The Ford Escort 1968-2000

[warren t claim]

I think that all of us at some point have either owned or driven at least one Escort in our driving lives.

 

Most of us should have a tale or two to tell about Scrote ownership so let's hear them!

 

The last Hailwood Hottie I owned was an estate purchased from CAVCRAFT for scrap+tax value and I must say it wasn't a bad car at all. It towed a large car trailer with a Mk1 Fiesta on the back with ease and was surprisingly refined and comfortable. I even managed to fit two fridges in the back with room to spare. As a bonus I made a drink on it when I sold it a couple of months later.

[ashmicro]

I had a mark 1 1300GT 4 door which I swapped for my hateful Mini. Lost they keys for it, scrapped it. I still regret doing that, it was complete

 

Happier story with a mark 2, 2 door L. Painted it yellow, and me and a mate lobbed in a 3528 Rover on SU's, Jag 3 speed auto and a modded 420G rear axle. 10 inch wide rear wheels! Made quite a bit of money off that one. The bloke I sold it to got locked up for shooting his sister's boyfriend.

 

Had a 1977 Mexico mark 2 in Sunburst. I bought it with 2 incorrectly jetted Webers and a wanker exhaust. Put right and sold on for twice what I paid.

 

Mark 3 RS1600i died of terminal rust, replaced it with a mark 3 XR3 carb, in turn traded in for a 1988 XR3i. The 3i was white....

 

My fave was the 1987 1.3 Popular 4 door in maritime blue. It came with factory fit front spots a la Onion Ghia/XR3i, and looked like a cop car. Eventually gained a Onion Ghia interior, Onion Ghia Injection engine and box, Bigger brakes (I think from a Sierra, can't remember now) RS turbo suspension and RS Turbo 90 rear spoiler. I had a pic of it on PhotoFuckit, but it's gone for some reason.

 

I always liked the basic honesty of the Escort (esp the mark 3 and 4) and they were easy to work on, bits were cheap. When I had the blue one there were 5 more in our street of 12 houses.

 

I had a 1993 "Mark 5" very briefly. It was given to me gratis by a mate who was off to South Africa. Alas, it was knackered.

[trigger]

Some Escorts i have owned.

 

My first one was this 1990 Eclipse back in 1998, Bloody nice car, I colour coded the bumpers and fitted Orion Ghia alloys, It cost me about £2500 IIRC.

 

My old Ford Escort 1.3 Eclipse by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

My old Ford Escort 1.3 Eclipse by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

My next one was this 1995 1.6 Si, I really loved this one, again paid about £2500 for it back in 2001, Had some fun in it until i crashed it whilst being made to deliver some car parts in it for the motor factors i worked for, I'd only been in the job a few weeks and got told that if i didn't deliver the parts in my car I'd get the sack, as you can imagine the shit really hit the fan when i crashed it, The assistant manager had a fight with the manager and 2 computers as well as a cup of tea got thrown across the office and the Assistant manager left!.

 

My Old Ford Escort 1.6 Si by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

My Old Ford Escort 1.6 Si by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

I had this 1.8 TD 4 door for a brief while off my dad, it had done over 120k back in 2002ish but went like a rocket!.

 

My old Ford Escort 1.8TD LX 4-Door by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

Another one i had for a while, this must be around 2003 time, The idle speed control valve played up so the car hunted resulting in my wife driving it into a wall...

 

My Old Ford Escort 1.6 LX by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

My Old Ford Escort 1.6 LX by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

Now onto last year and the one's I'm sure most of you remember, This Mk4 came to me from Spottedlaurel, 1 lady owner from new and 45000 miles on the clock, it only cost £300, Spent another £300 fixing the wheel arches and battery tray, It was like a show car when i finished, I wish i kept it longer now as it was so nice and it's now showing as untaxed since January making me think it's been written off..

 

1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL Mk4 by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

And this was my last one, bought from a car show for £500 with only 43000 miles, it was unbelievably tidy, Sold it for £800 but now shown as exported, I'm guessing it's in Ireland.

 

1984 Ford Escort 1.3 L Mk3 by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

Both my Escorts Together by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

[Guest]

Had a few "eccys" and the best were the mk1 and 2's in the 90's before the prices went through the roof. Sad that a car built and sold cheaply to get the family man on the road priced out fans later on in life Wish I had kept my old 1300 XL.

