Escort endeavours

[cuntbuster]

Following in from the mini and cortina threads. Most of us must have had at least one escort built 1968 to 2000. I did for a time but nothing much to report. Apart from probably replacement parts the cheapest of anything I have ever owned.

A strange thing happened to a mk3 that my neighbour had. This was a yellow five door and so basic that the seats were grey vinyl. It was quite new but the fuel cap didn’t have a lock. Just for fun his kid and I untwisted it a bit then watched as he drove off. It got to the end of the road, 100 yards or so then went bouncing off as he slowed down for the give way line. We ran up and collected the fuel cap. He wasn’t away long, maybe half an hour and when he came back the car had another fuel cap fitted, the correct Ford non locking type. We never owned up to what we did, so lord only knows how a replacement magically appeared. Looking back on it decades later I guess he must have stopped for fuel at what was then a Ford dealer, where there were still pump attendants and another base model Ford on the sales pitch donated it’s fuel cap.

[Hooli]

I had a Mk2 4 door 1.3 GL that I blew no4 rod out the side of the block racing two blondes in a 2ltr Toyota. Re-engined it & rolled it on black ice about 3 months later.

Also had a Mk3 1.6GL. It was on cut XR3i springs, with XR3i rear brakes (much bigger drums) and I'd cut the centre boxes out so it made some noise. Was rather fun that one, but the woodruff key for the cam pulley on the crank smashed it's slot so the cam timing kept drifting so it had to go.

I'll include it here as they're the same car. 1.6 Orion Mk1. That got a 1.6i exhaust manifold & system (much better flowing than the carb one) and a XR3 square carb. Went as quick as a 1.6i after that as the exhaust manifold was the biggest difference, all the parts said Ford on though so I 'didn't know' it was modified when the insurance asked. It did have cut XR3i springs again, because 'yoof' & cornered on rails. Only car I've ever had that I was brave enough to turn sideways on the handbrake at 70-80mph & still know where it'd go as soon as I hit the power. Handy that as I was once headed for a tree on a very frosty road & that trick saved it, so being a twat can be useful at times.

I think I've got a few pics somewhere, but not on my work PC so you'll have to wait for them.

[SV2]

I wanted one but they'd already gained maximum scene tax by the time I could drive.

Nothing useful to add, I just wanted to flex my youthfulness.

[paulplom]

I remember in the early 90's my dad had a T reg mk2 1.6 ghia four door. He gave me and my 6 mates a lift back home from the pub. Four on the back seat and one in the boot. He never passed his test so had no license, insurance or fuck all. Anyway we passed plod going in the opposite direction and noticed them slow down and start to turn around. My dad floored it and we made our escape. We ended up in the middle of a housing estate just off Cowpen Road in Blyth where we all bailed and scarpered leaving Greg in the boot. We all escaped but the coppers were still hanging around when Greg kicked the back seat in to get out and he was arrested. Can't recall the outcome but I remember him telling me that he sang like a canary down at the police station the fucking grass.
I bought the mk2 off my dad for not very much but blew the 1.6 crossflow not long after and I scrapped it. It was a shame as it hand not long had a respray in dark metallic grey and looked the business.

[DodgeRover]

I had a MK4 XR3i I paid £30 for, I think it has an arch and tyre for the MOT, ran it 6 months and sold it, didn't seem fast, was economical though.
A friend had what must have been one of the very first mk3s on a W plate - the only one I have ever seen, needless to say it was pox rotten by 1990 and didn't go through another MOT.
Another friend had a genuine MK2 RS1800, down on the logbook as a 1.1 I think he gave £300 for it, that was a very nice car and would have been a hell of an investment.
Friend 3 had a MK2 Escort Harrier, don't think it was ever legally on the road, I remember him painting everything under the bonnet with red lead.
An elderly neighbour had a green MK1 that my dad supplied as a repaired write off, he had it for years, all I can remember is it had a rear jack up kit and 14? year old me desperately wanted it when he died, needless to say it was terminally rotten and had only been kept going due to the fact it only went about 10 miles a week and a very generous MOT man.

[LynehamHerc]

I only had 2, both company cars. NGC 207Y a 1.6GL and B113CHG, an Onion Ghia Injection given to me when the salesman who was using it got sacked. The Escort was a far better car as the Injection's suspension was far too soft. Not as bad as the 525e that I'd used earlier though or the Sierra 2.3Ghia that succeeded it.

