Said to have been bought new in 1980 and driven for a while by adult owners, and then put into storage for 25 years, the seller bought this car from the elderly original owner. This 1980 Ford Fiesta looks like one of the nicest examples out there. Oh yeah, the seller also says it’s rust-free, and not just because it’s located in Clackamas, Oregon, but because of being in storage for so long. They have it posted here on craigslist and are asking $3,950. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!
Orange, or what Ford creatively called Terra Cotta, is a great color for this little fun-to-drive car. It appears to have the “Sport Group” option with the wide side stripes, and it just adds to the nice look of this crisp, clean little car. The first-generation Fiesta was made from 1976 for the 1977 model year, until 1983, but we only got them until 1980 here in North America. The Ford Escort took over Ford’s small car duties after 1980.
The words “rust-free” are the two best words in all of car’dom for me, but along with having been stored for two-and-a-half decades, there goes some work that the next owner will have to do. Old fuel in the system will need to be flushed, the carburetor will likely have to be rebuilt, it probably needs a fuel pump, not to mention tires, probably brakes, flushing and refilling all of the fluids, new plugs, wires, etc. The usual routine that you’d do when finding a vehicle that’s been stored for a long time. I wish humans could be rejuvenated as easily as this car will be.
The interior is cleaner than our refrigerator; it must have been stored in a mouse-proof location. The Northwest portion of the U.S. is my favorite area to find cars that haven’t been driven on salty roads or sunburned from relentless hot sun beating down on the interior parts. This car appears to have suffered no real damage at all.
Sadly, the seller didn’t include an engine photo, but they say they have videos that they can send to anyone if they’re interested. It should have a Ford Kent Crossflow 1.6-liter OHV inline-four with 66 horsepower and 88 lb-ft of torque when it was new. It’s backed by a four-speed manual sending power to the front wheels, and aside from some decades-long deferred maintenance, you’d have a super popular car for cars & coffee events, or just for commuting or weekend drives. Have any of you owned an early Ford Fiesta?
I was on my way home from college for the weekend, and as I got to my small home town I passed the Ford dealer. I saw a new orange Fiesta parked out front. I decided to stop in to take a look. The owner (who knew me, and as you will see, trusted me) came out and said “we just got it in, here are the keys, take it on a drive and let me know what you think.” I picked up my girl friend and drove it around town for a few miles.
I remember thinking how it had a light, sporty feel. But certainly small and basic.
He didn’t make a sale, but a year or so later I did buy a new Mustang from the dealer (which I still own).
Looks like a nice example, seems like most rusted away quickly. Thanks Scotty for the write-up and the good memory.
Has to be one of the nicest ones left.
I agree! I was a kid when these were new and I always liked them. This one looks like a real honey and I like that it has the package that included the tachometer.
Good eye, Todd Z. The poverty model was a good commuter for its time but the Ghia and S had a tach and better suspension, along with some other things like A/C and fu-fu stuff that we didn’t pay much attention to.
You’ve not had a seriously good time with a front wheel drive car until you’ve cranked it over and stood on it hard enough to see daylight under the rear inside wheel!!
I had one of these back in the 80’s. 25 years in storage is the ONLY way one could last this long !
Hey Bob, so is your mustang an 81? 5.0? My first car was an 81 hand me down, unfortunately with the 3.3
I owned a 1981. It came with a rear defroster, AM radio and All Season Michelin tires. The only thing I asked the dealer to do was swap the tires black wall tires with another new one that had thin stripe white wall Michelin’s. 13” tires I think.
Totally trouble free, started up no matter how cold it was and did very well in the snow.
Beige with a beige with a stripe down the side. Ah, the 70’s and early 80’s colors.
Great daily driver for someone.
They were only sold in the US as 1978,1979 & 1980 models.
Correct. 80′ was the last year for U.S. models.
From the age of lawn darts emerges a pristine Fiesta S! Dang, Scotty, you have a knack to hit directly in the middle of the target rings big time in my memory but this one was bang directly in the center.
