While our editors traverse the country to find the best content for those magazines, we find other oddities related to the old-car hobby that we really had no place for - until now. With this blog, we're giving you a behind-the-scenes look at what we see and what we do during the course of putting out some of the finest automotive magazines you'll ever read.
It seems British gearheads have rediscovered the first-generation Ford Focus in the past six to eight months. Perhaps the uptick in interest is because a new, super-squinty Focus is forthcoming, and those who remember the original wish to explore the evolution. Or it could be because, in Europe, the Mk 1 is just shy of turning 25 and thus has started its transition from banger to object of nostalgia. Or maybe it's because people have recently determined that Ford hit the nail on the head with the first Focus, building one of the best compact cars of its time.
At least that's the sentiment of several videos of late, which look back fondly at the Mk 1 and note how Ford's staff—specifically Richard Parry-Jones—put the same amount of care and effort into developing this compact car as they would a larger vehicle. The Focus changed how people felt about compacts, for under the exuberant Jack Telnack–led New Edge design was a quality automobile.
See more videos, including one documenting what Richard Hammond had to say about the Focus back when it was relatively new and when Hammond looked like he still had a couple of years of university to finish.
