Seeing automobiles made for different markets world wide might be unusual, particularly if it’s a nameplate that’s bought within the U.S. Things can get weirder if it’s a well-known model that’s promoting one thing that you just’ve by no means heard of. I got here throughout a machine on Cars & Bids that match that precise description: the Ford Telstar.
The results of Ford’s longtime relationship with Mazda, the Telstar was Ford’s small automobile for Asia, Australia, and Africa. If you needed to evaluate it to one thing bought within the U.S., I’d most likely say it’s most akin to the Tempo. For a lot of the Telstar’s run, it was only a badge-engineered Mazda 626/Capella. But as time went on it gained extra distinctive, Ford-specific styling.
By the time it obtained to the fifth technology you see right here, it was all Ford in look, whereas the underpinnings have been all Mazda. It nonetheless rode on a platform shared with the 626.
You might have one in a four-door sedan or the wagon you see right here. The engines have been all sourced from Mazda and have been nothing actually particular. You might have every thing from a 1.8-liter I4 as much as a 2.0-liter turbo or a 2.5-liter diesel or naturally aspirated V6.
The model you see on Cars & Bids is fairly distinctive, although. Not solely does it have a 197 horsepower V6, but it surely additionally has four-wheel drive. You purists may be a bit let down by its four-speed computerized however that’s OK. It additionally has a few of the common options of automobiles from this era, like computerized local weather management, 15-inch wheels, and an influence sunroof. Cars & Bids says this automobile was initially imported earlier this yr into Quebec, Canada. Whoever initially owned it infrequently drove it, because it has simply 47,800 kilometers (which works out to simply about 29,800 miles) on the clock.
There’s at present every week left on bidding and this Telstar sits at simply $2,000 proper now. If issues keep that manner, this may find yourself being a fairly cool — and low-cost — purchase. It’s not a automobile you’re more likely to come throughout day by day.
Source: jalopnik.com