Let's do the timewarp again....... my car.
Discussion
I have decided to put my metal where my mouth is and reveal to all the good readers of pistonheads my car. Here folks is a 1989 Ford Orion LX 1.6. Great. But she is, at least, mine and hasn't put me in debt to anybody. She is a real timewarp car with only 56,000 on the clock and only one owner (before me), she was also originally registered in Essex and continues to reside here. More interestingly power comes from the perennial Compound Valve Hemi in full XR2 trim with a Weber twin-choke; sadly it's rough as a badger's botty by modern standards but I don't care. Said motor endows the Onion with a 115 mph top speed and reasonable acceleration - not too bad for a 19 year old (me that is, I'd reached the age of two when this thing rolled out of Germany). Aaaah, of course I have a German car whereas most Mercedes and VW owners don't. This gives a slight sense of satisfaction that almost compensates for a lack of power steering. To illustrate this further here is a list of things I don't posess: power steering, ABS, a catalytic converter, traction control, fuel injection, electric windows, a CD player, ESP, EBFD you get the idea. However all this basicness is made up for in the driving experience - which is like nothing offered by a cheap family runabout today.
The suspension is stiff; giving good handling on the back roads. The steering has gallons of feedback and the brakes and clutch posess decent feel.
All round she's a far better car than the Kia Shumas and Proton Wiras beloved of the small saloon buyer today; which is a shame because if they spent a few quid refurbishing one of these instead they'd be much happier. But they don't, so Orion numbers dwindle meaning they are less common than M3's round my way.
However; let's dust off the casette deck put on the Wayfarers and party like it's 1989!
The front (sorry for the white car in bright light)
The back
The rear arches; showing why this car is so rare.
The boot floor, again no rust thankfully.
The interior.
The engine.
Ford Premium Sound 2000, as it should be.
The suspension is stiff; giving good handling on the back roads. The steering has gallons of feedback and the brakes and clutch posess decent feel.
All round she's a far better car than the Kia Shumas and Proton Wiras beloved of the small saloon buyer today; which is a shame because if they spent a few quid refurbishing one of these instead they'd be much happier. But they don't, so Orion numbers dwindle meaning they are less common than M3's round my way.
However; let's dust off the casette deck put on the Wayfarers and party like it's 1989!
The front (sorry for the white car in bright light)
The back
The rear arches; showing why this car is so rare.
The boot floor, again no rust thankfully.
The interior.
The engine.
Ford Premium Sound 2000, as it should be.
. I brought an orion over an escort because I thought it was posher. 
It's seriously my car, if that's what you mean. But really our motoring heritage must be preserved; even the duller bits - I'd far rather own my Orion than a new Audi for example. (Actually I'd sell the new Audi, buy the Orion back for everyday use, get something stupid like an Eagle SS as a toy and bank the rest).
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