[panhard65]

I did own a couple of mk2 Escorts briefly. One was an accident damaged 4 door Ghia that I did up with a mate before selling for strong money at auction 30 odd years ago. Then I had a 4 door 1100 to tide me over when one of my Renaults was sick. Bloody awful car to drive but it was a tough old beast as it still drove home from the pub after a rather hard impact into a tree on the way home.

[59Impala]

Back when I was but a tender youth I learned to drive at the KDS driving school in Lee Sarf East London. Being as my birthday is in early October (cake, cash and model cars gratefully accepted) and that I was having lessons after school meant that I was learning to drive at night on busy roads, superb. As I have a fairly unusual surname the instructor told me that he remembered teaching my dad to drive some 14/5 years earlier (my dad didn't learn until he was about 26) in Standard Eights. By October 1971 they had moved on to Mk1 Escort 1100 Deluxe's and his assigned car was a G-reg in Saluki Bronze. It was an easy car to drive and I grew quite attached to it but then one day it disappeared and we walked to a metallic dark green Escort. I asked where 'my' car and he told me that they were traded in after three years and that I was going to be the first learner to go out in the new car. I was progressing well and on one lesson I pulled up on the South Circular alongside a Minor van. With the cockiness of youth I decided I was going to race it away from the lights which I did but lost. My instructor knew that I was going to race and said that if I was going to do that it was better if I released the handbrake when doing so. No bollocking, he was a good bloke. He decided that I was competent enough to take my test so got a slot at about 11.30am. The examiner was a miserable looking sod by the name of W.C. Smith who asked me to read the plate of an Oxford and then off we went. Off we went and.....I failed. Misery guts said it was a touch on the kerb on the three point turn and incorrect use of brakes and gears when approaching a junction. Then he got out and took off like an Olympic sprinter to the cafe, no doubt worried that he would miss out on the apple crumble and custard. My instructor came along and I gave him the failure sheet and he said 'how did that happen? We have a sweepstake on who is going to pass and you are by far the best learner' which was nice of him. A few weeks pass and I get another test for 9am, guess who the examiner is? Yep misery guts. Read the plate of the same Oxford, guess it was his and onto the test. I knew I had passed when on our way back to the test centre he said come along Mr Impala keep up with the traffic (we were on the South Circular). Yay, test passed, now it was time to buy a crusty Anglia and drive like a lunatic.

[Warren t claim]

Following in from the mini and cortina threads. Most of us must have had at least one escort built 1968 to 2000. I did for a time but nothing much to report. Apart from probably replacement parts the cheapest of anything I have ever owned.

I was going to call this thread Escort Encounters.

[bub2006]

Growing up my dad had only 1 escort that he bought not long after my mum died in 1995. It was a 1982 V plate 1.3 L automatic in dark blue. I can vaguely remember the gearbox as absolutely shagged and he had the white wheel trims nicked in Skegness.
My aunt always had escorts right up until 2006 when she purchased a 1.8 406 from the local car dealer.
She passed her test in 1990 so I was 3 or 4 when she had her first one stolen. It was an orange MK3 and I can barely remember it. We went Christmas shopping ina fleeting and came back to the car to find a bit of broken glass and an empty space. That was replaced by a smack head blue MK3 Which again I can't remember much about. She bought a MK4 in I think 1994. Registration was E646 CRC and it was a 1.3 popular 5 door. Had an hidden immobiliser switch under the dashboard and nothing else.
In 2001 she part exed it against a 1994 1.6i LX mk 5 reg L248 OYG. My nan didn't like that it had electric windows and refused to touch them. It was red with a boot spoiler and sunroof. Always remember the stupid boot release that needed the ignition off to pop the boot when you may as well have just used the key. In its final days the central locking went ford and kept locking and unlocking over speed bumps and had to use passenger door to unlock the car. I think the MK4 and Mk5 both didn't see the road again afterwards which is funny in one respect as one was 12 and the other was 13 years old when they went. My focus is 20 years old now and C4 is 15.
When I first met my wife she had a mk5 facelift/Mk6 escort estate called the hearse due to it being black with blacked out windows. That was a last of the line model when they were either in flight or finesse trim with either the 1.6 petrol or 1.8 diesel.
Hers was a 1.6 finesse that was a weird spec in it having the alloys,front fogs,leccy windows and air con yet only had a 2 speaker stereo and cassette deck. I think the flight was the basic trim?
We sold that at about 11 years old for 450 and it was replaced with a Mazda 323