 

100% standard when I owned it even down to a dealers sticker in the rear window. These pictures were taken 6/7 years after I sold it and have since been told its in bits in Nottingham.

[garycox]

I had a '72 Mk1 1300XL 4dr, paid £800, spent a load of money on it, never drove it, stored at for ages and then sold it at a big loss (£300!).

 

My second Escort was a '92 Mk5 1.4LX, which was OK, not particularly interesting though, all I can really remember about it was that it was slow and the steering was very heavy.

 

Third was the '91 Mk5 1.6 Cabriolet I had recently. The less said about that the better.

[Cavcraft]

First one I had was a 1981 Mk3 in yellow with red doors and a massive oil leak. I only got it because I was offered it in part-ex with money my way for a Mk5 Cortina Ghia I was selling and the Escort I got was probably the cheapest Mk3 in Britain at the time.

Wasn't a bad car at all (aside from oil leak) and felt fairly modern at the time and found a new home in a flash, the 'phone never stopped ringing.

 

Didn't have another Escort foa few yaers after that then had various Mk4/5/6/7 (whatever they went up to) and to be frank the newer they got the worse they were. Ran round in a an early (H or J) Mk5, a basic 3 door thing which was desperately slow and rattly but had a little charm.

Anything newer I cannot stand now to be frank and I see them as one of those cars that are at the very bottom of the pile, a real 'desperation' job whereby the only possible reason to own one would be because it was the only car in your budget at the time.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I've not had many of these, though I did have a B-reg 1100 3-dr popular which was the most hateful crock of shite I have ever encountered, TOTALLY rotten at about 8 years old, chassis, inner wings, outer wings, everything. Hopeless.

[scaryoldcortina]

I have had many, many escorts from mk1 to mk7 and EVERY one has been a hateful crock of rusty, leaky unreliable shite. Admittedly, the day has yet to pass when I pay more than a ton for one, but still, I've had better talbot horizons.

 

Only just though.

[dollywobbler]

I've never owned an Escort. In fact, I've only owned two Fords ever - a Mk2 Fezza and the Maverick. I've driven a Mk1 1300 (nice but undergeared and not very exciting) and a MkIII RS 1600i (nice and brisk and not very exciting) but that's about it. I did get regular passenger rides in my aunt's Escort vans over the years - I loved the school holidays. Was MkII vans at first, then MkIII, MkIV and MkV. I still really like the look of the MkV van before they went all facelifty on it.

 

Here's the RS1600i. One of my fave shots.

 

And a Mk5 Escort van. Beautiful.

[RobT]

mk4 1.6GL I bought off a mate for £50 12 years ago. It had been his Dad's car and was a minter until he got hold of it (bloody awful driver he is) and when I got it it had a dent on every panel. But, it did me for a year no trouble and the gearing meant you could easily do a ton in 5th on the motorway. Turning circle was ruddy terrible though.

 

Also a mk5 'GTi'. Looked nice and had been cared for by the one owner from new, but was a pretty dull, uninspiring car to drive. Except for the day when I had a rear tyre blow on the outside lane of the M40 Car snaked about a bit but I managed to coax it into the hard shoulder without too much drama.

 

If I had another I'd quite fancy a mk3 Ghia.

[Spiny Norman]

It's funny, but in all the 50-60 cars I've owned, none of them has been an Escort of any shape whatsoever.

In fact I've only ever owned one Ford, a 1982 Sierra which I had for precisely a week before stuffing it into another Sierra.

 

A few mates have owned various Escorts but I doubt I've driven any of them more than a mile or two at the most, I just don't do Fords.

[AndyW201]

Fords played a big part in the family.

 

FathaW201 owned a mk1 Consul as his first car, followed by a couple of Vauxhalls, then a mk1 Cortina and a 105E. So it was only a mattter of time before an Escort would appear.

 

His first was RUB 493G, an early pale blue 1300 super estate. We have a pic somewhere of it. Only about 4 years old, but already with flat paint and a 5 inch underseal tidemark around it. It appears Fatha also removed the bumpers for that 'sporty' look... Then came a couple of Avengers, but he was seriously stung by the second one and ended up out of pocket, so went down quite a few reg's and went back to what he knew...

