Any Festiva Owners Out There?!

[X6StringerX]

A couple of months ago, I scored a mint 2002 Focus with a ton of mods. Fast-forward to this past Thursday and I sold it for $5300, which was more than double what I paid. I graduate Uni in December and my fiance has a 2005 Focus, which we are financing. I decided to find a beater and put a large chunk of the leftover money toward the Focus' payoff. Today, I stumbled across a 1993 Festiva GL with 132k miles. The asking price was $1200, but I drove it home for $750. Now I'm just trying to get better acquainted with it. It has a slight miss about every 4-5 seconds, so tomorrow I'm going to pick up a new cap, rotor button, plug wire set, and plugs as well as an air filter, fuel filter, and pcv valve. I'll also change the oil. The car has brand new tires, so I'm thinking that for less than $1000 total, including the purchase price, taxes, and tune-up parts, I'll have an excellent fuel-sipping winter beater. I'll throw some pics up later tomorrow. I need to wash some bird crap off of it first, haha. It's actually in really good shape and even has 12" alloys! :

If anyone feels like offering some tips or common knowledge on these litte econo boxes, it's more than welcome.

 

[toypaseo]

Let the fun begin...

http://www.fordfestiva.com/gallery/image14.htm

http://sportcompactcar.automotive.com/71602/0110-sccp-1990-ford-festiva/index.html

 

[X6StringerX]

That's an amazing little car. I actually stumbled across it earlier today while doing some last minute research before taking a look at the one I bought. CarDomain has quite a collection of clean modded Festivas. A lot of people are pulling off the Euro look quite nicely. The Festiva puts me in the mind of an early VW Golf, but it's a little smaller.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Build a SHOgun!

I like those little cars. Stupid simple and easy on gas!

 

[toypaseo]

http://jalopnik.com/355176/v8-powered-ford-festiva-torque-steers-itself-into-our-hearts

 

[X6StringerX]

I was reading about the SHOguns earlier today. They only made like 7 or 8 of them. Jay Leno owns #3. (edit: I just realized that was an actual link to Jay Leno's SHOgun in your post, Joe. Since my status is "wannabe", I get the random ads in posts and I originally thought it was one of those, lol.)

As for the V8 Festiva, I just watched it pop its tires on YouTube. I'm getting inspired, but I must remember the objective here is to spend less money, lol.

 

[X6StringerX]

As excited as I was about this car, it has turned into a nightmare for me. The seller told me it was his wife's car, so I didn't question it when he handed me the title and it had a woman's signature. I filled in my information and handed over the cash. I took the title into the DMV and it came back with a "sold vehicle code". She said it wasn't a big deal and that they had probably just sent the sold vehicle form in with someone else's information and then that buyer backed out. She gave me a bill of sale form and said there would be no problems as long as I could get that signed and notarized. I thought, ok, that's easy enough. I called the guy up and explained the situation and he then proceeded to tell me the truth. The car was actually bought by his uncle, but never titled. He was only helping his uncle sell the car and they were going to split the profit. He told me if I brought the title back to him that he would get it put in his uncle's name (that's the person that was listed on the sold vehicle code) and then he would just sign it over to me once it came in. In order to protect myself, I went to the local authorities first before handing over the title. I made a double-sided copy for my records and showed the LEOs that I had possession of both the original and the copy and that no changes or alterations were made to the title. I then took the title back to the guy. Three weeks went by and after a ton of phone calls, he didn't seem to be making any progress. He kept coming up with excuses as to why he had taken care of it yet. Almost an entire month went by before he finally came clean and said there was nothing he could do. He actually suggested that I notarize a statement saying that I'm no longer interested in purchasing the car. He said he would need that statement because my information was on the title. I refused because by doing that, I would basically be giving up what protection I had. I made the mistake of paying him in cash and not getting a bill of sale, so I didn't have much to begin with. Today, I decided I would just go back and get the title and figure something out myself. As it stands now, I have the car and the title, but I can't get the title put into my name. I've even tried calling the woman that appears on the title and she is completely uncooperative.

With all of that being said, there might still be a light at the end of the tunnel. A local mechanic has a ton of Explorer parts, so I called him up and asked if he had any 4.10 diffs. He said he had a 4.10LS rear and a 4.10 front. I asked if he would be interested in trading for the car without a title so he could part it out and he said he would be very interested. I guess I'll find out more information this week sometime. If nothing else, I guess I'll make a dirt track car or something, lol.

 

[Joe Dirt]

WOW- what a nightmare. Glad there could be a silver lining in there somewhere!

I drove a Festive for a bit, I actually liked it (as I did the Aspire that I drove after that for a bit) but the orange dash lights were not my thing...

 

[X6StringerX]

I guess I should also note that the reason I'm looking for 4.10 diffs is because I had to find another vehicle to drive immediately. I bought my current Explorer on 10/24 after finding out all of the above posted information. Of course, we ended up not being able to pay on the Focus' loan like we had planned, but at least I got a great deal on the X. I guess it's an added bonus that my better half felt sorry enough for me that she said I could mod the X too, haha! Hello lift. Hello 4.10s. Hello big tires!

 

[X6StringerX]

Good news! The guy that's interested in the Festiva stopped by today and said he'd definitely like to do the trade. He's supposed to pull the 4.10s this week. They're coming out of a '98 Sport. I thought I was going to get lucky and snag the black painted grille from it as well, but sadly it's broken.

 

[X6StringerX]

Woohoo! I made it home yesterday evening to find these babies at my house.

 

[V8powerbaby]

i have to say u got a good deal who needs a festiva when u have an EX with 4.10 gears lol

 

[X6StringerX]

Unfortunately, the saga continues. I got a chance to take a look at the diffs yesterday evening and the rear is not limited-slip as the guy told me. The gears are flawless, so it would be the perfect candidate for a locker install, but I don't really have the cash, so I'll probably just toss them up for sale. I need to figure out how to ship them... never shipped anything this large.

 

[kert0307]

Why is limited slip that big of a deal? If it were me, I'd run them and save up for a locker at a later date.