It pays to be realistic when revisiting the cars we used to love. How many of us have dived headlong into the purchase of a car we coveted growing up, or something you might have owned a few decades ago, only to find that all these years on, even a carefully-chosen example turns out to be a bit of a project, with half your effort going into maintenance and upkeep, rather than enjoyment and modification?
That’s one of the reasons James Merrett sought out the Mk7 Fiesta ST you see here, in just the right spec, colour, and condition, rather than opting for one of Ford’s older icons. “The thing that stopped me getting a Mk4 Escort or another Cosworth,” he explains, “is that even back in the day I was always fighting rust with them, and twenty years later that’d be even worse.”
Those old RS Turbos and Cosworths are still great of course, but so are Ford’s newest performance models - and there’s a huge benefit to starting with a much fresher platform. “So I went out and bought the cleanest car I could find. That way I knew I’d not have to start repairing it, and touching up
