Ford Escort Hatchback 1968 - 2001

From 1968 to 2000 the Ford Escort was one of the mainstays of British roads.  It came in a variety of different shapes and sizes and was arguably the first boy racer car. 

It was the RS range which really caught the imagination of the youth of Britain and success on the rally circuit soon translated into sales at the showroom.  The Ford Escort Mexico was widely admired and was soon followed by the RS1600, which offered improved performance from the 16 valve Cosworth cylinder head.  This model proved to be somewhat unreliable and was superseded by the RS2000, which offered a less temperamental steed.

The Rally models continued to be successful on the track and aspirational off it.  The sportier models looked slightly more angular than the standard models, which were adequate performers but little more.  The 1980’s saw the launch of the Mark III which had a much more angular styling all round and saw the introduction of the XR3i to the range of desirable cars.  The RS1600i was still available and was really the only option for die hard rally fans, but the XR3i was the choice of the boy racer and there were soon many different body kits available to make your car stand out from the crowd.  The Mark III Escort was probably the peak of the cars popularity, it’s offering as a low cost alternative to the VW Golf had given it a sold niche in the market. 

1986 saw the Mark IV launched and saw the smoothing out of the angular lines that had seen it through the early 80s.  The RS 1600i was overtaken by the RS Turbo and the XR3i remained popular.  The 1990s saw the Escort grow slightly and cover both it’s own space and the area that had been covered by the Orion, which had been slightly bigger, but more short-lived.

The bigger Escort was the start of it’s decline and eventual replacement by the excellent Focus.  By the time the Mark VI was rolling out of the Dagenham plant, in 1995, there were many other options available in the Escorts market and the old favourite was looking exactly that, old.  The Focus has had far more critical acclaim than the Escort ever did but it was the Escort that kept many people moving for a long time and without it the British motoring landscape would look completely different.

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