MK1 FIESTA ZETEC

It may be his first classic Ford project, but Ben Stevens has created a stunner of a Mk1 Fiesta — and planned the build and spec to allow for future upgrades, too.

Eight years in the making, Ben Stevens’ frantic Fiesta is now raring to take on the roads, hillclimb venues and sprint tracks of the UK!

You wouldn’t know it to look at this superbly-executed Fiesta, but this is not only Ben Stevens’ first proper solo project, it’s his first classic Ford, too — and one that’s been cleverly thought-through to allow for future upgrades.

“I’ve been surrounded by old cars and kit cars since I was a kid, though, so I wasn’t exactly going into this build blind,” he reveals. “This is thanks to my Dad, and latterly my mates. I’ve been doing track days with Dad for years, mainly sharing his Zetecpowered Ginetta G20, but I always wanted to build a car of my own that I could do track days, hillclimbs and sprints in — and preferably a Ford at that.”

It was while reading Classic Ford at the infamous Le Mans race weekend one year that Ben decided that the Ford should be Mk1 Fiesta-shaped, and not long after he got back, Ben completed some detective work that turned up a beige 1.1L for sale in Colchester.

“It was a one-owner car with just 35,000 miles on it, and it looked to be in great shape,” Ben recalls, “so we bought it, took it home and I completely stripped it down ready for the build — I thought I’d have it done in six months, but it took eight years!”

Fortunately, this wasn’t down to a massive body restoration the Mk1 subsequently needed — as Ben initially discovered, the metalwork was very good indeed, just needing a couple of small patches, and a new passenger-side wing, carried out with the help of Ben’s mate, Michael. “We also notched and strengthened the crossmember at that point to take the planned five-speed ’box, too,” Ben recalls, “before the long and tedious job of prepping the bodywork ready for paint. This was one of the hardest parts of the build, and in hindsight I should have let the bodyshop do this, but I was determined to do as much as I could myself.”

There was no delay in deciding on what colour to paint the