 

PTO 715M was a Sahara beige 1300L estate, which came cheap for my uncle, who bought and sold a few cars. It will have been about 8 years old and had evidently had paintwork, but looked really tidy and was unfailingly reliable. We had that car 3 years and went all over in it. MuthaW201 scraped the side of it on the front of my cousin's mk3 Cortina GXL, which caused a large dollop of 'loy to fall out of the rear arch, so it went into a family friend's garage for a bit of panelbeating and a new arch panel. He didn't have any beige paint in, so the car got a strange two-tone paint job, with the original beige covering the bonnet, roof and tailgate, and the sides, up to the coke bottle swage under the windows, was done in Roman Bronze metallic, it actually looked really nice. When it got traded in for a new Nissan Sunny in 1984, a local window cleaner bought it (for a bargain £295, I remember seeing it in the Nissan dealers ad in the local rag!) and used it for a while as a van, with the rear windows covered up...

 

Next Escort was D944 FPY, a Rosso red Mk4 1.3 popular 5 door, bought new from Tristar Nesham in Middlesbrough. A great car, never let us down either. Fatha pimped this one up with a set of Ford mudflaps, a set of 'L' wheel trims and a side rubbing strip. (I think he was trying to make it look like an L...)

 

After a while, and a few Rovers and Vauxhalls, he returned to the fold with style! (IMO...) With N51 VAJ, a mk6 1.6 Mexico 3 door, in the best colour for a sporty Escort at the time, Tourmallard green. I really liked the mk6 Mexico, though no one else seemed to at the time, especially the OSF magazines and the mk1 and 2 fans. One day I aim to own one, in the smae colour as Fatha's.

 

Next was P371 JVN, probably my favourite, a 1.6 Si 3 door in Aubergine. One of Fatha's favourite ever cars too. But that was his last Escort. He did fancy a Focus, but then the big arse Megane came out and that was that...

 

My first Escort ownership experience was my second car. A247 CJR was a 1.1 popular 3 door in Porcelain blue, and looked for all the world like a panda car. It didnt go badly, as long as the timing and points were regularly kept right, but the old 1.1 valencia engine wasn't the best option for the mk3. Generally, it was a shit car, and at times, hopelessly unreliable. But it was vey tidy bodily, and would annoy my MOT tester mate with how solid it was. I think it must have been one of the German shells. Someone ran into the side of it and drove off, so a door off a heavily shunted XR3 was hurriedly sprayed and put on, and a set of alloy wheels from a Capri S were put on as well. It also got the obligatory (at the time) Lombard RAC Rally windscreen sunstrip! Mmmm nice...

 

While I was pissing about with new cars Max Power stylee, I had a hankering for something old school. I regularly used to see a nice looking mk1 Escort in use in Hartlepool. And one day a for sale sign appeared. That car stood at the side of the road for weeks, so one day, I stopped and had a look. The sign said £400! Even back in 1996, mk1s were starting to attract silly money so I said I'm having it. I walked out of the seller's house having actually paid £275! Brings me to tears thinking about it... VLY 484M was a Daytona yellow 1300L 4 door. Genuine 76,000 on the clock (not bad for a 22 year old), with it's original bill of sale to an old girl from Essex. However she must have been a bit of a gal, because the car was ordered with the GT spec servo'd discs, and one of the many hundreds of invoices showed that in 1978, it had a set of ROstyles and GoodYear Grand Prix S rubber fitted! By the time I got it, it had a 1600 mk2 engine and box fitted, mk2 Ghia seats, RS 4 spoke alloys and a fruity exhaust, with a 4-2-1 manifold. It was dead solid too, wings, doors and rear panel had all been replaced, and the Ziebart from new had done it's job elsewhere. It needed a servo because the engine died when the brakes were applied. A replacement was got from a rotten 1300E in a breakers in Stanley. A rear quarter light was found in Gateshead. Sadly I was doing two jobs at the time and didnt have much time to do anything to it except getting it running nicely and getting the couple of bits it needed to finish it. Luckily the story had a happy ending because I ended up selling it to the previous- but-one owner, who had originally restored and modified the car and was a proper mk1 nut. But I cant believe I bought a solid mk1 for £275 and bastard sold it!!!

