DRIVEN: Ford Sierra 1.6L - Classic Cars for Sale
But a fleet car has to encapsulate an aggressive image, usability and cheap running costs in one competent package. The best fleet car of the 70s was the Ford Cortina , and replacing it was never going to be easy. Especially when Ford chose a radical new approach. Radical wasn’t a word which was in Ford’s international vocabulary. The Americans were startled by the Cortina replacement, dubbed Project Toni, and looked set to reject the proposals until the 1979 Italdesign Ace of Clubs concept car was unveiled. That car became the Isuzu Piazza, and Ford of Europe got their way with Project Toni. The public were shown a teaser of their next fleet car with the Probe III concept of 1981. In hindsight it was a blindingly good PR move, showing an "extreme" version of the aerodynamic Sierra to prepare the public for the production car a year... But while the production Sierra couldn’t match Probe III’s Cd factor of 0. 25, its own of 0. 34 was still among the sleekest shapes of the day. Under the skin, the car was far less exciting than the swish new shape might suggest. For the first few months it looked as if Ford had made their biggest mistake since the ill-fated Edsel and litigious Pinto. However the press adored the newcomer, with Steve Cropley stating in our sister title CAR that ‘Quite simply, Ford have done it all. Source: www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk
