A Ford Focus Tribute
Here's just a little tribute page I'm making for my dad's old Focus (My dad's in the third picture up above, and making this page is nito93mustang.
It's an Egg Yolk Yellow 2003 Ford Focus ZX3 with the premium package. It had a 5-speed manual transmission, equipped with an in-dash 6-disk CD player, 5-spoke wheels and low-profile Firestone tires, among many other things. My dad bought it on New Years Eve 2002 and payed about $12,000 for it from Bill Collins Ford (Dealership loyalty, traded in the old '95 Pontiac Grand Am SE for credit, and end of the year sales knocked the price down). Sold on the Focus after looking at a Sonic Blue SVT Focus at Bill Collins Ford, he also bought the Focus for it's economical practicality (High fuel economy), but also got a hot fun-to-drive hatchback with a peppy engine and a responsive chassis.
One of the first modifications to it was the installation of a pair of APC altezzas which were bought from Jeg's for $180. They were pretty easy to install (After an hour of fiddling around trying to figure out how to get the stock taillights out :P ) and looked great. They were ordered in the carbon fiber appearance, to compliment the smoked headlights. Another aesthetic that was desired was one of the factory-installed spoilers, black 5-spoke wheels, and maybe a carbon fiber hood.
After the aesthetics of the altezzas was a little more performance to go. Of which was a Flowmaster muffler (Installed by GAP Muffler, which also installed a chrome exhaust tip for free - $190 including labor), a Steeda cold-air intake (Based off the AEM short-ram intake - $170), 8mm Steeda spark wires ($40), and some synthetic oil dropped in. Performance gains were noticable all-around, with better throttle responce and more mid-range pickup (Which help amplified the Zetec's variable valve timing and lift). Installation of the cold-air intake was a breeze, and hood clearance was not an issue either. A bigger throttle body was planned to go on once warrenty ran out.
We also spray-tinted the foglights yellow. In inspiration from modification seen on the MyFordFocus.com forums (Which was also inspired from the Lexus IS300), it was a simple lighting modification with the fog lights that involved a can of Krylon stained glass tint (Which can be found at any arts and crafts store like Michael's for $5 a can). Lay a couple light layers (2-3, since it goes on somewhat thick), and there you have it! Colored fogs! Yellow to match the Focus' paint job on this application, and looks really cool, yet still shines bright. Looks cool even when turned off.
All clean and shiney!
Under a full moon.
Creative photograph from the backseat - Off a store's window down on Bardstown Road.
The Focus with my dad's brother (My uncle) Charley's 2003 Infiniti G35 Coupe.
So in a nutshell, the babbles and bolt-ons were:
�APC carbon fiber altezzas
�5% window tint
�Yellow-tinted foglights
�Steeda cold-air intake
�Steeda 8mm spark wires
�Flowmaster muffler
�2" chrome exhaust tip
�Valve cover lettering/Ford logo colored yellow
Now, would you believe that the little Focus ZX3 you see on this page beat the Viper GTS you see just above this text? Well, it didn't outright beat the Viper, but we had fun messing with this guy! My dad took me and my two cousins to the New Car Show back in 2003. Coming off the grounds of Freedom Hall, and at the light at the front gates, we saw this red Gen-II Viper GTS in the other lane (He was in the right, we were in the left), a couple cars ahead (About 2 to 3). My dad revved his engine at the Viper, but we got no responce at the red light. When it turned green, we got into the Louisville Int'l Airport Terminal onramp heading towards 265 East. We got up beside the Viper, and my dad depressed the clutch while rolling and revved his engine at the Viper. The guy in the Viper responded back this time by giving the throttle a stab and a growl out of the exhaust. Even our Flowmastered Zetec was no match for raw bark of a menacing 10-cylinder! We had space, and we desided to toy with the guy. My dad gunned it, for all the Focus could muster, and we pulled away, but the guy in the Viper did his best to fight his traffic off and chase us down. He kept up from behind us until we narrowly budged out of a traffic hole that blocked the Viper out. After that, we were out in the open, still holding the throttle down in case the guy in the Viper had a chance to catch-up. We got away, though. The story would've been completly different if the guy in the Viper had nudged out of the traffic hole and was with us out in the open! :D
I took this picture, since I was in the back seat. This was taken while on the Airport Terminal onramp, just a few seconds after we had left the light. Escaping that Mopar menace was like narrowly escaping a kill from a tiger!