 

Other experiences were through work. First was a plain white povo spec early mk5 (J419 VHN I think) I drove occasionally for a company I worked for, doing deliveries. Powered by the old 1.8 non turbo dizzler. A truly dismal car but appealing in a shite way, and I quite liked the farty exhaust note. My own mk3 1.1 felt like a flying machine in comparison...

 

A couple of years later, I started work for a taxi company. As the newbie, I was given the grottiest car! The worst car I have driven in my life. Okay, it wasn't technically an Escort, but it was an Orion. And it was a fucking heap of shite. E490 DCN had already been owned by two other companies, and was mercifully due to be retired under the 6 year rule. The 1.6 dizzle was gutless (after 270,000 hard miles), 3rd and 5th gears would diappear and come back, and the lovely rattle can white finish went well with the red paint under the bonnet and the door shuts. Went to a local breakers when it got retired. Was not missed.

 

Eventually, I ended up working for another firm. The owner was a Ford fan (he had owned a few tasty Mk1 Escorts himself, and helped me work on mine), and had a few Sapphires and a couple of Mondeos. (along with for some reason, two very late M reg Montegos). To cope with a sudden rush he bought a couple of 2 year old mk5 Escort 1.8 dizzler estates cheap. It said something that most of the drivers preferred to drive one of the old Sapphires to a newer Escort. So, as a new lad, what did I get? To be fair, L346 GAW was quite decent. It was at least L spec, so it had a sunroof, central locking, electric windows etc, and drove quite well for it's high mileage. (Was obviously desirable, because it was carjacked at gunpoint one night, and never seen again!)

But for most of my early shifts, I was saddled with L932 YJU, the povo spec. Horrible. Couldn't be more different to the other one. That farty exhaust note wasn't as entertaining when it was echoing around the back of an estate! A radio cassette was it for the equipment list, and at only 2 years old, it had ridculous amounts of surface rust on the bottoms of the n/s doors, and nasty poundland wheeltrims. It was eventually given a mid life facelift with some Ghia seats, Orion Ghia pepperpots and a respray, but then I got 'upgraded' to a Mondeo soon after, so didn't have to suffer the bastard thing again...

 

So, good and bad experiences, but I can't help but have a soft spot for the old 'scrote, and still find myself regularly looking for '95 Mexicos on ebay...

[Pete-M]

Escorts, y'say?

 

2nd car I bought was this. A bit of an oddity, 1970 job with a 1600 x/flow. It didn't survive. The engine went on to power a few more Escorts though.

 

 

Not much later I had this, which needed epic amounts of welding. Which it had.

 

 

A few months later I graduated to RS's. This cost me £800 in November '89 I think it was. Great car, but I kept blowing up engines by ragging it mercilessly. Eventually swapped it for a Mk1 Mexico fitted with a Guy Croft Fiat Twink.

 

 

May '92 and I felt the urge for another Mk2 RS2000, so bought this.

 

 

Over the years I've probably had 15-20 Mk2 RS2000s, two or three Mk1 Mexicos, a couple of boggo Mk1s, a random splattering of Mk2s of most varieties, one Mk5 RS2000, an A plate XR3i and a Y reg RS1600i (fitted with a heavily breathed on RS Turbo engine).

 

 

Least enjoyable of 'em all was a P reg diesel 55 van.

I really don't get on with FWD Escorts, the Mk5 RS wasn't a bad car at all, but the rest are nothing special at all in my view. It's as if Ford were trying to make something drive as badly as a Vauxhall when they made the FWD stuff. They succeeded.

[PhilA]

Never owned any Escorts, again only ever had one Ford, a Transit B417 WYK with 40,000 miles on from new- drove well, for a van. Compared to the Escorts I've driven.. Well.

First was a C-reg mk3 Laser in I-forget-the-shade blue. Looked the business back in the day, 10 years old, all shiny.. But when the rust began to set in (especially on the driver's side roof at the back) it was all buffed up, shined, polished, with the obligatory 90's TSW Venom wheels, the next morning it was discovered on blocks on the wrong side of town, courtesy of some joy-riders.

That spurred my mate's purchase of an equally rusty Onion 1.6i Ghia which smelled of damp and magic trees. Big booming exhaust, cut springs, all the de facto parts. Ended up being sold after partly completing an RS Turbo conversion.

