Going to Siesta with Fiesta
You never forget your first love. That’s why we, together with enthusiastic car owners, look back on their first car. Some owners give their car a nickname, as does Wouter Herrmann. He named his Ford Fiesta in 1993 after an American presenter, and recently that had an unexpected sequel.
Why did you choose this Ford Fiesta?
“I don’t remember exactly why it became a Fiesta. At the time, many students drove a 2CV. A very nice car, but slightly less comfortable. My Fiesta was just very practical, affordable and I think it had a fresh MOT. I studied physics in Delft and picked up the car somewhere in Rotterdam-Noord. I bought it with about 70,000 kilometers on the odometer for 1,100 guilders, that was one guilder per cc. At that time, the first Tell Sell programs were on television at night and there was also a program called ‘Amazing discoveries’. The presenter Mike, such an American with a badly dubbed voice, always did the most impossible things.
The car was stolen shortly after purchase. What went wrong?
“That’s a very bizarre story. I went to Radio Correct on the Bergweg in Rotterdam to buy a car radio. A little later I came outside and the Fiesta was gone. I thought very carefully, but it really wasn’t my fault. Then I went back inside and said: ‘Okay guys, you can laugh about it, but I’m not laughing. I just bought this thing here, I come outside and my car is stolen. I would like to return the radio.’ That happened then. A few weeks later I received a message from the police in The Hague that Mike had been found somewhere and that I could pick him up. So I did that, but my suitcase with cassette tapes and a bottle of whiskey were gone.”
How was Mike otherwise?
“One of the four cylinders had lost compression, but that had nothing to do with the theft of course. I solved that later with another cylinder head, which I think I bought for 150 guilders at car scrapyard Opdam in Valkenburg. Over the years I have replaced just about everything, but I have only broken down once. The radiator had already leaked four times, but at that moment it was really empty. It was in Rotterdam, I could just roll off the Kleinpolderplein towards Blijdorp to park the car there. I also have an electrical engineering background, so after returning that car radio I built an amplifier myself. Then I connected a walkman to it, this was all hidden in the car.
You also often traveled with the Fiesta. How was that?
“I have been to Copenhagen, Lausanne and three times to Barcelona. I would then visit friends who were studying abroad, for example. On the way to Barcelona we were once with four people in the car. I am quite small myself, but there were also two guys of more than 1.90 meters. We just went 130 km/h on the autoroute, that was a fine cruising speed. There was a roof rack on it and if there was still room, a tool kit was also included for safety. Something did go wrong sometimes, but it was never serious. For example, the starter relay did not work if it was too hot, a well-known problem with old Fiestas.
What eventually happened to the car?
“The current value was zero, so in 1998 I gave it to a friend who was studying in Leiden. At that time I had driven it for about 100,000 kilometers. That friend drove it for six months, then he passed the car on to someone else. Sometime in 1999 the Fiesta went to its final resting place. At the time I got my first lease car, a Peugeot 406 turbodiesel. That was a very luxurious and comfortable touring car. It was the car of someone who had left, so it was actually two classes larger than what I was allowed to lease as a starter. Last year I received a Ford Fiesta from my fellow students, partly because I am terminally ill.