Welcome to 2015! Along with looking back at the previous 12 months and revisiting some of the events that took place, I thought it’d be fun to also take a look at the most popular posts from the last year and share what you all found the most interesting.

I went through the site’s statistics and found the most-viewed entries that were posted during 2014. For the most part I wasn’t too surprised with the results but the list wasn’t exactly as I had predicted. These are ranked in order of views from the last calendar year, starting with the 5th most popular and carrying on to number 1. Let’s see what made the list!

#5: 1552 Cup Spoiler Review & OEM ST Air Velocity Stack Install (Tie)

First on the list this year is actually two posts, as a tie occurred between the Cup Spoiler review and ST air velocity stack install. This one really surprised me honestly as the air velocity stack was just a quick bit of information about a small piece, whereas the Cup Spoiler review was much more in-depth and the parts themselves were very highly anticipated within the ST community.

Regardless, I’m pleased to see that posts serving to inform about parts made the list as I hope that they provide useful information to owners and help the Mk3 community in any way they can. If a review or install feedback can help an owner make up his or her mind on a new part (for or against) or provide assistance, then it’s job done.

http://officialthreetwenty.com/2014/06/11/fifteen52-cup-spoilers-a-review/

http://officialthreetwenty.com/2014/01/08/install-oem-st-air-velocity-stack/

#4: Silver is the New Black

Next on the list this year is the feature of Solomon’s E90. The matte sedan is a great example of a car that manages to balance – even though it sounds like a contradiction – subtlety with the ability to turn heads, and through all of the modifications has remained completely functional as Solomon’s year-round daily driver. A consistent colour scheme ties everything together and the biggest change of all – the vinyl wrap – was completed by Solomon and a friend, with neither of them having extensive experience.

Solomon as an individual is an enthusiastic member of the local car community and a fellow UCCC staff member. When events like Sunday School and Park and Polish happen, he’s there to show support and be a part. As long as I’ve known him he’s been strictly in the Mercedes/BMW camp as far as his own cars are concerned but that doesn’t mean he only pays attention to those brands. He accepts and appreciates a wide range of cars and that’s always good to see.

http://officialthreetwenty.com/2014/10/17/silver-is-the-new-black-solomons-e90/

#3: The Fiesta ST Project – Part 5

The Fiesta ST project was a consistently popular series on the blog so when Part 5 arrived with the shots of the car following its makeover, not surprisingly it attracted a lot of views. The posts remain as some of my personal favourites on the site as well because of the fact that I was generously allowed access to document the car by Mike, the owner, and by Peter, whose shop I would visit to check it out while it was being worked on. They were both very welcoming and accommodating to me.

Getting the opportunity to see some of the work that went into this car – a new platform, no less – was exciting and I really hoped that following along with what I posted would be interesting, which it certainly seemed to be. I hope that I may get more opportunities like this in the future and that such stories will continue to be well-received by you, the readers.

http://officialthreetwenty.com/2014/06/13/exclusive-the-fiesta-st-project-part-5/

#2: Is that an ST sedan?

Coming in as the runner-up this year is the unveiling of the ST nose on my Focus sedan. After having the swap in the plans for quite a while, and having numerous people suggest to me that I should do it (not knowing that I already wanted to), it happened. With help from a small group of friends I was able to keep the whole thing a secret until the day when it suddenly appeared on the car.

I’ll admit that I expected it to receive more negativity than it has – especially from ST owners – but the response has been great overall. This was a big item on my long-term to-do list and to say the least I was very pleased that it came together so well this year. This was an important modification to me and it would seem that it interested a lot of others as well.

http://officialthreetwenty.com/2014/05/18/is-that-an-st-sedan/

And with that, there’s just one spot left on the list…

The #1 Post from 2014

While some of the other entries were fairly close together in terms of views, there was a clear winner from early on. If I do say so myself I think the story turned out quite well and with the help of a guest photographer I had plenty of great photos to use. It was posted in August, so it wasn’t even up for half of the year, yet it is by quite a wide margin the most popular post of 2014. What is it?

4 Over 5: José’s Mk3 Focus! I would say congratulations at this point, but I won’t – only because there’s one more detail that I should share first. As it turns out his feature is more than just the most popular post from 2014. Going through the stats further, it’s actually the most popular post of the entire blog! In the almost two years I’ve been running this site no single entry has received more views than this has.

José has put a lot of effort into his car and is always looking for ways to further its progress which in turn helps the Mk3 Focus community. He performed the first ever Select-Shift conversion, has addressed all areas of the car, and is constantly changing details here and there and working on new projects. He should be proud of the car he’s building as it is certainly becoming well-known in the community and is one of the leaders when it comes to modifying this platform. Hatchbacks have more cosmetic parts available, and STs have more performance parts available, but he hasn’t let the aftermarket’s relative lack of support for his model stop him and uses the good old DIY approach whenever necessary. As I noted in the last post (A look back at 2014 – Part 2), not only has the car changed since the feature, but José is in fact already working on new modifications for 2015 and shows no signs of slowing.

Congratulations José, keep up the great work!

http://officialthreetwenty.com/2014/08/23/4-over-5-joses-mk3-focus/

-Bill