The completely forgettable, uninspiring, rusty, rattly, noisy badly put together pile of feces that was his mk5 "GTi" spent more time off the road collecting moss than it spent moving him from A to B. Regularly rescued him when the electronics didn't want to make the engine run.

That saw the end of the Escorts there, but I went on to working up at the airport and the works van was a 1.8 Diesel M-reg 55 which was bloody awful. Rebuilt the motor after the timing belt idler exploded on the M5. Went on for a year after that, whereby the MoT fail sheet was 2 pages long. Good riddance. That was an abortion of a vehicle.

Briefly drove a Mercury Topaz which is a US-spec Escort with some glitzy chintz glued on. Again, horrible. Went well with the 1.9 but.. yuck.

 

Can't say I miss them.

[155V6]

I've had 2 Mk 1s,the 1st was an early 2 door with square headlights.It had a 1600 ohv bored out to about 1700 & really flew,but liked eating gearboxes.I fitted heavy duty van rear springs,Capri struts & RS 2000 front springs & made it sort of handle.I also put round headlights & 4 Cibies on & painted it matt black,this was in 1988 though so wasn't that common then.It eventually got broken for parts when the Mot run out as I'd got bored of it & went back to Cortinas.The 2nd one was a basic late(N reg)2 door with drums all round.This was bought as spares for the 1st one,but when I discovered that nothing would fit,we took it up the woods & smashed it up by driving it into trees & left it where it got stuck in a gully.This was quite a solid car & would of sold for a small fortune now .The other Escort experience I had was a Mk 3 estate belonging to an ex.This was the 3 door version & was an early 4 speed 1300.We fitted a twin-choke Weber,Fiesta Supersport alloys & XR3 seats & dash.I really liked that car,it was like a roller skate compared to the Mk 1 Granada estate I was driving at the time.

[hhhugues]

I had a 1991 1.8D in Ghia spec. The engine felt pretty agricultural but I loved it. It was a really engaging motor to drive, for something that's so obviously not supposed to be remotely sporty. Oh and it didn't have power steering, so it kept you fit too...

It was also incredibly frugal, even when driven hard, which was just about all the time if you wanted to get the thing going.

I eventually gave it my sister when I figured I'd better get a UK reg car as it looked like I was here to stay... 5th gear went, and she carried on using it on 4 gears for ages, but obviously it wasn't too much fun on the motorway, so it finished its life with my dad who drove it to work everyday until some knobhead drove into him and refused to take responsibility. It still drove then but was starting to get a bit beyond the joke repair wise, so he weighted it in. Sad day that was. I think it had well over 200,000 miles on it by then. Easily the best car I've owned so far.

[fordperv]

in my years of driving i have owned a radiant red j reg mk5 escort cabriolet which had xr3i bumpers etc, 2x mk6 r reg 5 door 1.8 si in pepper red, a p reg 3 door 1.8 si in cuirass blue, a kawasaki green f reg s2 rs turbo with a very chequered history

mrs fordperv currently owns a f reg s2 rs turbo in black

[Station]

Had a 71 or 72 escort mk1 with bubble arches, stripped out and a roll cage that had a bang in the rear that cost 150 which I kept until I could drive. I photocopied my dads riad tax and coloured it in with felt tips. It had blag mots every year from my dads mate. Unbelievable really.

In 1999 had a mk2 Escort which had a head gasket failure. My fiesta got burnt out and insurance paid for new hg and welding although he didn't change the hg at all and I bought an orion when it pissed me off on a march morning going to work. The following Orion broke down 50 yards from the Mersey tunnel exit at which point I said goodbye to fords and bought a vauxhall mk3 astra.

 

My fondest memory of carness was when my dad borrowed my cousins brand new Capri in 86 I think when we all went to Blackpool. My favourite car as a kid growing up.

[Lord Sterling]

To be honest, I've never owned an Escort and most likely I never will, however I have driven a couple of them...

 

First one I ever drove was just before I had a driving licence. It belonged to a mate (as a quick replacement for the Rover 216GSi he sold) but was later sold to some local mad lad when I found myself driving around. I remember it being a 4-door LX in radiant red with dark Grey plastic bumpers, I think it was either on a J-plate or a K-plate, I really dont remember. Last I heard of it was it had been dumped on the M6 after some engine failure.

