Official Ford Product Letter-

 

Ford issued a Product Letter dated 18th March 1999, subject 'Puma 'ST160' - Ford Racing Conversion.

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The letter outlined the Puma 'ST160' program and authorised in-house actions required to release the 'donor' car which were to be built in the Niehl production facility.

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The letter outlined that Ford Racing (formerly Ford Motorsport) planned to offer a special, low-volume version of the Puma as a customer conversion based on a production 'donor' car. The conversion was to be conducted by Tickford, based on a donor cars supplied by the Niehl plant.

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The donor cars would have certain components deleted to reduce the cost of the conversion and that some new trim items would be added to assist in the conversion logistics.

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The letter summarised the following specification-

• 1.7 engine uprated to 160PS (stII) & IB5  transmission with limited-slip differential

• Larger wheels / tyres / revised suspension

• Widened wheel arches to suit

• Sparco rally seats & matching trim

• Imperial Blue paint - corporate Motorsport colour

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The letter explained how the program would not need Homologation; 'As an aftermarket conversion, this program does not require full WVTA approval. The plan is to obtain 'pre-registration enhancement' approval for the Britain and low volume approval to Stage II emissions for Germany.'

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The 'Donor' Car specification was as follows-

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Deleted items:

• Bumper - Front

• Bumper- Rear

• Rear quarter trim panels (2-off)

• Alloy Wheels - Replaced by steel wheels

• Fuel filler flap door

• Spare wheel - Memo: Aerosol inflator to be supplied with conversion by Tickford

• Spare tyre

• Carrier assy

• Drivers seat

• Passenger seat

• Rear seat

• Wheel house liners front & rear

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Added items:

• Wheels (4-off steel) - 1.4 Puma 15 inch steel wheels (no covers)

• Drivers seat

• Passengers seat - Replaced by Sparco racing seat set

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Other:

• Components required in Imperial Blue*

• Door mirrors

• Door handles

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*Memo: Citrus Gold has been deleted from 2000MY colour & trim line up - Imperial Blue is contained within original total of 9 colours for 2000MY

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Understudy:

Limited Slip Differential (c/o Escort Turbo) assumed to be fitted by Tickford

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Program Overview-

 

The planned markets as were Britain and Germany, further minor markets were being considered but were to be authorised by separate direction. The volume was planned as being 1000 units over a 12 month period, planned production was at a rate of 20 per week, plans were also in place to extend the span by 6 months if the demand was good.

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Timing; Job#1 was planned for mid October 1999 at Tickford for Britain and the end of November 1999 for Germany. Job#1 relied on the donor car being ready from the Niehl plant by September 21st 1999

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Pre-production cars-

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The eagle-eyed will noticed that again there are differences between the car rendered in the pre-production photographs to the right and the final production vehicle these include-

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• Black wing mirror covers; production cars came with body coloured mirror covers in Imperial Blue

• The wheels have a deeper concave in the middle around the wheel nuts; possibly due to a change in supplier

• Badges on the rear quarter windows had the Puma logo underneath the Ford Racing logo

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