Gentlemen,
I beg your pardon!!! It wasn't some POS Cortina that was given the allowance
of moving from 12 inch to 13 inch wheels. It was the 1978-1980 Ford Fiesta.
Quite a nice little runabout if I may say so. I owned almost two of them at
one time. Boy could you carry extra race tires in the hatch area. it was
even bigger than my GTI.
There were a number of parts that fell off the car every year or so, on a
regular schedule, but that's another story.
The Fiesta came with 145-SR 12 Michelin XZX radials from the factory. The
upgrade was a 155-SR 12 The only tire available that even approached a
"performance" rating was the 175/70/HR12 Riken radials. They fit on the 4
1/2" X 12" OEM wheels and did make the car handle better, but were still
hard as rocks. There was absolutely nothing else available. I got tired
looking at them. They simply wouldn't wear out.
When the allowance hit, a friend who also autocrossed his Fiesta went
junkyarding and found a set of 4 1/2" X 13" Escort wheels, which he fitted
with soft tires. Boy did that make a big difference on the car. It handled
a lot better. i think he went with 185/60/13's.
Of course the extra strain on the drive train also caused the carrier
bearing on the right side driveshaft to part company with the car on a very
regular basis. He always carried a spare to events. And one time he even
managed to pull both tie rod ends apart at the steering rack during a run.
Getting the car home that day was a real trial. Think about a bunch of wire
and racers tape!! Isn't that scary?
So please...let's get our history correct. And just so everyone is clear,
the Ford Fiesta that came to the U.S. was built in a factory in Spain, if I
remember correctly. Ole!!
Larry Steckel
Reformed Fiesta driver.
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