 

Looked a bit like this:

 

 

I *may* have an actual picture of it somewhere, i do remember taking a couple of pics of it, I just cant remember where they are or if i still have them. I had to improvise using the above pics as there seems to be a serious lack of pictures of unmodified Mk5 Red Escort LXs with Grey bumpers.

 

A couple of years later when i found myself behond the wheel of the 827Si and some cash in my sky-rocket I was offered, for free, a P-reg Escort TD when matey lad was finished with it. It belonged to a mate who had a barbers shop in Stourbridge, he'd sold his BMW 318i Compact and needed some wheels so somehow ended up with this:

 

 

My intention was to ditch the chavvy alloys, stick some nice 'Ghia' ones on and sell it on, but it never happend, barber lad never contacted me and I suspect its now been turned into bean cans. Shame.

 

I drove a similar Escort to the one above but in Ghia spec, it was owned by an enthusiast (Yes, there are some) who visited the garage a few times. I remember the doors were drooping but it was exceptable to drive, nowt special though.

[CreepingJesus]

I've owned three, I think. They're so unmemorable, and just generally adequate that it's hard to muster much enthusiasm.

As I'm a buy-it-cheap-and-run-it-to-death merchant, that's the fate that befell the two 5-dr 1.4 Mk4's I had. The maroon Mk4 1.6 estate was another story.

My neighbour bought it, in fine fettle. He lent it to his boss for a night, as the boss's Monty had gone wrong again. His boss managed to seize the engine, and by way of apology bought him a cheap Volvo 740 estate instead. My neighbour gave me the 'Scrote for nothing, assuming I could fix it. He r rong; it was properly seized, even the top end was locked solid! It went to scrap after a visit from Fife's Finest, who didn't share my view that tax was optional on an unmovable car. I once measured the distance it covered in my tenure; it was something like 55ft. The distance from in front of his house, to in front of ours. And it was shoved the whole way too.

I had some fun times fixing and driving Mk5/6/7 ones, when I worked for a Ford garage. For all they're unremarkable, they're dead easy to work on. Only one had a weird complaint we couldn't initially work out: an N-plate Finesse which we'd sold twice. It arrived at the door on the local recovery truck one day, apparently unwilling to go into gear. Clutch fault for sure. But then, I drove it into the workshop just fine. So I drove it out, did a few miles and came back just fine. Went to put it on the ramp, and the clutch pedal went rock hard, and wouldn't let me get a gear.

Diagnosis? Not a clue. Solution - engine up, box off, clutch apart expecting to fit a new one. No need, there was a big rubber grommet with 'Ford USA' on it, jamming the clutch! Slapped it all back together, and it was fine. Weird as anything.

Then there was the motor vehicle tutor at the local college, who let his students change the cambelt on his 1.6D Mk4; it threw the new belt the next morning! No bother tho'; head off for an inspection, and a new belt, and all was well.

A mate at uni, had an early 1.6D Onion, which every member of her family had owned at some point. It had 275,000 on it and life on a farm hadn't been kind to it. And yet it carried her from Dumfries to Aberdeen quite a few times without any bother. Used as much engine oil as fuel oil (probly cherry iirc), but it goes to show how variable these old nails can be.

[trigger]

These aren't my photos but I've just found them on flickr, it belonged to the op's brother in 1977, It must be one of the very first Mk2 and it has Essex plate like the press cars.

 

Escort 1600 Sport by hairnicks, on Flickr

 

Escort 1600 sport by hairnicks, on Flickr

 

Escort 1600 sport by hairnicks, on Flickr

 

Cortina Mk 3 and Escort 1600 Sport by hairnicks, on Flickr

[HillmanImp]

Never owned one but do really want an XR3i. Its very high on the bucket list.

 

Irrespective of that this seems like the perfect opportunity to roll out this old hag again.

 

 

Apologies in advance of it is anyone on here's Mum. If it is, I hope she spent the £15 Razzle gave her wisely.

[vulgalour]

I have two experiences of old Escorts. The first was a black Mk2 escort estate (2 door) owned by a friend of the family. It was pretty shonky, and would only start if you let it roll down the hill and bump start itself first. I remember the whole thing smelling rather odd too.

