Ford Puma 15 year Anniversary

[drakkie]

Few weeks ago I took part in one the biggest and most fun meetings of the last few years. It was quite close to the Nurburgring so offcourse I had a few laps around there. I'll give you guys a small report, since this was a rather special meeting. It was even attended by some staff from Ford Germany with a car from their collection

To put it short; a total of 120 different Puma's from all over Europe and outside (Moscow!) were present. This makes this the largest gathering we ever had and probably will have in a long time. The meeting started on friday with everybody arriving at the camp site in Dorsel, Germany (15km from the Nurburgring). We started our travel in the south of the country and we took a scenic route with multiple hairpins in the beautiful Eifel region of Germany. After we arrived offcourse we built up our tents and enjoyed the arrival of friends and new friends!

On Saturday I went to the Nurburgring in the afternoon. However the highlight was still to come; the organisers rented the Nordschleife to hold a concours on the closed track with all the cars. Allready the way from the camping site to the 'Ring was awesome with many people looking towards us instead of off the many supercars that were present! Offcourse there were people waving, flashing lights etcetera. Very cool! The concourse on the track was great fun with plenty of onlookers along the track. Everywhere you looked there was a Puma. I wish it was like that in normal traffic

Unfortunately the meeting ended on Sunday, but it did save me a few more hangovers! After a good journey it was a lot of fun seeing all the pictures appear all over the club websites.

If you have a Puma yourself and like to join please contact me or the club in your country. The 7th - 9th of September we are also having a big meeting in The Netherlands. It'd be very nice to see you there!

For more pictures please visit:
Jubileum meeting, 15 jaar Ford Puma


Sjoerd

[Ferrer]

Ah the Puma, what a great little car.

Sort of like the Mini Cooper S. Only slower. And with no build quality whatsoever.

[f6fhellcat13]

Was that endemic of European Fords in the '90s? Ours, while never having an abundant sense of quality, were fairly solidly-constructed underneath the trim and plastics.

[Ferrer]

Ah, no the mecanics were perfectly ok, and it was one of the great drives of the 90's. But falling door trims after three years and 50.000km? Not good... not even the Hyundai is this bad.

[drakkie]

Originally Posted by Ferrer

Ah, no the mecanics were perfectly ok, and it was one of the great drives of the 90's. But falling door trims after three years and 50.000km? Not good... not even the Hyundai is this bad.

The mechanics are pretty good, except for the brakes (in my case) and the availability of irregular parts for the engine. To name an example €280 for just the tensioner of the multibelt on a non-aircon model, like mine, and then still needing to put it on yourself is quite steep.

The interior quality is horrible; the door trim is just one example. The plugs from a Renault Megane do work excellent though, now it's almost impossible to take them off But basically it's leaking, squeking, rusting and costing a fortune to keep going but it is just so much fun to drive! Around a twisty road not many cars can keep up! It just needs slightly more power which can be done offcourse with the right modifications

[Cobrafan427]

Very nifty looking car, i remember first seeing it in Gran Turismo 2 as a kid and wondering why in the world i've never seen one before. The whole concept of Ford not selling one of it's cars in America was preposterous to me haha

[Ferrer]

Originally Posted by drakkie

The mechanics are pretty good, except for the brakes (in my case) and the availability of irregular parts for the engine. To name an example €280 for just the tensioner of the multibelt on a non-aircon model, like mine, and then still needing to put it on yourself is quite steep.

The interior quality is horrible; the door trim is just one example. The plugs from a Renault Megane do work excellent though, now it's almost impossible to take them off But basically it's leaking, squeking, rusting and costing a fortune to keep going but it is just so much fun to drive! Around a twisty road not many cars can keep up! It just needs slightly more power which can be done offcourse with the right modifications

I haven't understood pretty much anything of you link, but this looks like a fast Puma! The standard 1.7 litre was very good (we had a black one with the facelift) but one wonders what could it have been if we got the Racing...

As for parts, well AFAIK the 1.7 litre engine wasn't used anywhere else but in the Puma so that could limits parts availability but in any other aspect is pretty much a Mk3 Fiesta Coupé, isn't it? So you should be fine for parts.

[drakkie]

Originally Posted by Ferrer

I haven't understood pretty much anything of you link, but this looks like a fast Puma! The standard 1.7 litre was very good (we had a black one with the facelift) but one wonders what could it have been if we got the Racing...

As for parts, well AFAIK the 1.7 litre engine wasn't used anywhere else but in the Puma so that could limits parts availability but in any other aspect is pretty much a Mk3 Fiesta Coupé, isn't it? So you should be fine for parts.

The current owner of that vehicle used to develop prototype and racing vehicles for Ford (also the Puma Cup). This was to be a show model for them, however they cancelled the project or something. There were 2 built, 1 is left running with 280 (DIN) hp. It's a real shame us guys on the continent never got the Racing Puma. There are a few imported ones and they seem a blast to drive! It must've been too expensive for them..

Basically the chassis is the same as a Fiesta Mk.4. These kinds of things are easy to come by. Anything other than that; interior or exterior parts, engine parts are a nightmare. For example; a new set of headlights will set you back about €1500 which is more than the cars are usually worth now!

Edit:

Sabine Schmitz has a rather special one for sale:

Ford Puma Cup Nr. 1 mit Straßenzulassung als Sportwagen/Coupé in Barweiler

And yes, I allready went to my bank to get a loan but I must wait a few months for a more fixed income.. Bugger..

[Cyco]

As an aside drakkie, Moscow is in Europe...

[drakkie]

Originally Posted by Cyco

As an aside drakkie, Moscow is in Europe...

Bugger. Your right..

Russia is only partly in Europe though, I think I must have edited my sentence somewhere and f'ed up.

[csl177]

I rather like the styling of theses, the glass shapes and body sections have nice flow. Why was it replaced with the Ka variations?
Same Fiesta platform and mechanicals, but this is a more attractive design.

[Ferrer]

Well small coupes were never very popular, but the folding metal roof convertibles (or more specifically the 206CC) were the final nail in its coffin. The Tigra was replaced by a folding metal roof version and I'd argue that the Puma wasn't replaced at all, despite the StreetKa/SportKa trying to ocuppy the market previously held by the Puma but not very successfully.

All of a sudden everyone had to have a folding metal roof convertible car based on their supermini and so they did it. There was the original, the aforementioned 206CC, but also the Tigra, the Colt C+C, etc. However it was just a fad, since pretty they are all gone by now...

[drakkie]

Originally Posted by Ferrer

Well small coupes were never very popular, but the folding metal roof convertibles (or more specifically the 206CC) were the final nail in its coffin. The Tigra was replaced by a folding metal roof version and I'd argue that the Puma wasn't replaced at all, despite the StreetKa/SportKa trying to ocuppy the market previously held by the Puma but not very successfully.

All of a sudden everyone had to have a folding metal roof convertible car based on their supermini and so they did it. There was the original, the aforementioned 206CC, but also the Tigra, the Colt C+C, etc. However it was just a fad, since pretty they are all gone by now...

What also played a part I think was that when production of the Puma started they had a lot of unused production capacity in Europe. In 2001 this situation had changed. The SportKa used a lot of parts from the Puma.