From Fly to Flirt

When discussing the Ford Fiesta and its influence on the motoring culture of Britain for a TV show, we were looking into all forms the car took, the vast nature of the forms the car took from the everyday run around, to the van, to the sporty specs of the STIs and XR2’s, to the rally versions are such an important story to tell and something we knew a bit about, but was hard to find definite information on was the Fiesta Cabrio.

I was in touch with David Matthews about our Fiesta event and he told us about his book ‘The Crayford Fiesta Cabrio Story From Fly to Flirt’ and we purchased a copy right away to aid us in our research. The book is fantastic, the level of detail and research which has gone into this is phenomenal. You can really tell throughout the passion that has gone into this.

Charting the various owners and lives the cars is a really interesting aspect of the book too, it is such a nice touch to be able to see what cars were made and the ownership of them.

The old adverts, stories and pictures throughout really tells the Crayford and Fiesta Fly story so well and it is very interesting indeed. What David has done with the book is make a niche subject very interesting and something that anyone can enjoy.

It helped us a lot with our knowledge of the wider Fiesta story and it is a very good read.

Highly recommend!

Longley ( Betty TV)

David has put together a fascinating and in-depth look into these cars, putting to rest myths and piecing together a very complicated timeline. The level of research is incredible, and the book is packed with photographs and period documents. Highly recommended for any Fiesta or Crayford fan.

James – ProjectBobcat.com

Boekrecensie Van Fly naar Flirt

Na jaren van onderzoek en studie werd dit geweldige boek gemaakt dat David creëerde,

Een heel mooi boek en super gedetailleerd waar een schat aan informatie is vrijgegeven over de geschiedenis van deze bijzondere cabrio. Dankzij Davids tomeloze inzet en de passie die hij heeft, is er een prachtige parel ontstaan die je in je verzameling autoboeken moet hebben.

Na ons eerste contact meer dan tien jaar geleden, begon David met het uitzoeken van de geschiedenis van deze Fly to Flirt conversie waarbij hij veel informatie en brochures vertaalde en contacten legde met alle omringende landen Nederland, België, Duitsland en natuurlijk het Verenigd Koninkrijk.

Ik ben trots op David die dit geweldige boek heeft gemaakt en ik ben blij dat ik er een klein deel aan heb bijgedragen.

Dit boek biedt een schat aan informatie waar je geen genoeg van kunt krijgen, vooral het begin van de geschiedenis van hoe F. English en in de latere jaren in Nederland de bedrijfsava uit Huissen dit voortzette en uitbreidde.

Dit boek is een echte aanrader voor iedere autoliefhebber!!

Ruud Roks Nederland

Book Review from Fly to Flirt

After years of research and study, this great book was created that David created,

A very nice book and super detailed where a wealth of information has been released about the history of this special convertible. Thanks to David's unbridled commitment and the passion he has, a beautiful pearl has been created that you must have in your collection of car books.

After our first contact more than ten years ago, David started figuring out the history of this Fly to Flirt conversion where he translated a lot of information and brochures and made contacts with all surrounding countries the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and of course the UK.

I'm proud of David who made this great book and I'm glad I contributed a small part to it.

This book provides a wealth of information that you can't get enough of, especially the beginning of the history of how F. English and in the later years in the Netherlands the company AGM from Huissen continued and expanded this.

This book is highly recommended for every car enthusiast!!

Ruud Roks Holland

"It is a fantastic book with many informations about the crayford factory and the Fiesta Fly. I love to read it and hope that many other people will buy this book!!"

Andreas Maros

I'm seriously impressed with the book, particularly when I see the many & varied sources that had to be consulted in order to tell the story in such detail. The translated articles from Auto Bild & Auto Visie are particularly welcome as they wouldn't be familiar to too many of us in this part of the world.

While I was aware of the Fly conversions carried out on the Mark 1 Fiesta, I never knew that a similar conversion was carried out on the Mark 2, and the Auto Visie article is particularly interesting for this reason.

The story of the Fiesta cabrio conversions is one that needed to be told as it's more usually treated as a footnote in the story of the Fiesta, despite its obvious interest to Ford enthusiasts.

Séamus Kennedy (Ireland)