Anyone ever owned a Mk 1 Ford Escort?
Discussion
The Iconic classic coke bottle shape.
I had a Jade Green Mk 1 1100 from new in 1970, so nothing exotic, but I did put a wooden steering wheel, rev counter and Cibie spotlamps on it..
Great car, went all over the country in it, fancy a nice orange Mexico now for old times sake, but the prices are going crazy.
Pics would be great.
I had a Jade Green Mk 1 1100 from new in 1970, so nothing exotic, but I did put a wooden steering wheel, rev counter and Cibie spotlamps on it..
Great car, went all over the country in it, fancy a nice orange Mexico now for old times sake, but the prices are going crazy.
Pics would be great.
White 1100 6cwt van. Ex Radio Rentals £500 in 1976.
Bad bits;
Lots of rusty scabs.
Out of balance prop shaft killed gearbox oil seals. Had to cruise below 60 or above 70 to avoid vibrating knob.
Regular topping up with EPx0.
Michelin ZX tyres. So little wet grip. So long lasting.
Good bits:
No structural rust.
Extra security door locks.
Disco fitted well in the back.
1100 engine was LC. Really useful in the petrol shortages of the late '70s as 4* would run out 1st.
Police vans were white escorts at the time. Other drivers occasionally behaved oddly.
Did a multi rattle can artistic paint job a la Dark Side of the Moon. Black horizontal lines around front wings to prisms on the doors, rainbow around the rest.
I was young
Bad bits;
Lots of rusty scabs.
Out of balance prop shaft killed gearbox oil seals. Had to cruise below 60 or above 70 to avoid vibrating knob.
Regular topping up with EPx0.
Michelin ZX tyres. So little wet grip. So long lasting.
Good bits:
No structural rust.
Extra security door locks.
Disco fitted well in the back.
1100 engine was LC. Really useful in the petrol shortages of the late '70s as 4* would run out 1st.
Police vans were white escorts at the time. Other drivers occasionally behaved oddly.
Did a multi rattle can artistic paint job a la Dark Side of the Moon. Black horizontal lines around front wings to prisms on the doors, rainbow around the rest.
I was young
1100L from new, OMC 193L 1972 to 1984. My first car. Footwells needed welded plates in them in due course. I changed the clutch on our driveway holding up the transmission on my knees. The only car I had that ever needed a clutch changing. Other cars, up to 150,000 miles have never needed a clutch changing. I can't remember what it was like to drive. After our first baby arrived, my wife took over the car, and I had a Honda CB250, as a learner bike, then a Suzuki GT500A (two stroke twin) to commute.
The Mk1 Escort was my granddad's last car before he gave up driving. Now for the embarrassing story.
My memory is hazy, because I was probably 8/9 when the story concluded, but I think he bought it new (in white, with leather seats) and kept it for the best part of 20 years as his everyday car. It must have been an 1,100 or 1,300.
When, in his mid-to-late 80s (mid-1990s) he decided it was time to hang up his driving gloves he gave it to my mum who, wanting something a bit newer, part-exchanged it towards a...... Skoda Estelle.
My memory is hazy, because I was probably 8/9 when the story concluded, but I think he bought it new (in white, with leather seats) and kept it for the best part of 20 years as his everyday car. It must have been an 1,100 or 1,300.
When, in his mid-to-late 80s (mid-1990s) he decided it was time to hang up his driving gloves he gave it to my mum who, wanting something a bit newer, part-exchanged it towards a...... Skoda Estelle.
1974 M 1300 sport in metallic green ,bought in 1982 ish ,a bit rusty already.
Drove it around most of the time with front 1/4 bumpers removed and red oxide primer all over the front panel
to front wing joins......classy !
VPD 654 M iirc.
These later sports had Mexico front wings.....
.
My still BiL's father ,long deceased had an earlier sport ,in a different green ,not sure it had the flared wings.
I'll add a pic later
Drove it around most of the time with front 1/4 bumpers removed and red oxide primer all over the front panel
to front wing joins......classy !
