The downtime has come to an end, the months long PHP problem got sorted in a second and today I’ve learnt all about the Ford Laser Indy and it’s staggering choice of colour options.
All three of them.
Let’s dig deeper into this find then Dr Jones!
PHP, why you no update for me?
It was like a minor warning light on your car’s dash you’ve come to ignore over time that you annoyingly discover could be rectified in a heartbeat by swapping out a fuse (but you only learn this months down the road). In this page’s case the PHP code thingy jiggy was outdated.
Which in all honestly wasn’t too much of an issue…right up until everything around it got updated and the new elements decided they didn’t like working with the old code.
(For the less web savvy, think of a newly installed ECU for a fuel injected car coming face to face with twin carbs instead – that visual might help)
It turns out that just a tiny tweak in the back end (seriously, I just had to change a ‘2’ to a ‘4’) and suddenly things are working in perfect harmony once more. Everything updated, the Drive Another Day rig is freshly updated and smells so much the cleaner. Or something along those line. Why oh why did it take this long to figure out?? Oh well, we’re here now.
Just in time for a rare Ford Laser to come across my horizon. And here I was thinking I’d never use the words ‘Rare Ford Laser’ and be not referring to the rally and road weapon that was the Tx3 Turbo.
Nope – welcome to one of 500 Ford Laser Indy’s…
500 Ford Laser Indy’s, 3 options of paint
Like the time that Nissan hoped that Reebok fans would like Pulsars, the Ford Laser Indy was a promotional run of Ford Lasers, used for pace cars for the Indy 500 Race series here in Australia at the time. Which thinking on this as a former Laser owner, the non turbo versions would be absolutely ideal for slowing pretty much anything down because they weren’t exactly known for their blistering pick up or speed.
Being pre-internet early 90s, information on this particular promotional model of the Ford Laser S so if you have any more details, facts or anything else about the Ford Laser Indy, please share with the world below.
What I have gleaned for the one I found for sale today though is the following shared from Facebook Marketplace:
Ford laser INDY car Very rare car It is an ‘INDY’ variant of the Laser S five-door. Mazda engine 1.6l iirc. INDY was a promotional run of 500 cars in Red White and Green colours. They were used as pace cars for a race series in Australia at the time. This colour is ‘Everglade’ Indy Pack inclusions: Bob-tail spoiler Check pattern decals along the doors. Pirelli P600 tyres as standard. TX3 Steering wheel Wheels painted anthracite, to match the lower panel paintwork (silver was standard) The front seats and interior trim were from the following Laser S model’s revised interior
And not only could you see one of these in action during a hectic Indy 500 race, but a keen Laser fan spotted one in an episode of Blue Healers!
So from the information above we know the green choice was ‘Everglade’ but at best guess for the white and red options were, looking up paint codes makes me think the white was more likely ‘Polar White’ over ‘White Satin’ and the bright red more ‘Blaze Red’ than ‘Garnet Red’. More than happy to be corrected though, if you owned one of these variants and remembered the official colour let me know!
And now these side decals make sense! I have seen theml once in a blue moon in the wild, but I had no idea this was the reason for it!
Ford Laser Indy – time to relive the memories?
If you’ve got a spare $1000 and live near Canberra, you too can own a bit of limited Ford Laser Indy history that comes with it’s own empty VB can!
It’s obviously taken a bit of a break since it’s pace car era heyday but it looks like it’s all there with a few bits and pieces of local flora and fauna thrown in for good measure not to mention all the spiders you can eat.
You might need more than just a couple of Everglade touch up rattle cans though and possibly some bug spray to get it somewhere close to ‘cleanish’ but hey, if you felt bad of letting your Ford Laser Indy promotional special go way back when here’s your chance to relive the early 90’s all over again.
In the meantime I’m off to throw more spanners at my PHP just in case I’ve managed to miss another minor update – wish me luck!