The Festiva Shogun shoehorned a V6 into a tiny economy hatch — then a cancelled order and the Gulf War recession killed it after just eight were ever built.
Lead trim: Festiva Shogun mid-mounted Yamaha V6 (220 hp)
Ford Festiva Shogun1990–1990
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Ford Festiva Shogun yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactThe Festiva Shogun shoehorned a V6 into a tiny economy hatch — then a cancelled order and the Gulf War recession killed it after just eight were ever built.
In 1990 racer/journalist Rick Titus and engineer Chuck Beck (creator of the Beck Roadster kit car), inspired by the Australian Giocattolo project, started a company called Special Editions, Inc. to build a limited run of 250 Festiva Shoguns powered by a mid-mounted Yamaha V6 sourced from the first-generation Ford Taurus SHO producing 220 hp (164 kW). It was displayed in the Ford tent at the 1990 Monterey Historics and Ford considered supplying SHO engines directly, but the deal fell through after executives test drove the car and found it "a little too raucous"; because it was not an official Ford product, Special Editions had to buy SHOs from dealers and remove the engines, raising the price by over ten percent, and with a cancelled Japanese order and the first Gulf War economy only seven cars (plus the prototype) were built.
Collectors Spotted in the Ford Festiva Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Ford Festiva yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
One published trim in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Festiva Shogun mid-mounted Yamaha V6 (220 hp) | 1990–1990 | V6 | 220 hp | 200 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
Monash University's 2008 safety study gave the second-generation Festiva the same bleak "worse than average" two-out-of-five rating as the first — a more modern car scoring no better in a crash.
The Festiva Shogun shoehorned a V6 into a tiny economy hatch — then a cancelled order and the Gulf War recession killed it after just eight were ever built.
An independent shop built a mid-engined, 220-hp V6 version of the humble Festiva called the Shogun — Ford nearly blessed it officially, but in the end only seven were ever built.
This cheap little Kia-built hatchback quietly sold around 350,000 units in the US under the Ford badge — and gave Kia its first real foothold in America.
Ford's cheap-and-cheerful Festiva had a secret hot version: the GT and GT-X, shown at the 1986 Tokyo Motor Show, packed a unique twin-cam 1.3-litre engine, a body kit and a bonnet bulge.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
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