Tom Hughes’ modified Mk2 Ford Focus
Looking at Tom’s slammed Focus today, it’s clear that it’s come a long way since he first bought it as a totally standard car.
The tale begins back two years ago when Tom sold his Citroén C2 to fund the Mk.2 Focus he’d always fancied. Part of the reason he wanted a Focus so badly was because he’d never seen one styled in the way he planned. His other big motivation was to prove his pals in the Midzmodified club wrong.
“I was known in the club as the guy that always has car trouble, no matter what I tried to do about it. It was kind of a running joke, so I wanted to prove that I could makes a good car,” smirks Tom.
After buying the Focus, he was anxious to attend the first show of the season in his new purchase, but knew he couldn’t turn up in something bog standard. So he set about planning how to up his game, which he has, quite significantly.
“I’d always wanted an air-ride system, but couldn’t afford one when I had the C2,”
he explains, “ and I’d already started saving money for it too.” He’s also keen to point out that this car isn’t a credit card baby.
Instead he’s worked hard and saved up the cash for any parts he wanted or needed. “It would have been finished a lot sooner if I’d taken out a loan, but it’s much more rewarding to do it this way,” admits Tom.
It wasn’t long before Tom had saved the pennies, well the £2500, the kit costs and booked the Focus in for the conversion. “I’m well chuffed with it!” Tom reports, “and to my knowledge it’s the first Mk.2 Focus in the UK to have the system fitted.”
The air suspension allows this Focus to be dropped to just 10mm off the floor, which gives the incredibly low stance he was after. But it can also be raised up so the car is still drivable. In fact, Tom actually uses it as his daily, and bearing in mind he’s a bricklayer by trade and has actually carried bricks, bags of sand, and cement in the back of his Focus, the air-ride suspension has actually proven to be a worthy mod.
With the stance sorted, a new set of Calibre wheels fitted and a few Photoshop sessions with his mates, Tom settled on a new look for the Ford. He went for ST front and rear bumpers, but with the front fog lights smoothed over, and the rear fog and reverse lights smoothed so they are flush fitting.
The only thing left untouched was the innards, but Tom found a full interior from a Mazda RX-8 for just £150. He then faced the task of making the Mazda seats fit the Ford subframes.
“I had a mate make me some custom subframes that bolted directly to the Focus floor and then to the RX-8 seats,” recalls Tom. Although it was a ‘right pain in the arse’ to do Tom has to admit it that it has really finished the car off nicely.
There was only one thing Tom wasn’t happy with – he had nowhere to put his iPhone. “I was looking at the centre armrest one day and thought to myself ‘I could make my phone fit in there’. So I pulled the armrest out, made a hole in it and started playing around with it.”
The new armrest is finished in black suede and Tom’s phone fits neatly into the custom recess. It’s also hooked up to the headunit, and completes the mods on this sweetly styled Ford. Job done, we’d say.
TECH SPEC FORD FOCUS Mk2
TUNING
Full custom Ashley hidden exhaust system; painted and airbrushed engine bay and underside of the bonnet.
STYLING
Full respray in darker shade of Tonic Blue, smoothed Focus ST front bumper with fog lights removed; gloss black grille; Focus ST aftermarket front splitter, ST side skirts, modified and smoothed Focus ST rear bumper so that rear fog and reverse lights are flush fit; smoothed rear badge recess; gloss black roof, spoiler and mirror caps in vinyl wrap; fully colour- coded all round, Team Heko wind deflectors; window tints; Angel Eye headlights; L.E.D rear brake light; smoked side repeaters; smoked rear lights and fogs; rear wiper and badges removed.
CHASSIS
Mazda RX-8 leather seats mounted on custom subframes; rear seat plastics sprayed to match the colour of the car; custom false floor around air-ride tank wrapped in gloss black vinyl.
INTERIOR
Mazda RX-8 leather seats mounted on custom subframes; rear seat plastics sprayed to match the colour of the car; custom false floor around air tank; air-ride tank wrapped in gloss black vinyl; air-ride gauges and switches mounted in custom panel in centre console; ST shifter; Plasma dials; custom panel for volt gauge; Sparco pedals; flocked pillars, black headlining & sun visors; custom interior lighting; custom armrest modified to suit iPhone.
AUDIO
Kenwood double-din head unit, Inphase sound system.
