Hybrid How-To No. 13: Ford Festiva Chassis, Mazda B6T Engine
What and why Ah, the pleasures of driving a shitbox. The
excellent parking opportunities. Invisibility. Complete
disregard at the appearance of door dings, bird shit or faded
paint. And what better shitbox than the Festiva?  The name
Festiva evokes bad cruise line commercials from the '80s and was
certainly emblematic of the economy at the end of the decade of
decadence. Ford needed something to buy it lots of pollution
credits to offset the production of extremely profitable trucks
and the then beginning SUV hemorrhage. "What better than a car
that averages 40-plus mpg?" Ford whispered across the bed to
Mazda, which designed a car actually produced by KIA, using
Mazda engines. Festivas even have a little "Made in Korea"
sticker on the firewall similar to those on cheapo Walkmen, my
favorite feature of the car.  The Festiva was made forever cool
in 1990 as the recipient of the Taurus SHO V6 powertrain, RWD
and massive box flares when Rick Titus and