I had a Mk1 Orion Ghia Injection in cardinal red. Bought it as an 18th Birthday present to myself. Absolutely loved it, was a great car apart from clutch cables snapping, noisy tappets, valve stem oil seals that used to perish and make it smoke badly, and the £1200 3rd party only insurance (almost double what I paid for the car) back in 1995.
I used to love the Orions. My uncle had a Rosso Red 1.6 GL, E994HRY, from new until 1997 when he replaced it with a 3 year old Radiant Red Mondeo 1.8 LX saloon, L347GBO, which was sadly his last car before his passing in 2001. The heated front windscreen and ABS were very impressive options for the GL in 1988. I'm not sure, but the heated front screen may have been first fitted to the Scorpio just 3 years previous to this car, a forerunner to the 'Quickclear' front screen Ford have been using as standard since the late-'90s.
The good old For Onion, these were cool especially the ghia injection. I had a 1.3 Escort popular 3 door in Rosso red of this time. As much as I loved my escort, I was envious of the higher trim levels. Ford did sell a 2 door version of the Onion in Latin American called the Apollo
I had a ‘87 1.6i Ghia, was two groups lower on the insurance than a xr3i. As a 19 year old made a big difference in ‘91 and my folks thought I was growing up a bit! 😅
The XR3i & Orion Ghia Injection 0-60’s difference was partly aerodynamics & gearing. Believe one was marginally longer in gearing over the other (the XR3i more sprinty short gearing, Orion slightly longer for cruising but this also meant hit 60mph in 2nd/sooner vs a extra gear change required in XR3i to hit 60mph without requiring higher revs any extra up shifts blunts 0-60) and the Orion shape was in fact more aero than the escort due to shape (boot actually improved things bit like the Jetta did over Golf 2 shape).
I believe the back lights on the Orion came from the Cortina mk5. They were identical on the Orion mk1 and then the lenses were made flush with some black styling added on the Orion mk2.
I had to chuckle when you mentioned the descreet badging on the Ghia Injection. Back in the 90's I worked with a guy that had one that was totally clour coded white , bumpers , lower panels etc and had massive blue lettering down the sides , reading "Injection" . Subtle 😅
Mes parents possédaient la magnifique 1,6 D Ghia (gris mercure ) en France 🇫🇷 et la qualité de fabrication nous faisait oublier la poussivité du moteur💙
Believe it or not, I don't think I've ever seen a non-injected Ghia version, most certainly not with its Granada Ghia/mk1 Sierra LX wheel trims. I do like the brightwork around the side glass though, also a feature on the GL.
Yeah I was a bit surprised to see those wheel trims in a catalogue. They must have done 2 revisions over the production. They changed the grill in 1989 I think. And rare models like GLS and 1600E(leather)
@Quarter Light I don't think any car looks good in that colour. It's truly awful. Oh, don't forget the Orion 1600E if you can find brochures on that or the Sierra Sapphire 2000E.
The MK1 and MK2 Ford Orion's were the nicest, the 90's MK3 Ford Orion's were the worst and marked a distinct downturn in quality for the Ford brand, with rust and corrosion on vital parts like suspension axles and trailing arms that would flash up as serious advisories or even fails at mot time which would keep a Ford service workshop in business for months.
So buyers couldn't even specify alloy wheels as an option on the lesser carburettor engined specs. The earliest Orion from 1983 were only available in GL or Ghia spec. The L spec arrived in 1985 iirc. I wonder how many Cortina owners were won over by the Orion?
I’m sure some but I think the Sierra soon caught on. Don’t forget a lot of Cortina’s still being sold at the same time as the newly arrived Sierra so I’m sure that helped the transition
Nice too see this ford Orion.
I had a Mk1 Orion Ghia Injection in cardinal red. Bought it as an 18th Birthday present to myself. Absolutely loved it, was a great car apart from clutch cables snapping, noisy tappets, valve stem oil seals that used to perish and make it smoke badly, and the £1200 3rd party only insurance (almost double what I paid for the car) back in 1995.
I used to love the Orions. My uncle had a Rosso Red 1.6 GL, E994HRY, from new until 1997 when he replaced it with a 3 year old Radiant Red Mondeo 1.8 LX saloon, L347GBO, which was sadly his last car before his passing in 2001. The heated front windscreen and ABS were very impressive options for the GL in 1988. I'm not sure, but the heated front screen may have been first fitted to the Scorpio just 3 years previous to this car, a forerunner to the 'Quickclear' front screen Ford have been using as standard since the late-'90s.
