W ithFord confirming that the Fiesta nameplate will finally be dropped next summer, there’s understandably been an outpouring of emotion and affection for its longrunning supermini. But while it’s the Mk1 and Mk2 cars that tend to be remembered with nostalgic fondness and the Mk7 and Mk8 cars that continue to receive plenty of acclaim among pundits, we shouldn’t forget the importance of the Mk3. Not only did it propel the Fiesta to the top rung of the UK sales charts for the very first time, but it also marked the transition of the sporty halo model finally going from lukewarm to hot – or from madras to vindaloo, as Ford put it.
Following its UK launch in 1977, it took the Fiesta a while to warm up. Early on, 'The Sporty Side of Fiesta', as the brochure exclaimed, was taken care of by the 53bhp 1100S and the 66bhp 1300S – the 1100 available from launch and the bigger-engined
