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Motor - New Car: Fiesta Special Supplement
"The Fiesta File"
5th February 1977
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New Car: Fiesta Special Supplement




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.....contacts together, so they were turned through 90 degrees to eliminate another possible source of fire.

Another potent tool in the car's development and widely used by both the Dunton and Merkenich engineers was the big Ford Proving Ground at Lommel in Belgium. On its 547 acre site are 17 miles of track including a high speed banked oval, a test hill and every variety of horrible road surface. Fiesta pre-production cars covered hundreds of laps of the banked oval and ran lengthy endurance tests over the car breaking pave and cobbled road sections.

Nor was it only the body, engine, transmission and suspension that underwent such intensive development during the years. A great deal of thought has gone into almost every detail of the car. To give just one example, car manufacturers the world over who have moved on from the old round sealed beam headlamp units to the modern, big rectangular shaped headlamps have been troubled by the fact that heat generated by the lamps when in use warms the air inside the unit which expands and makes its escape. When the lamp cools, a semi vacuum is formed inside the unit which sucks in the outside air with its attendant moisture. Over the weeks the moisture accumulates until it interferes with the efficiency of the lamp unit. Most makers have tried to overcome this problem by sealing their lamp units to prevent the air from being expelled and then sucked in again. Ford, however, have developed new headlamp units for the Fiesta with carefully positioned vent holes which allow free passage for the air and also permit any moisture that collects to drain away. The holes are so positioned that there is no danger of spray from the wet road surface finding its way into the lamps.

As the Fiesta is the most costly single new model the Ford company has introduced in its entire 70 year history - taking into account the massive investment also in new facilities in Spain, France, Britain and Germany to build the car and its components -' the company has tried to ensure that its gamble succeeds. Hence the long seven year gestation period spent in producing not a cheap small car but a good small car.

Captions -

Top-Right - A transverse engine, front wheel drive and Macpherson strut front suspension are today's engineering orthodoxy, but the rear suspension is clever and unusual
Middle - Below: The Ghia design studio has already built its own version of a gull-winged sportshatch based on Fiesta components
Bottom-Right - "I do wish they wouldn't make those dummies to realistic"