How often do you see one of Fords older sporty models that is so clean that you could actually eat your dinnner off it without fear of catching anything? Not often is the answer which is in part what makes Andy's 1600i Orion that bit more special...

...Absolutely everything on this car is absolutely mint and I can assure you the pictures really don't do it justice.

The mods that have been added to this "concours" example have been carefully selected for a reason and really make this Orion stand out from the others.

Andy acquired the car through a neighbours insurance pay out and remembers it very well as in his younger days he used to clean it at weekends for pocket money!

When he finally managed to purchase it, it had done a rather minimal 43k miles on the clock and had full ford service history to boot so was an absolute bargain as well as being absolutely mint too!

Andy has chosen to keep the white look to go with the pristine Diamond White paintwork by replacing the front, side and rear indicators wth clear variants that modernise and freshen up the Orions looks.

An RS boot spoiler now sits pretty on the Orions rear end to add that sporty touch and that nicely rounds off the main exterior modifications...

Inside, a mint pair of '90 spec RS turbo Recaros can be found, these ones really are pumped up on some banned substance as they hug you like mad. Door cards have been trimmed to match and the Recaros look like they were meant to be there from the factory.

Autostyle mats keep the neat and crisp interior going and this along with the Vacum gauge mounted in dash rounds off the interior.

Andys chosen to drop this fine example a little, but nothing too drastic as to keep road comfort, a -25mm drop can be observed courtesy of Spax uprated shocks and lowering springs and help to sit the rest of the chassis nicely over the fully refurbished Cosworth snowflake alloys.

The under bonnet area is as clean as the rest of the car, with everything looking virtually as if it left the factory, that is of course except for the little things like the exhaust heat wrap on the Ashley manifold.

It doesnt just look nice though, a full Piper 285 Cam kit and Adjustable Vernier are fitted along with a Pipercross air filter and the aforementioned Ashley manifold and full system. This combined with such a mint engine has given Andy a dyno proven 125bhp @ the flywheel which is very good going indeed.

Obviously virtually no modded car would be complete without a dash of In Car Entertainment and these two monsters adorne Andy's boot...fed from a Kenwood headunit via a Longmill amp they give off quite a healthy thump! Thats not to say he is a bass head by any means!

So there we have it a very tastefully modified Orion that goes well, sounds sweet as a nut, and is so clean that even the NHS would approve of its hygiene levels!

Watch out though as Andy currently has his eyes firmly set on turbo power, and as it is a fairly straight forward task to drop in, it wont be long before we no doubt hear the ptisshh of a dump valve!

1600i, Piper 285 Cam kit and Vernier Pulley, Pipercross Air Filter, Ashley manifold and system with heat proof wrap, Ford Motorsport leads and Bosch super 4 plugs