mk1 escorts - why the fuss?

[oldskool4me]

i discovered mk1 escorts in my own way, not because of the hype

 

 

i saw some lads thrashing an old 4 door. i just thought wow i like that car, i didnt even know what it was called til i spoke to my dad and then he pulled out the photo of his.

 

hooked

 

not sure about mk2's they seem to have a bit of tackiness in the design

too much glass i think id still have one if it came available though

 

same here i just remember seeing one and i thought thats realy cool and ever since i love em, and since then i have got into all osf's i could never go back osf is the only way

[bronze4door]

i saw my friends before i knew her and loved it so i bought one then another

[Andy504]

dunno what it is but when i see a mk1 mk2 escort i do a sex wee dont matter if its a rat or a minter i love um, nothing else does it for me

 

I love em aswell, and sex wee too if i see one

All the osf`s are cool but the mk1 was either your brothers car, dads car, or a mates car so there was always one around. My first car was a mk2 but i still prefer the mk 1 essy or tina.

[DarrenM]

I think the halo effect of all the Sporty models helps. As a 17 year old starting to drive I could only dream of an RS2000 but I COULD have a 1300. 23 years later and I still like them. My MK2's dont grab me in the same way as my MK1's though.

[Rick]

the designers back then really did design something that looked good.

 

none of this aerodynamics and safety crap.

 

99% of new cars now have moulded lights formed to the lines of the car as to not create wind resistance.

 

99% of modern cars have huge flush wheelarches, take a look at how many actually have a proper lip on the arch like older cars

 

therefore they all look the bloody same

 

if you want the kind of styling that 60's/70's cars had your looking to pay 30k+ because its only the supercar spec cars that have any thought put into them these days.

 

old cars will defo be making a comeback very soon and to be honest theyre already well on their way.

 

i saw an asian lad driving a pimped up triumph herald yesterday... theres a hot girl that drives around in a nissan figaro too.

and every boy racers dream is to get a mk1/mk2 escort (admittedly most the time with a cossie in it)

 

o yeah the point of the thread....

 

escorts rock

[RedditchJay]

MK1 escorts for me were all about rallying and watching the RAC rally in the late 70's early 80's and i believe MK1 and MK2 escorts are fantastic motors.

[Doc]

I believe it's how they look above anything else. It's the best looking OSF in my opinion.

no mate thats a mk1 capri colonge....

 

Anyway....

 

For me its because I grew up seeing them on the roads, they were the golf gti of their day I guess.

 

Cologne capri thats the puppy !

[Stu_B]

I like escorts but I prefer other OSF's to be honest!! I'd have a mk1 or 2 though!

[capri_boy]

the designers back then really did design something that looked good.

 

 

couldnt agree more, every car was still individual. Im not really a Blue oval person, i just love old cars, and nothing says retro like a MK1 ford !!!!

 

as said, i think MK1/2 escorts are popular cause they are easy to mod, pretty easy to get parts for thanks to the rally boys and in my opinion, a mk1 with bubble arches and wide wheels just look amazing.

[Gareth]

Escorts....

 

I reckon the popularity with them is 'cuz they're easily remembered.

For instance: When I started lookin for an old motor,it had to have chrome and free tax etc...

The first car I thought of was the mk1 Escort.

 

A lot of people that were my age say, 15 years ago,

I'm pretty certain had one, or a m8 had one.

 

I love all old cars, the old ford scene has jus helped me to

crave one of every model.

 

And havin a m8 that owns a mk1 escy, a mk3 'Tina,

and also wants an Angrybox & mk1 Capper helps

[MightySprocket]

mk1's are always the best... escorts, tinas, RS Turbos

[orionmojo]

mk1's are always the best... escorts, tinas, RS Turbos

 

 

 

 

MK2! cortina, orion!....

[over_head_cam]

Without writing a novel, I can't expain what it is about a mk1 Escort that makes me hard

 

I think it's the same sort of thing with 'is a **** an OSF?'