The good old For Onion, these were cool especially the ghia injection. I had a 1.3 Escort popular 3 door in Rosso red of this time. As much as I loved my escort, I was envious of the higher trim levels. Ford did sell a 2 door version of the Onion in Latin American called the Apollo
Interesting- thank you for sharing
❤
I had a ‘87 1.6i Ghia, was two groups lower on the insurance than a xr3i. As a 19 year old made a big difference in ‘91 and my folks thought I was growing up a bit! 😅
Yes insurance grouping made a huge difference at that age.
The XR3i & Orion Ghia Injection 0-60’s difference was partly aerodynamics & gearing. Believe one was marginally longer in gearing over the other (the XR3i more sprinty short gearing, Orion slightly longer for cruising but this also meant hit 60mph in 2nd/sooner vs a extra gear change required in XR3i to hit 60mph without requiring higher revs any extra up shifts blunts 0-60) and the Orion shape was in fact more aero than the escort due to shape (boot actually improved things bit like the Jetta did over Golf 2 shape).
I believe the back lights on the Orion came from the Cortina mk5. They were identical on the Orion mk1 and then the lenses were made flush with some black styling added on the Orion mk2.
They weren’t identical. But very similar. They were lovely and smoked on the Mk1. Rare thing at the time
Don't forget the sierra sapphire cosworth 4x4 borchure in this channel mate
I had to chuckle when you mentioned the descreet badging on the Ghia Injection. Back in the 90's I worked with a guy that had one that was totally clour coded white , bumpers , lower panels etc and had massive blue lettering down the sides , reading "Injection" . Subtle 😅
Well of course you didn’t have to be subtle 😀
I lived in Germany 86~94
I had what they called Orion Ghia Si in 91/92?
I think it was for local market.
It had 195's and a Rear Spoiler
Mes parents possédaient la magnifique 1,6 D Ghia (gris mercure ) en France 🇫🇷 et la qualité de fabrication nous faisait oublier la poussivité du moteur💙
Thank you for commenting and watching
Mother had a Ghia i. In grey
Lovely
I had 2 ….unfortunately I wrote both of them off 😢19 ,20 year young lad
Id like to know how the orions 1.6i brakes were uprated. They mention abs but thats in a separate bullet point.
I think the xr3 was also slightly heavier than the Orion hence the slightly faster 0-60
Believe it or not, I don't think I've ever seen a non-injected Ghia version, most certainly not with its Granada Ghia/mk1 Sierra LX wheel trims. I do like the brightwork around the side glass though, also a feature on the GL.
Yeah I was a bit surprised to see those wheel trims in a catalogue. They must have done 2 revisions over the production. They changed the grill in 1989 I think. And rare models like GLS and 1600E(leather)
Maritime blue, I hated that colour. It was on lots of basic Fords from 1986 onwards.
Yes it was on a lot of low end Fords
@Quarter Light
I don't think any car looks good in that colour. It's truly awful. Oh, don't forget the Orion 1600E if you can find brochures on that or the Sierra Sapphire 2000E.
The MK1 and MK2 Ford Orion's were the nicest, the 90's MK3 Ford Orion's were the worst and marked a distinct downturn in quality for the Ford brand, with rust and corrosion on vital parts like suspension axles and trailing arms that would flash up as serious advisories or even fails at mot time which would keep a Ford service workshop in business for months.
I do also prefer the earlier Orions.
So buyers couldn't even specify alloy wheels as an option on the lesser carburettor engined specs.
The earliest Orion from 1983 were only available in GL or Ghia spec. The L spec arrived in 1985 iirc.
I wonder how many Cortina owners were won over by the Orion?
I’m sure some but I think the Sierra soon caught on. Don’t forget a lot of Cortina’s still being sold at the same time as the newly arrived Sierra so I’m sure that helped the transition
I think I read that because the sierra was a hatchback, this drove the idea for the Orion.
Yea that is true was nice to have another saloon to give Cortina buyers an option - The Sierra Sapphire was a bit late to the party.
Is it all ford cars brochure is available in ebay I can buy mate
Not everything but you will certainly find a lot
Red fuel pipes to injectors etc
If you like Ford
Tell me more z
11th