As car enthusiasts, we can all appreciate seeing a vehicle used in a way most of us have never considered – and the end result more or less being a “win.” When you say hot hatch, most of us immediately think of a Volkswagen GTI or a Honda Civic Si, not a Ford Fiesta. And to be fair, the Fiesta – like this 1980 model listed here on craigslist – was always presented as a commuter car with great fuel economy, plugging a hole in Ford’s lineup with one of its popular European models. The seller of this example, however, has decided to exploit the car’s handling potential.
With the Ford Escort not even a sketch on a cocktail napkin, Ford had a problem. Increasingly stringent CAFE standards demanded that Ford (and other automakers) quickly plug gaps in their lineups with captive imports like the Fiesta. All Ford had to offer in the “economical” car segment was the aging Pinto, which had already been rocked by a safety scandal. The VW Rabbit and Honda Civic in their standard, base model forms handily out-performed the Pinto both in fuel economy as well as being fun to drive. Importing the Fiesta was the answer it needed.
Like most lightweight and tossable hatches, the Fiesta proved fun to drive even with its humble powertrain. This was a similar trait with its competitors from Germany and Japan, as the foreign automakers figured out how to make economy cars feel lively and fun despite being built to save on fuel. The seller of this Fiesta has added some modern improvements to exploit this car’s natural handling qualities, such as adding sticky Toyo R888 tires and sharp basketweave alloys. The seller also notes it sports some vintage upgrades, likely pointing to a lifetime of being someone’s backroads carver.
The listing notes it appears to wear old-school Koni shocks, sport springs, upgraded sway bars, cam and headers on the stock 1.6L Kent Crossflow engine, and additional gauges. He’s also added a racing bucket seat and Momo steering wheel, and based on the photos, hasn’t been afraid to hustle it. The car does tend to run a little hot in traffic, and has additional fans installed, so you may have a cooling system issue to address. Fun fact: it was apparently used as a runabout by a San Jose speed shop back in the day; anyone recognize it? The asking price is a reasonable $7,800, and thanks goes to Barn Finds reader Rocco B. for the find.
I bought a ’79 Fiesta Sport new in ’79 & went Showroom Stock
racing with it shortly after that.That car got more trophies than any
other one I’ve owned.I still hold the SSC record at the now-defunct
Lord Ellis Hillclimb.That car also got 25mpg around town,35 mpg on
the highway without trying to get good gas mileage.I also got 53 mpg
out of it driving 60 mph from Visalia to Sacramento.
I also owned an ’80 Ghia that had every option on it,plus an engine
bored out to 1700 with twin Weber 40’s.It had about 125 horsepower.
After getting out of the Fiesta game for many years,this ’80 Sport
fell into my lap & I couldn’t pass it up.It sits in the garage awaiting work,
as my other vehicles all seem to need work,plus money.I really like the
BWA 13″ wheels that came on it.
Bet you didn’t pay $7800 though. That said, I’d need all day or longer to write about all my great memories with Fiestas.
Please write them!
I know this car well. It was Charlie Bruno, the late owner and operator of Charlie’s Mustangs in San Jose, CA, who owned and built this car as a personal ride.
Interesting background. I hope it goes to someone that used to take their Mustang to his shop. It seems the price isn’t particularly popular, however, if a cars history is known and the quality of the work done is above reproach, paying a premium versus shopping for a bargain makes sense.
Steve R
The original owner of this car was Charles Bruno who ran Charlie’s Mustangs in San Jose, CA. He built it as a personal ride.
Always one of my favorites of all the fun hatchbacks of the 70s and 80s. No pics of the interior or closeups of the body would make me leery of this one though.
I bought a ’78 Fiesta Sport new when I was 19 years old. The Sport had an anti-sway bar, a tachometer, nicer front seats, a stripe, and maybe a few other doodads. It was a quick little car back in the day and handled great. I loved that little thing.
