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After reading the Escort Base model thread I thought I'd share my Escort 1.1 Popular that I have owned for nearly 10 years now. Its proper chod spec and I love it!! I always wanted one of these. When I was a kid my dad had a Sunburst Red Base Model 1.3 (x reg) until about 1998 followed by a mk4 1.4 GL. I always assumed I'd own a Red 3 door Escort mk3 when I passed my test but, that was 2005. My folks helped me with my first shit box which was a £900 Saxo and they wouldnt help to buy an Escort as they thought the ones they had were shite. I was stuck for a while until I was making my own money. Saxo died one Friday and I was looking for a mk3 in Red in a hurry. Didnt happen but I landed a mk5 3 door in Red for work on Monday (2008). I also test drove a Capri 1.6 but we'll come back to that later. During owning this I went to view a mk3 (sunburst red 1.3) that a scrap yard in Manchester had put to one side. Went along with £300 which was what it wasnt selling for on ebay. Fell in love, was told to go home and bid. When I got home they'd taken it down and I was gutted! Even drove back and pleaded with them to sell it me. The bosses son wanted it apparently. Anyway... had the mk5 for years, followed by a Focus when that died, then I was in a position where I was about to make some decent money as a touring musician which meant I could own a second car. Although I was always looking for one of these (still do to this day) one hadnt popped up in Red for 3 years and during the rehearsals for said tour a C reg 3 door 1.1 in Red popped up for sale on ebay. It seemed like it was meant to be so I went down to Peterborough and had a look/test drive. I loved every minute of it and thought it was hilarious at the same time. The steering wheel was so thin, the gear stick really long, the seating position was less sporty than my old mk5. I had to have it. The seller said you've checked it over havent you and happy with it a few times... alarm bells should have rang but it looked fine and solid. Put my fingers under the arch and they seemed solid (should have looked harder as you'll see). Anyway I bought it with my heart and not my head. Enjoyed the summer of 2013 with the medium wave radio cranked and the single centre speaker working its bollocks off then it lived in my Dads garage in the winter. Apologies for the Photobucket watermark on these early pics. As stereo upgrade from medium wave to Cassette medium wave. The following year as I remember it went for an MOT and they poked the little hole I'd found at the bottom of the driver sill, all the way around. Gutted!! This is the time I should have put it back on ebay, especially as on a now defunct Escort forum a guy couldnt sell a Base model 1.6 3 door in terracotta for £600. After a while I found some guys in Stoke-on-Trent who could restore it for me for a reasonable price so in it went... as you can see they found more rot than initially thought. All done! with some new wheels off a Capri, probably killing off all the wheel bearings. This is probably 1/3 of story. Its 2014 at this point. My girlfriend had moved to Glasgow for a new job so I was occasionally using it to go up there (Still had my Focus Estate too). Mainly I used it to listen to the Smiths and Tom petty cassettes round Manchester when back from touring with various bands. At some point it was kicked out of my Dads garage when he bought a Spitfire 1500 in early 2017 and then I took it to London with my later that year when I moved. I'll continue this later on when I have more time. As a long time lurker on here I thought I should maybe share my own tails of automotive woe with you... we havent even got to the Capri yet.