As many of you will recall, back in the ’80s there was a trend for car manufacturers to offer a 4x4 version of their bestselling family cars, and Ford was no exception. Audi started the ball rolling with their iconic quattro, but by the end of the decade most mainstream brands boasted a selection of all-wheel-drive models among their line-up. There was even a 4x4 Citroën BX, Toyota Tercel and Honda Shuttle among the many unlikely suspects to be given the complex AWD treatment.
At the time, Stephen Hoburn was working at his local Ford dealership, so unsurprisingly it was the hype surrounding the latest Blue Oval-badged models that regularly attracted his attention. “In comparison to the Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts I was driving at the time, the plush Sierra seemed like a limousine,” he smiles. “When the flagship 150bhp 4x4 variant was released, it really caught my eye.”
Unfourtunately, Stephen would have to wait a decade before funds allowed the purchase of2.8 4x4 Ghia estate to be precise. “My brother showed an interest too, and soon he’d bought himself a single-turbo XR4x4 followed by a twin-turbo 2.9 model,” he recalls. “Between us, we soon developed quite an addiction.”