My kid brother bought a blue one new that I co-signed for, same year as this one. One afternoon while riding by a big parking lot in Reno I saw a bunch of cones and cars-and my brother in his new Fiesta screaming through the cones!!!
I spun a fast U-turn and rode up to his (our?) car as he stopped by the other cars and yelled “What are you doing?!!?” He calmly said “Going for best time-I’m first in class right now..”
Such was the start to our intro of SCCA Autocross in the fastest cheap car we could afford.
He drove it for a number of years and passed it on to our older brother. When we got it back many years later it was tired but still ran like a champ-which it was for several seasons with the Reno SCCA. For some time afterwards it was the sole transport for a young married couple (“extended family”) we knew then to friends of theirs years later..
Good times were had by all and good friendships made accordingly.
Thanks, Scotty for resetting the Time Machine today.
I raced my ’79 Sport in Showroom Stock (Class C).
This was taken at Sears Point at Turn 2.
Cool picture, thanks for posting. That was before they cut down the hill in the background.
Steve R
I see a Dodge Colt/Plymouth Champ right behind you.
The craigslist ad has been deleted. Someone got a sweet little machine.
Thanks for the great tip, Curvette, and for the fantastic memories, folks! That sure seemed like a deal in 2025 dollars.
Thanks Scotty.
Yep! Mine was called “The Pumpkin”, for obvious reasons. :) Handled like a go-kart. Excellent price on this. Hop-up parts at the time were easily had from sources such as “BAT”, due to the Kent motor being used in racing. Easy to work on, and a great bang for the buck!
I bought one new in 1979, it even had a sunroof. It is fun to drive, great gas mileage, and it was used a airport commuter, errands runnier, and on twisty roads. I owned it for 3 years before I transferred, and my neighbor bought for not much less that I paid for it. I have been looking for a decent example since, and I would have been on my way to Oregon to take a look. This was a real blast from the past.
Sorry I missed this one. Brings tears to my eyes. In 81 I was graduating from college and been driving a 69 bird that had a rusting frame. My dad told me no more used cars, get a new one and I will help. Escorts had not arrived but the local Ford dealer had 6 Fiestas. Dad was also against imported cars. I saw a “loaded” sport model in bright metallic green and bought it. Named her Frieda and she was easily one of the best cars I ever had. Great traction, quick at lower speeds, and handled like a dream. Never any problems. Loved that car. It said FORD on the front and back as well as on the key. Dad didn’t ask and never told him it was from Germany.
It was the first world vehicle, designed in 54 days. Has been a while since reading the book about the development that my brother gave me. Could give more details but the engine was English, Trany was Italian, other components came from Spain and German uni-body. Book was a great read. The family had a half dozen, most I would buy and go through for sisters, cousins etc. We had very little rust issues in any of them and would all take them skiing in the north east. Yellow one the hand break pulled out of the floor. Then the children arrived and we all gradually went bigger. Would pull a tent trailer from MA to the Florida keys with my silver 1979 S model. Sister Kristens bugger green one was stupid fast for what ever reason, could never make another as fast playing with timing etc, she still talks about Grateful Dead concerts she would go to out in the country and she would sneak the fiesta into any old spot to park, even on a knoll.
That fifty-four day design period was ’cause all they did was build a Ford version of the FIAT 127. Since you said it used a ‘taliano gearbox, I’ll bet it was bought from FIAT out of the 127/128 parts pile.
I remember riding with Guido Fogini, VP of FIAT North America (Montavle, NJ), in one of the corporate’s (not legal) 127s and he was grousing that the Fiesta was killing the 127 in sales everywhere.
That book was “Let’s Call it Fiesta”.
I have no idea where my copy went to.
I hope they didn’t pay for storage all these years.
🤣🤣🤣
I wouldn’t be surprised if it heads overseas. Export buyers don’t mess around when the right cars show up, these had a very strong following in Europe and would still be in demand, nice examples over there would be few and far between.
Steve R
It went to the Seattle area.The buyer is on the same
Fiesta forum as I am.
Good for him. I hope he’s happy with his new purchase. Is it as nice as the pictures suggest it is.
Steve R
Unfortunately I am late and the add is gone.
I loved my Fiestas and would by others for my sisters. Had one that could chip the tires when hitting 3rd. gear at nearly 70. Incredibly Tough!
I predelivered new cars for a Ford Dealer in Raleigh , NC when the Fiesta first came out. These cars were extremely popular. The car came with 12″ tires standard. 13″ tires were on the Ghia package. I remember a couple coming in and buying three to for their teen drivers. The dealer had me prep 3 cars and put them in front of the dealership. I called them the “Trix” ! Red Yellow ahd Orange. Same equipment on all three of them !
All Fiestas had 12′ tires/wheels.The Sport/Ghia had 4.5 wide wheels,
& the Base/Decor had 4.0 wide wheels.
If I recall correctly, these were made in Spain and unique thing about these was that the front an rear bumper were interchangeable.
All US cars came from West Germany.
These were great cars. Competed with several Fiestas at the local autocross. I was driving my 79 Plymouth Champ. We were always finishing in 1st or 2nd each time. Then that damn VW Scirocco showed up!
Your past sounds similar to mine, since I originally started autocrossing a 1980 Champ. I wasn’t fond of driving the snot out of my daily driver, and built a dedicated race car, a MK1 Mercury Capri with an ’86 SVO drivetrain that won season championships in a prepared class for about 10 years – until this young automotive engineering student showed up – with his really well-prepped 1st gen Scirocco!
In a series of 7 races, we each had 3 wins, with me in the lead by 3 thousandths of a point!! Needless to say, he beat me by just enough to claim the year-end victory.
Where was that? I autocrossed a Scirocco quite successfully. And then to a Civic that usually took fast time of day.
West Texas
I heard someone removed the 2×4 from the garage floor allowing it to back up and be free..
Seriously not a bad looking econobox.
I would not be surprised to see this on an auction site come spring.
Here in the UK these have a cult following you’d get £10 k for one in that condition.
This looks like a really nice one. My dad had several of these, he got a kick out of surprising folks when light turned green, him being in his eighties and driving a cracker box like this and running away from them like he did. He drove one of them from Florida to Tennessee to visit me but had a heater hose rupture and didn’t realize it until the engine locked up, about thirty miles from my place. We towed it to my place, found another engine in a local salvage yard and did an engine swap in my garage. He bought his last one about a month before he passed away from a friend in Texas and never actually picked it up, he got sick and never drove again. I contacted the friend and explained my dad’s situation and he refunded the money.
1st and 2nd could be quite exhilarating when timed right, and the factory crank had no problem with 8k rpms. This block and crank had a dual overhead cam dropped on it for racing and other cars. If I can find the books names on the Fiestas development, will add it here.
Wow! My Dad had a ’79 model. It had a sunroof, both glass and metal panels, a rear defroster, and we added an am/fm cassette deck. That’s about it. I learned to drive using this car. Really fun little car. Fast? Nope. But fun driving the country roads near our family farm property. After 4 years of commuting with no a/c, he let it go. He bought an ’82 Mercury Lynx, the “fancy” version of the Escort. The Lynx became mine later on and had around 100k miles when I sold it.
Gone, figures. Why do these cars always show up on the other side of the damn country!
What memories I have of the wonderful Ford Fiesta. Remember as a young teen going over to Wayside Ford in Wayland MA, now long gone, to peek in the garage window before my dad picked up his new 78′ Ford Fiesta Sport.
My first full time job I was working at the same company as my mom and she would let me drive it to work, not telling my dad as he wouldn’t let me drive it. First time I learned how to drive a stick. It was a great little car and took us through those miserable MA winters with no issues. Got T-boned one day in a white out coming home from work and it still soldiered on until it finally quit on snowy Rt. 20 in Sudbury. Dad finally traded it in for a new 84′ Dodge Omni. Got more than he expected for a trade in as he had kept it in such beautiful shape the salesman didn’t even realize that the odometer. had already rolled over but my dad didn’t say anything lol. Last time I ever saw one of these on the road was back in 2006 when I was in the UK for job training. It floored me to see one again after all those years.
