The Festiva

During my freshman year of college, while I was driving the Maroon Marauder, my parents decided to buy a car for me.  It was a completely unexpected gift, and I am forever grateful.  




Looking back, I can see why they might have done so.  For one thing, my sister and I had just both secured full-ride college scholarships.  Were my daughter to accomplish the same feat in a few years, I might likewise be moved to such generosity.  I had been taught all my life that personal transportation was a luxury and that I would pay for wheels if I wanted my own.  I was prepared to do so, but my limited student income kept me in vehicles of questionable safety and reliability.  I think my parents, relieved of college education costs for their children, noted that I was pushing my luck cruising around in a 16-year-old, 115,000-mile sled that sucked down gas at 9 MPG.  They offered to not only buy a better car for me but to let me keep whatever proceeds I could raise from selling my beloved Oldsmobile.  How could I refuse?
The car they purchased was a used 1988 Ford Festiva, with 60,000 miles.

Road and Track magazine did a comparison review of cars under $10,000.00 in 1988 that included the Festiva.  In fact, the model they evaluated was exactly the one I owned: a dark-red 1998 Festiva LX.  Here's what they had to say:

"The Festiva is the ideal car for a finan­cially strapped college student—or for someone just starting on the road to fi­nancial independence. And it has an American nameplate to satisfy the con­servatives in your red-white-and-blue hometown. Its proven Mazda reliability practically guarantees that you'll never face another parking-lot repair. Its Euro-Japanese styling is sure to impress those college coeds. And because it's built in South Korea—where labor is cheap—the Festiva will leave you with more than $1600 in change from a $10,000 bill.

"Powered by a Mazda-built, 1.3-liter four-cylinder, the Festiva is a nimble performer. Rev the engine to its 6000-rpm redline (as it loves to do) and you'll find that you can surprise more than a few cars from a stoplight. The suspen­sion provides a ride that is surprisingly reasonable, considering the Festiva's short wheelbase.

"Picture this. You're a college student. You love cars. Tuition was just hiked another ten percent. You no longer have the stamina to perform wintertime parking-lot repairs on your ten-year-old beater. You need a sporty, affordable, reliable, new car.  Slide behind the wheel of a Ford Festiva and you'll find yourself sitting in the perfect car. The Festiva's ergonomic layout and attention to detail give it a competitive edge in the convenience and drivability departments. The pedals are well positioned, and the shifter is as smooth as those found in more expensive Hondas. In LX trim, the Festiva of­fers a tachometer, power mirrors, and a rear wiper as standard equipment. A roomy trunk rounds out the package and allows you to bring plenty of dirty laundry home to mother."

I couldn't have agreed more!  Although my Festiva wasn't the brand-new car driven by the college student in the article's scenario, it was certainly a much newer car than my 1976 Oldsmobile.  I had some great times with the Festiva.  Perhaps its finest moment came when it wore a blue police light!  I was a volunteer with the city's police department in college, and we were responsible for re-directing traffic around the downtown area during the city's big annual parade/festival.  With virtually every vehicle in the department's fleet in use that day, the volunteers were left standing in their mission of traffic and crowd control.  Having pulled the same duty the previous summer, I was not interested in being stranded on hot asphalt for hours.  On my way out to the parade route, I requisitioned a Kojack-style portable blue police light, which I slapped on top of the Festiva before parking in the middle of my assigned intersection.  I was hardly Telly Savalas, and the Festiva was a far cry from his unmarked detective car, but it was still a moment of pure awesomeness for a 20-year-old police cadet.

Other adventures included a drive from Washington State to Wyoming and back in the summer heat (the Festiva lacked air conditioning), multiple relocations of all my wordily possessions, and a couple of drives across the Cascade Mountains.  The Festiva also took some abuse:  my best friend Rocky's attempt at a slide across the hood left a palm-sized dent, proving that the Festiva's light weight (less than 1800 pounds) was partially due to flimsy sheetmetal.  It drew pranks from college friends who loved to turn it sideways in its parking space, necessitating a 100-point turn to drive out.  They once even moved it completely off the parking lot and wedged it between two trees.

Most unexpectedly, the car was stolen.  I say unexpectedly because the 1988 Ford Festiva is not the vehicle I imagine at the top of every car thief's wish-list.  Looking back however, I should have completely expected the theft, because I set the conditions for it.  I had an extra key for the car which at some point I put in the car's ashtray.  Over time, a got in the habit of tossing change into the otherwise unused ashtray as well.  One weekend, after dropping of a friend who had accompanied me on a camping trip, I parked the Festiva in front of my apartment.  Forgetting that he had gotten out, I left the passenger's door unlocked.  My student apartment was on the edge of the University area and bordered a less desirable part of town, so I shouldn't have been surprised by the passerby's attempt to rummage through my unlocked car.  I can imagine his surprise in finding the key.  His joy ride was short lived, however, as my gas tank was on empty.  I recovered the car a few weeks later when it was discovered by a friend of mine in the police department, parked unharmed near a hospital.  (Based on previous pranks, I initially thought it had been friends who took the car, and went on a rampage of allegations before accepting that the Festiva had really been stolen.)

It turns out that the Festiva, which was made only from 1988 to 1992 (the Ford "Fiesta" came before it and is now again in production) has a bit of a cult following.  There are several customized and modified versions of this funny little car, including a monster project by Jay Leno that puts a Ford SHO engine in the back.  Here are a few pictures of such project.  Enjoy!