 

When I first joined the site I instantly understood the ethos and idea behind OSF. It's the same with the cars. If you talk to anyone outside this community they haven't the slightest clue, and never will. I stood outside Darrens a whil back just looking at his Mk1 and we seemed to just know what the other was thinking...

 

Mk1 2 doors are the dogs

[MightySprocket]

mk1's are always the best... escorts, tinas, RS Turbos

 

 

 

 

MK2! cortina, orion!....

 

lmao, the mk1 (series 1 RST) is better than the mk2.... just like the mk1 Mex is better than the Mk2

[Jimbob-Squarepants ©]

mk1's are always the best... escorts, tinas, RS Turbos

 

 

 

 

MK2! cortina, orion!....

 

lmao, the mk1 (series 1 RST) is better than the mk2.... just like the mk1 Mex is better than the Mk2

 

Yeah, the Mk1 Sierra was better than it's later Facelifted Mk2

[over_head_cam]

 

Yeah, the Mk1 Sierra was better than it's later Facelifted Mk2

 

[Kieran]

mk1's rule lol

[flyingbanana]

when i was a kid i saw a mk1 and thought im having one of those...its the stance and shape of of them that got me hooked...and one day speaking to some one that i was after one of them ...he told me he knew one for sale so i brought it without a 2nd thought.....i love the cortinas and 105 & anglias..well most of them ...but the capri just dont rock my boat apart from the mk1

[tazrocks88]

i discovered mk1 escorts in my own way, not because of the hype

 

 

i saw some lads thrashing an old 4 door. i just thought wow i like that car, i didnt even know what it was called til i spoke to my dad and then he pulled out the photo of his.

 

hooked

 

not sure about mk2's they seem to have a bit of tackiness in the design

too much glass i think id still have one if it came available though

 

same here i just remember seeing one and i thought thats realy cool and ever since i love em, and since then i have got into all osf's i could never go back osf is the only way

 

i guess there in my blood my dad has always had classic fords so i have been brought up at classic car shows etc and if he had his way i would have a mk1 capri or tina but i just luv the 'scort so much more and always have done dont get me wrong they are all amazing cars esspecially the cossies lotus specials

my dad and his mate both had mk2 'scorts and i asked why and my dad says he luvs both his mate prefers the mk2 and i prefer the mk1 spose its just like everything rly each 2 there own!!!

its a bit like a mini i would never have 1 but there are people who would never be without 1!!

[v6pop]

First Mk1 Escort was in 1976, a 1969 1300 van,and that was after having two Anglia's. It was the next step up from an Anglia at the time,a much nicer car to drive(it had synchro on first gear!!) and handled better.

Had many Mk1's over the years,Mk2's as well but I have fond memories of all of them as they have travelled with me through time,best memories being the years I raced my Mk1 Escort, six years of absolute fun....so Im abit biased and if I had to choice it would be a Mk1 Escort purely because they mean so much more to me than just the inflated price tag they place on them these days.

[105Nick]

There's another point in that its the first Ford that really put Ford on the ball in motorsort, and in that the Mk1 is legendary. Sure, Ford of Britain had success in the Lotus Tina, and to a lesser extent in the GT, but the Tina wasn't widely available, the Mexico brought the really sporty, race ready motor to the buying public at a reasonable price, and prior to the Mk1 Escort it was the Mini Cooper that had dominated rallying more so than the lotus. Its also the fast that the entire RS programme was the brainchild of two men against the will of the main corporation, and that they pieced it all together with a prototype shell they nicked for a weekend and a stripped down lotus tina in the sheds at Boreham, and had it all stripped down to go back on monday morning, that the winning Circuit of Ireland car was pretty much an untouched road car by all standards and everything happened by accident, or just seemed to naturally fall into place and progress. Like by 1970, they'd realised the twin cam was being phased out and used the fVA based BDA - a full race bred motor, tempremental but oh that sound and realised that would be more successful - and for a change they made a production car to allow them to use that engine in competition, rather than modfying an engine to go competing. There was also the fact of the mexico, from winning the World Cup they realised that every young, wannabe rally driver would kill for a cheaper alterntive than the other RS's, and it brought sports saloons to the masses, inventing the true original boy racer along the way, with all the wild stripes and cibies and options list to enable everyone to try their hands in the forest at weekends. To top all this, Fords main management turned the other cheek and let them get on with it in the sheds at south okendon and boreham, and the Mk1 RSs were lovingly pieced together by real engineers, whereas the Mk2 never had any of the uncertainty of its development, the RS name was a part of Ford and the whole programme was signed off to Ford Germany to be built as part of the main production line, with mass produced RS2s and Mex's, of which the mex seemed pretty pointless as it was pinto powered like the RS2, becoming merely an underpowered RS2000 without the nose cone.