 

The second experience was when hunting for my first car. We (my Dad and I) were visiting scrapyards for a cheap starter motor, back when that was a viable first-car buying experience option, and we found a beige Mk2 escort 4 door with a black interior. I think it was a 1.3 and the lowest spec it could be. Fitted like a glove and was only £100, but it didn't have tax or MoT and needed welding to the suspension towers... and had wires poking out of the dash top vents... and the floors were a bit suspect... I probably dodged a bullet with that one, but it was still a million times better than the rotten Sapphire I bought instead. That said, it was one of the best driving positions I've ever had from a car, it's like Ford designed everything to fit me. If prices weren't what they are, I'm sure a 1.3 beige Mk2 Escort could well be transporting me about now and I'd likely keep it in factory/giffer spec too.

[STUNO]

Escorts, y'say?

 

pete tries desperately to look as sexy as the car show models, but fails it's the cardigan that does it.

 

I have never owned an Escort, a mk1 is still on the to do list though.

[mk1_4dr]

All this talk of Escorts is making me have a grump over escRot

 

 

 

 

And this last video turned up on the blue forum, and I think it shows just how much fun these things can be....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMCWKOyJj2A&feature=youtu.be

[Pete-M]

 

pete tries desperately to look as sexy as the car show models, but fails it's the cardigan that does it.

 

Damn Sexy Cardigan, that...

[messerschmitt owner]

Damn Sexy Cardigan, that...

if you were Noel Edmonds, maybe!

 

 

never owned an Escort, only every driven Mk5 or 6s as hire cars - didn't like them a bit!

[Cavcraft]

Yesterday (typically with no camera to hand) I saw a stunning beige (Sahara?) Mk2 Sport about 3/4 mile from my house on someone's drive, need to go back at some point and try and get a picture.

 

Just remembered looking at pictures on this thread of a 'K' plate Mk5 Ghia we had out of the auctions. It looked really, really tidy in white and was quite well spec'd but it it must have spent some of it's life living in a caravan park in Mid Wales as the electrics were completely haywire. If you pressed any switch on the dashboard the horn would sound and indicators turned on wipers at the same time and vice versa.

That got sold to some Jack-the-lad type trader outside the auctions a couple of weeks later, obv. we got a mate to sell it to him as we didn't want our name being put to it. Every time there was an auction on after that if we heard a horn going off we assumed (mostly correctly) it was the same car. I would imagine it got turned into mini motos, washing machines and dangerous toys a few years ago now.

[Rod/b]

I've had one. Well, it was an Orion but same thing. L reg 1.6 LX, it was the dullest, most uninspiring pile of shite i've ever owned. And i've owned Rover 400 HHR, which is the barometer of uninspiring dullness.

[Pillock]

My dear old ma had one. In 1988 she went into district nursing and was offered a lease car. A 9 year old PIllock took it upon himself to choose her car for her, and selected a lovely 1.3 Maestro in white with grey lower body. Beautiful. Unfortunately she overruled me (bah!) and I heard her on the phone to the lease company ordering a 1.4LX Mk4 Escort. I had the last laugh though - she wanted a maritime blue one, the lease company needed a second choice and she looked blankly at me so I shouted "Rosso Red" - having memorised each square inch of the brochure during my research - and lo and behold,a red one turned up.

 

I remember it being a million miles more plush than the Polo C it replaced, although only 3 years younger I suppose the design was somewhat more modern. Tilt and slide sunroof, door trim fabric that went all the way up to the top instead of exposed metal, and that silly joystick for the stereo that was no more convenient than a BAL and FAD control yet took up a large amount of dashboard real estate. Oh, and it was our first 5-door car, so I loved the independence of being able to get in and out myself. I really do have a soft spot for these cars, the Mk4 represents a really familiar shape for me growing up and then when I started getting properly into cars, the RSTs were what were in Max Power every month with 2bhp more than the last one they featured.

 

I suppose the tipping point was that I'd told our neighbours, who were very much a "keeping up with the Joneses" type, that my mum was "definitely" getting the Maestro. The same week that the Escort turned up, they took delivery of their dated looking wheezy new Maestro. It looked shit next to the Escort