can peel it off! It seals and preserves the original paint! Space age James Bond style. The more I read about these little ford's the more I'm falling in love with them.

[jfd64]

Glad to see you found your way to the forum Andrew.I wouldnt second guess the price of your purchase for a second.In general they have little resale value but shortly you will find how valuable these cars can be in saving money and i would pay up for a good one before i would go without one.It would be a very lucky day to find a nice one that didnt need much for 500 close by.I enjoyed meeting you and helping you out with parts.Keep us posted on your progress.

[Damkid]

Congrats! You're gunna love it

[Victor Lang]

Good Deal!

[eurotiva]

Bigger wheels will help with stability on long trips

[ryanprins13]

Sounds like a good deal to me! Driving it yet?
I did do a lot of long trips in mine years back. In my experience larger tires reduced power on the stock motor so i try to stick with the small ones.
Unless it has a/c these cars are like greenhouses when its sunny. A tint job on the back 3 windows would help a lot.
A really good aftermarket stereo and nice speakers i did a 14hr drive through mountains with only an AM radio right after i bought mine. Going there wasn't so bad but there was only one station for about half the trip and the way back was a bit of a drag...
I sit on a wedge seat cushion that i found on the side of the road. i find the seats comfy but i like sitting higher up in this car.
Grease your rear wheel bearings.
For long trips in the shorter days of winter good headlights are a must.
I always keep a spare full size tire in the back because i hate donut tires but in well over 200,000km ive only ever got 2 flats with this car.
Windshield washer sprayer- rig up something better that sprays from each wiper arm. Or make holes in the hood for 2 sprayers from another car.
A brighter interior light makes life nicer.
And theres nothing like a new windshield if yours is cracked and sand pitted!
I havent done it yet but sound deadner is supposed to make quite and improvement in these cars.
If you like trying to get better fuel economy A vaccume gauge can keep long trips from being as boring. Gives you something to do trying to keep the reading as steady as possible. Also tells you i its windy or you have a low tire


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