Seeing cars made for other markets around the world can be strange, especially if it’s a nameplate that’s sold in the U.S. Things can get weirder if it’s a familiar brand that’s selling something that you’ve never heard of. I came across a machine on Cars & Bids that fit that exact description: the Ford Telstar.
The result of Ford’s longtime relationship with Mazda, the Telstar was Ford’s small car for Asia, Australia, and Africa. If you had to compare it to something sold in the U.S., I’d probably say it’s most akin to the Tempo. For most of the Telstar’s run, it was just a badge-engineered Mazda 626/Capella. But as time went on it gained more unique, Ford-specific styling.
By the time it got to the fifth generation you see here, it was all Ford in appearance, while the underpinnings were all Mazda. It still rode on a platform shared with the 626.
You could have one in a four-door sedan or the wagon you see here. The engines were all sourced from Mazda and were nothing really special. You could have everything from a 1.8-liter I4 up to a 2.0-liter turbo or a 2.5-liter diesel or naturally aspirated V6.
The version you see on Cars & Bids is pretty unique, though. Not only does it have a 197 horsepower V6, but it also has four-wheel drive. You purists might be a bit let down by its four-speed automatic but that’s OK. It also has some of the usual features of cars from this period, like automatic climate control, 15-inch wheels, and a power sunroof. Cars & Bids says this car was originally imported earlier this year into Quebec, Canada. Whoever originally owned it hardly ever drove it, as it has just 47,800 kilometers (which works out to just about 29,800 miles) on the clock.
There’s currently a week left on bidding and this Telstar sits at just $2,000 right now. If things stay that way, this might end up being a pretty cool — and cheap — buy. It’s not a car you’re likely to come across daily.