Now here’s a car that I have a very soft spot for. Often called a jellymold, slated by the press when it was released in 1982. Designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick le Quément the Ford Sierra’s development code was known as "Project Toni".
On 21 September 1982, it succeeded the Ford Cortina, with its aerodynamic styling which was ahead of its time but many conservative buyers did not take fondly to the styling. Possibly for this reason and the fact that the smaller Escort was enjoying an increase in sales during the early 1980s, it never quite achieved the sales volumes of the Cortina or the Taunus, although sales were still strong, a total of 2,700,500 ware produced, mainly manufactured in Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom, although Sierras were also assembled in Argentina, Venezuela, South Africa, and New Zealand.
The first Ford vehicle to have the bold new "aero" look styling was the 1981 Ford Probe III concept car. The good reception this received encouraged Ford management to go ahead with a production car with styling almost as challenging. This "aero" look influenced Fords worldwide. The aerodynamic features of the Sierra were developed from those first seen in the Escort Mark III — the "Aeroback" bootlid stump was proved to reduce the drag coefficient of the bodyshell significantly, which was a class leading 0.34 at its launch, though not as good as the 0.22 of the visually similar Ford Probe III concept car of the previous year.
At first, many found the design blob-like and difficult to accept after being used to the sharp-edged, straight-line styling of the Cortina, hence it picked up nicknames such as "Jelly-mould" and later "The Salesman's Spaceship" dew to it’s popularity of the mobile rep. Sales were slow at first. It was later in the Sierra's life that the styling began to pay off, ten years after its introduction the Sierra's styling was not nearly as outdated as its contemporaries, even though all major competitors had newer designs, although the Sierra had been tweaked on several occasions. The most notable changes came at the start of 1987, with a major facelift the addition of a Sapphire saloon. As other manufacturers adopted similar aerodynamic styling, the Sierra started to look more normal.
Early versions suffered from crosswind stability problems, which were addressed in 1985 with the addition of "strakes" (small spoilers) on the rear edge of the rubber seals of the rear most side windows. These shortcomings saw a lot of press attention, and contributed to early slow sales. Other rumors that the car hid major crash damage (in part true, as the new bumper design sprung back after minor impact and couldn't be "read" to interpret major damage) also harmed the car's reputation. This reached nearhysterical heights at one point with UK press making a report that Ford would reintroduce the previous Cortina model out of desperation. However, these reports were swiftly denied by Ford's overheads.
Styling was slightly different on the luxury "Ghia" and sporty 3-door "XR4i" models, which had a different front panel, with wider, double headlamps compared with the lower specified cars, and lacking their grille slats. After the model's mid-life facelift, the front without a grille became the standard look, although yet later a square grille panel would be re-introduced.
During the life of the car, two different styles of 3-door body were used. One with two pillars rear of the door, looking very much like a modified 5-door frame, as used on the XR4i, and a one-pillar design used on standard-performance 3-door hatchbacks but at the other end of the scale, it was the basis for the, and I’ve got to say here possibly my favorite car of all time, the very highperformance RS Cosworth. Ford decided to put a turbo onto the old trusty 20lt Pinto block and top it with a twin cam 16valve cylinder head designed by Cosworth Engineering of Northampton. That was back in 1984 and the engine produced a whopping 204 hp. But then there was the Sierra RS500.
Next week I will continue with the Sierra story, but until then, why do people who know the least know it the loudest?
Happy Motoring
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it