Treasure trove found.

[Buckman]

Seems a load of Ford cars from the '80's have been found and all brand new. https://www.carthrottle.com/news/abandoned-dealership-crammed-brand-new-80s-fords

 

[GaryB]

I saw that as well, there's more than a handful of these cases. There's a used car dealership near me that closed in the early 90's and still has cars in it (although since appearing on YouTube a few have disappeared overnight......). The owner wanted to sell the land for housing but couldn't get planning permission so the place has sat unused ever since.











I know of a 1968 Ford Mustang that is on it's side bricked up behind a wall in Derby!

 

[Dustydog]

Years back we were a Ford company car supporter .Three Sierras including the 2.0i Ghia auto, ( Junk), an Orion 1.6i. Once driven never smitten😉. Now the mk3 SRi Cavalier in bright red was another matter . Brilliant piece of kit.

 

[GaryB]

The Sierra struggled to gain the following that the Cortina had built up over the previous years, I remember the original Sierra prototypes were front wheel drive but (from poor memory) they reverted back to RWD due to transmission problems? I know in South Africa the Sierra was offered as an XR8 with the Ford 5.0 V8 engine after the success of the Cortina XR6.

 

[RogerL]

The Sierra struggled to gain the following that the Cortina had built up over the previous years, I remember the original Sierra prototypes were front wheel drive but (from poor memory) they reverted back to RWD due to transmission problems? I know in South Africa the Sierra was offered as an XR8 with the Ford 5.0 V8 engine after the success of the Cortina XR6.

The Sierra was hampered by several things - the base platform was the Cortina Mk3 from 1970, the jelly-mould styling didn't endear itself to anyone and the cross-wind instability gained it a poor reputation - it didn't help either that Cortina sales had tanked during it's last years and dealers had huge numbers to sell through with big discounts, so undercut the Sierra - and the competition was the Opel Ascona / Vauxhall Cavalier!

 

[GaryB]

I remember welding a new scuttle panel into my dads 1981 Cortina when it was only six years old due to rot. Build them cheap!

 

[Buckman]

The Sierra struggled to gain the following that the Cortina had built up over the previous years, I remember the original Sierra prototypes were front wheel drive but (from poor memory) they reverted back to RWD due to transmission problems? I know in South Africa the Sierra was offered as an XR8 with the Ford 5.0 V8 engine after the success of the Cortina XR6.

They also had the Ford Capri Perana which had the V8 engine in it. That thing was too fast!

 

[GaryB]

They also had the Ford Capri Perana which had the V8 engine in it. That thing was too fast!

And a Perana mk1 Granada, real drivers cars!

 

[Buckman]

And a Perana mk1 Granada, real drivers cars!

Thw GSM Dart is an extremely rare car and was made in Cape Town South Africa. It was very fast.

However when I was working in north west Kwazulu Natal in early eighties I had to travel to a town called Utrecht same as the one in Holland. While walking around the town I came across an abandoned garage. Looking through the glass I could see cars from the 1920's and '30s. They were brand new, but covered in dust with flay tyres.

On leaving the town I passed a "scrap yard" that had about 150-200 cars in it mainly from the fifties. Most looked like they had been driven there and parked up and most looked in quite good condition. Mostly American cars, but RH drive. It was like stepping back in time.

On inquiring about the collection, the garage and the scrap yard belong to some eccentric very rick person who like to collect cars. I have no idea what happened to the garages or the scrapyard after I had left the area.