The birth of a new
car
In September 1982, Ford unveiled the Ford
Sierra at the Frankfurt Motor show. The Sierra was the long awaited
replacement for the highly successful Cortina, which had been in
production for over 20 years. Over 4.2 million Cortinas were built
during its 20 year life span and it was the Mk 3 Cortina, which was
launched in 1970, that was the first Euro Ford to use the 4-cylinder
Pinto engine. |
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Work on a replacement for the Cortina started
in the late 1970s under the code name Project Toni. The car was
designed to be a mid-size, versatile model to fill the slot between
the Escort and the Granada. |
The energy crisis of
1978-79 influenced greatly the design of the car and extreme care
was taken with breaking the sharp lines of the Cortina and in the
aerodynamics. The resulting bodyform resulted in a Cd of .34 verses
.45 for its predecessor, the Cortina. In fact the Sierra diverged
from the successful Cortina in a number of ways the hatchback, the
Independent Rear Suspension, MacPherson struts; all these were a
breakaway from tradition. The Sierra was to be a 1980s car whereas
the Cortina was a 1960s car. This was a great risk for Ford and
public opinion was widely varied.
" odds are that any
two people picked randomly off the street would disagree about the
styling"
Car & Driver
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In 1981, a full year
before the Sierra was unveiled and while the Cortina was still in
production, Ford exhibited to the automotive press their Probe III
concept vehicle. This car, which was a more rounded ground-effect
version of what would later be known as the Sierra, was in fact
based on the Sierra tooling which was already in place. Far from
being the concept car that the Sierra grew out of, it was a
derivation of the basic Sierra, complete with a bi-plane wing, which
would find its way onto the XR4 models.
"[the XR4Ti] looks
like a geothermal event bulging up through the
tarmac"
Unattributed |
The Sierra was released
with an amazing three different body styles and no fewer than eight
different engines. The fastest and most sporty of these was named
the XR4i. (The i stood for injection). The XR4i, was instantly
recognizable from the bi-plane rear spoiler and unconventional six
lite body shell, as well as the contrasting gray plastic cladding on
the lower part of the car. The XR4i was powered by the 2.8L Cologne
V6 engine which generated a respectable 150bhp. Only a little over
25,000 Sierra XR4i were produced at Fords Genk, Belgium plant and
production was halted in 1985. The venerable XR4x4 and Sierra
Cosworth were then left to carry the Sierra name. |
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"Man & high
performance machine in perfect harmony"
Ford advertisement
1983 |
Copyright Paul West, June
1999
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