I’ve had a couple of these, they were my daily driver for years. A fun, underappreciated car but I had to do something about the positive camber of the front wheels. Also had carb icing issues…and was frequently replacing fuel pumps… but what fun cars.
I bought new an 80 Fiesta Sport in bright metallic green, all options except air. It will always be one of my favorite cars of all time. Fast, nimble, comfortable and handled great. Whenever I talk about that car I make it crystal clear we are talking about the German made car not the more recent ones or worse yet the Festiva.
The late models are very much in the tradition of these, a fun hatchback with a manual transmission.
The less said about the PowerShit DCT automatic and the fugly sedan, the better.
I had two yellow ones, a 78 and a 79 at the same time, one for me one for the wife. That was back in the old days when you could pick one up for 1500 bucks.
Not only fun to drive but because of the light weight and great front wheel drive traction I was always amazed I could drive through deeper snow than most without getting stuck.
One one trip we picked up a washing machine from 300 miles away. We found that if we slid the seats almost all the way forward we could actually close the hatch so we drove home laughing and VERY cramped but we got a free washer.
It did NOT have a great heater though which was a problem in cold western Canada. So after freezing for hours I actually cut a hole in the firewall to let some of the engine heat into the cabin. Bad idea. It did add a little heat but also significant smell. Young and dumb we were.
I had one, bought used with lots of miles. I liked it….. totally unpretentious. But it eventually developed a malady whereby it would periodically quit and not want to run for an hour or two. I replaced it with an Omni.
Classic tossable econobox. I see our 2012 fiat 500 pop w/5spd to be a modern interpretation. This Fiesta is a little pricy but will make a great, fun ride for the right person. Personalize as desired as you use it.
Paid 4k for the fiat 9 yrs ago with 130k on the clock. It gets needed maintenance but is owned outright. The smiles per miles are incalculable. It is one of 2 options I have at my disposal daily.
Good luck with the sale.
These were very fun cars to drive with a 5 speed. Ford made a bunch of small cars in the 80s and 90s my sons first car was a 1999 ford Contour SVT. Silver with 200HP only available with a 5 speed a month later i picked up a 2000 in black the SVT team did a great job with these cars with power and handling. Just fun cars to drive and built well we both wish we still had them.
Always liked them, ended up with water-cooled VW’s though. Should have got one though in hindsight. Nice style and good looking upbeat interior. Too expensive now, like everything else. If I had that coin, I would drop it into something else. 3k would be my tops, and even then!
My dad bought one brand new back in ’78 from Wayland Ford in MA. Would go through all the lousy winter weather without a problem. Great little car. Me and my mom would do the almost 1 hour commute to work in it and she’d let me drive it without telling my dad. First time I ever drove a stick. He eventually traded it in on a new ’84 Dodge Omni. Have a lot of fond memories of it as a teen.
Smoky Yunick had one & said it was one of the best cars ever made –
this coming from a Chevy man.
The price may seem high,but these have been going up for some time now.You have to remember that these were only sold from ’78 to ’80,plus a
lot of them haven’t survived in really good condition.
I bought this ’80 Base model for parts,as it had most of what I needed.
It was only about 1-1/2 hours away,near Stuart,Virginia,home of the Wood –
Brothers Racing Museum,which is located in one of their old shops.
A red Fiesta was the first FWD car I ever drove. It was my big brother’s.
I learned all about understeer as I took a North-Country NY snowy backroad curve WAY too fast. Imagine my surprise as the front wheels, cranked hard left, turned into snowmobile skis. Fwumpp into a snowbank, leaving the front wheels spinning a foot off the pavement.
Turned out the nearby farmhouse belonged to our HS science teacher, who got out his Ford tractor & tow chain. He looked at me like I was a bug in a knit toque, and didn’t say much.
I got the car home, and the snow-pack under the hood had mostly melted off.
My brother was none the wiser.
He was never too smart, anyway.