#fordikon | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

helixhelldragon121 · 3 years

Text

The Diamond in the rough

As a Young work at home middle class man, a Car is something of a need than a necessity. And that couldn't be as true as it sounds.

See, I have a work at home Job and my Sister is a school teacher. And having lost both our parents over 2 years apart, we were needing a way to essentially find a way to honor their dreams of having a Car.

Not that we never owned a Car, but we had a 2019 Tata Tiago. If anything a crucial lesson was learned. Never take advantage of "Moratoriums" during the Covid lockdown. Sadly, we lost it due to other issues. Fast forward to December 2021, Chennai city where we live was hit with a surplus monsoon and my sister's school re-opened. We had the luxury of working at home due to the pandemic, but now that Covid's down, things are getting back to normal, which means schools re-openeing. So, clearly, going on a 160cc Motorcycle wasn't going to cut it, thanks to the meager back aches, pollution, getting wet in sudden rain storms and dust. So, a plan was hatched. We needed a car.

For two months, I was scouring OLX and Facebook Marketplace, looking for a Car with A- Cheap, less than 50,000 rupees, B- Should be a Sedan or a big hatchback C- Should be reliable and have easy serviceability. So, Initially we shortlisted 3 cars. A Hundai Accent, A Ford Ikon and a Maruti Esteem. What happened to those cars? Well the Accent sold before I could contact them, The Esteem was a 2006 LX without the power steering and was pretty beat up. So this lead me to an Interesting post on OLX - a 2005 Ford Ikon 1.3 Flair.

Yup, A KA Registered, 3rd owned Ford Ikon. At the time, I was purusing the sellers of this car, I had to drive to the other end of the city only to get dismayed. According to its seller, the car's been sitting idle for 3 months, and has a flat battery. So, seeing that I drove that far and the Lax nature of the seller, we decided to drop the idea for this car. I even did my homework, finding the cost of reparing the body and such. But we decided it wasn't worth the trouble. Anyway, Moving on, after being disappointed, We came accross and Ad on Facebook. someone was selling their Ford Ikon and it was an "Urgent Sale" since the person needed to fulfill an obligation of his. He was asking for 65,000 Rupees for the car but it was negotiable. Seeing that, I decided to ping him on Facebook Marketplace and scheduled a Test drive the next day. Upon Arrival, I saw her.

a 2002 Ford Ikon with the 1.6 Ztec engine. It had the OE Alloy Wheels , no fog lamps and a Stuck Right rear passenger door and a Stuck trunk. Test driving the Ikon, it was smooth as silk, pick up was astonishing, with a few niggly little problems, like the Alignment of the steering being off. I was in love with the engine, but my god, the body... That is a whole different story.

There are rust pactches, smaller dings, the rear was beaten up...

But, the Seller had agreed to come down from 65,000 to 53,000. At the time I only had 40,000 in hand. So I asked him to give me some time to raise an additional 53,000. Luckily we had a break and was able to raise it, and... I took delivery after paying for the car.

First order of business of course, was to get her washed. And taking her to the Car spa. And after the wash, she looked stunning. Even if she had lots of damaged body areas, she was glimmering in the sun. And that told me, that she truly is a "Diamond in the Rough" She just needs to be perfected and that is my mission. My logic is that cars like this, where the Manufacuter has abandoned this country and has left its cars behind, It makes sense, because in its heyday, a Ford Ikon was considered a full sized Sedan. And with this car having the 1.6 Zetec, she's packed a punch. And so far, its good. I'm looking to make her the best looking Ford Ikon in this City, and give her a second lease of life. There will be challenges, in terms of parts and so on, but I'm willing to take risks. Lets see what we can do.

#car #fordfiesta #fordikon #restoration #bodywork

1 note · View note