One of my techs had one. And one of my customers also had one. He was an instructor fir Skip Barber Racing school. He came in one day and saw my Civic that still had the numbers on the window from the autocross. I took him for a ride and he was very impressed. (I had massaged the car a bit) He mentioned that his was quick, but understeered terribly. I mentioned that I had just seen a new camber adjuster (concentric lower control arm bushing) for a Fiesta. He didn’t even ask the price. He said get it! (I knew that even when just accelerating, the car went positive camber and left . Skinny black stripes from the tire shoulders.) Once installed he was incredibly happy with the handling and said it made all the difference in the world. I always liked these and would have been “into” them if I hadn’t already had a killer Honda Civic autocross car. I had made a Florida trip (from Northern Illinois) and was on my way back and caught a white Fiesta with a black front spoiler. ( my Civic was white with a black spoiler) We punched it from 80mph. It was close but once I hit 100 mph, he started drifting back. He should have been faster (1600 cc vs 1237 cc) But as I said, I messaged mine a little.
When we ran a “Driver’s School” autocross in Eureka,we got an
instructor that worked at the Bondurant Driving School.We put him
up in a local hotel.This is when I was running my ’79 Sport model.
Imagine my surprise when he showed up in a Gold Fiesta!If
I remember correctly,he had his fiance with him,& I thought that was
a great pre-marriage test!
His name was Parker Johnstone,& I heard he went on to bigger things.
Forgot to say the UK 1.6 version was 88hp as no smog equipment back then. But we only got the 1.6 in 81-82 ( to then the base eng was 950 ,the high spec was 1100 & 1300cc).
Scotty, another homerun feature! There are some great first hand stories here, thanks all for sharing.
16 Sports were cracking cars, then superceded by XR2 and then XR2i (mk2).
13 Sports were cracking cars too. The early Fiesta was very Mini-like.
Great family friends had a new one in ‘77. It was of course small, light and yet solid and a ton of fun to drive on the backroads of Johnson county Ark. Wish I had room for this one. Thanks to Scotty, Curvette and all of you.
I might have bought that & sold this project car if I’d seen it
earlier,but probably couldn’t have gotten it in a reasonable time.
Plus it’s about $2000 to have one shipped to Virginia.
Here’s the project car I found locally.Told my Wife that i wasn’t
buying any more project cars.Guess I ate my words.
Very nice, angliagt! Cranking out the front camber to “0” degrees or possibly a half degree negative makes a world of difference in the handling. Makes it a complete different handling car. Great cars!, There was one in my neighborhood and when I went to check to see if it was for sale. It was gone. I was very disappointed.
I think they have transitioned to other Ford models, but there is a company called BAT, British American Transfer, in the Virginia area (I Think). Would stop in and buy all kinds of European hardware they had on my way to the FL Keys for the winter and right at my camp site I would put on an intake manifold and a two barrel carb with a water injection set up, add front end goodies. Measured the coil spring ID on the rear and researched other cars air bag sizes and fond the Escort was the best match even looking at other car brands so my 1979 silver model S would sit better loaded for the trip from MA while pulling the smallest Coleman pop up camper with a “Queen Bed”, so not so small. Used cast bed rail to beef up the hitch across the spare tire boot and to the frame rails. Will add some pics when time to find them, just moved into the family cottage, that may take some time -Jack
PS: Love this thread like the car!
BAT was in PA,then moved to Florida many years ago.
Angliagt is certainly the BF expert on these cars!
I owned,raced & worked on many of these,but have forgotten
a lot about them.These posts give me a chance to impress everyone
with all my vast knowledge of cars like this,& impress the rest of you
here (kidding).
If Oregon and Washington state wasn’t 3000 miles away from me? I’d have a barn full of cars and trucks. Yeah, I’d be broke. But I’d be really happy…
Apparently it sold to someone in Seattle–which is to say, someone right in the neighborhood.