For me, that it was sent on to a main production line away from the guys who had mastered and engineered these motors took away alot of their spirit, the Mk1 epitomises the Old Skool movement for me, the underdog, spannering away in a litrtle lock up somewhere, going out and kicking ass!

[V8ian]

lets get a debate going!

 

ok, why are they so popular? as opposed to other old fords, such as the pop, cortina, anglia, capri, consul etc etc etc.

 

they only became really popular after their rallying success, which the mk1 cortina made way for. so why do people go mad for them, and why are they demanding such high prices? it really baffles me that a mk1 escort can go for 4k easily and a similar specced cortina or pop can be picked up for 2- 2.5k.

 

this is not a 'slate them' thread or anything stupid like that, more of an enquiry.

 

discuss.

 

Ford rallying sucess goes back far further than the Mk1 Cortina, Go back a few years and the Mk1 Zodiac won the monte for a couple of years, the Mk2 Zodiac was successful on the world scene including the African,

Just to put a damper on the Ford works Zodiac team, the winning monte driver was a "gentleman" [i USE THE WORD GENTLEMAN] his name was Alex GATSONEDES,sp sound familiar, he is the apple pie that designed the first SPEED camera that we are so familiar with now,

 

My opinion is the Mk1 is so popular because it rode the wave of Motorsport TV broadcasting, any Saturday for 5 years or so you could see the Escort hammering around the circuits of europe, see the vid that was on here a few weeks ago at Crystal Palace, and of course the BBC invention of Rallycross, and again the world rally scene was well televised as well, and dont forget, everyone remembers a WINNER, never a loser,

 

 

on the Rallycross thread, does anyone know if the Daily Express Capri V6 4wd works cars survived, they were impressive to watch at Lyddon, Even with the time penalty starts they were given as a handicap, they nearly allways won, not surprising really, they were driven by Mssrs Stan & Roger Clark,

[Gareth]

I think one of the Ferguson 4WD Cappers are about.

 

I heard a guy's restorin' it

[105Nick]

Roger Clarke said they were terrible things to drive, alright if you could get them in a four wheel drrift but other than that they were pretty uncontrollable, especially in the wet. Explained by the fact that Ford gave up on it early on and concentrated on the efforts, otherwise the Quattro wouldn't be seen as quite the landmark it is today.

 

With regard to what you said, yes Ford had some success with the Zephyr, bit it was hardly anything to shout about, the car was big and overweight and not very nimble at all, and didn't dominate it as per most notable rally cars. The Cortina was also a very successful rallya nd race car, but it was bettered by the success of the works Mini Coopers, and the Healey 3000s, but in teh 70s, it was Escort all the way and not a lot could come close other than the Stratos. The fact that every guy could go down the dealers and buy a Mex, and watch one not too dissimilar beating a purpose-built rally supercar, makes it pretty iconic.

[V8ian]

One of the Mk1 ZZs was supposidly ally panneled, which suddenly dissapeared when the story broke about the Lightweight,

I do think the ZZs were formulative in the British racing and tuning industry with drivers like Uren, Whitmore, Appleyard and plenty more cutting their teeth on the BIG cars

The capris were very similar in set up to what the 4x4 sierras were, Vicious diffs front and rear, which in turn was a almost a copy of the JensenFF, after all Harry Ferguson was a tractor designer, and designed the viscious diff, probably the capri would have been a formidable road car well ahead of its time, and I am certain a few road cars were built, Mk4 ZZs as well.