VPD 654 M iirc.
These later sports had Mexico front wings.....
.My still BiL's father ,long deceased had an earlier sport ,in a different green ,not sure it had the flared wings.
I'll add a pic later
jet_noise said:
White 1100 6cwt van. Ex Radio Rentals £500 in 1976.
Bad bits;
Lots of rusty scabs.
Out of balance prop shaft killed gearbox oil seals. Had to cruise below 60 or above 70 to avoid vibrating knob.
Regular topping up with EPx0.
Michelin ZX tyres. So little wet grip. So long lasting.
Good bits:
No structural rust.
Extra security door locks.
Disco fitted well in the back.
1100 engine was LC. Really useful in the petrol shortages of the late '70s as 4* would run out 1st.
Police vans were white escorts at the time. Other drivers occasionally behaved oddly.
Did a multi rattle can artistic paint job a la Dark Side of the Moon. Black horizontal lines around front wings to prisms on the doors, rainbow around the rest.
I was young
Bad bits;
Lots of rusty scabs.
Out of balance prop shaft killed gearbox oil seals. Had to cruise below 60 or above 70 to avoid vibrating knob.
Regular topping up with EPx0.
Michelin ZX tyres. So little wet grip. So long lasting.
Good bits:
No structural rust.
Extra security door locks.
Disco fitted well in the back.
1100 engine was LC. Really useful in the petrol shortages of the late '70s as 4* would run out 1st.
Police vans were white escorts at the time. Other drivers occasionally behaved oddly.
Did a multi rattle can artistic paint job a la Dark Side of the Moon. Black horizontal lines around front wings to prisms on the doors, rainbow around the rest.
I was young
Damp crotch?I had one in the 1980s which I used for autocrossing. The body was so rotten it was held together with webbing cargo straps.Great fun, though.
Edited by matchmaker on Saturday 5th August 11:00
I had a '74 1300E back in 1987 that I bought from a mate at work. It was wrecked when I went straight on at a tight corner on a single lane country road, launching it off the grass bank into a field, knocking a largish tree down in the process. I then re-shelled it in my parents' single garage, fitted fibre glass front wings, bonnet and works arches and had it sprayed white at Trust Motors VW in Leeds, as the guy I bought it from worked there in sales. It had plenty of parts thrown at it, ie suspension uprated, lowered rear, 2000E gearbox, cam, head and carbs, 8" superlite wheels with 225 yokos etc etc. We use to go and hang out at the drive through McDs in Guisely thinking we were the dogs.
I trashed the engine so ended up flogging it as a project for a few hundred quid and moved on to a mint '79 Mk2 RS2000, via a slightly misguided spell in an '83 XR3i as I couldn't afford the RS1600i I really wanted.
I trashed the engine so ended up flogging it as a project for a few hundred quid and moved on to a mint '79 Mk2 RS2000, via a slightly misguided spell in an '83 XR3i as I couldn't afford the RS1600i I really wanted.
Yes, a couple of 1100 saloons, going to work dailies, 1300 estate, ditto, plus temporary rally service barge. Replaced by a Granada service barge.
Twin Cam, road rally car
Mexico, ditto
RS1600 bigxwing, stage rallies
Then onto Mk2
RS2000 drop snoot group 1
Mk2 RS1800 BDG group 4
rallying got too expensive, went sailing, not much cheaper.
Twin Cam, road rally car
Mexico, ditto
RS1600 bigxwing, stage rallies
Then onto Mk2
RS2000 drop snoot group 1
Mk2 RS1800 BDG group 4
rallying got too expensive, went sailing, not much cheaper.
I had a 2 door Miami Blue 1300E. My first nice car which cost me a borrowed £1200 and I paid my mum back at £20 a week.
It belonged to an elderly gent who'd kept it absolutely spotless and had only done 30k from new. Within a month I'd Mullered the engine - probably because it'd never been thrashed and of course it was being to within an inch of its life now - and put a lightly tuned Holbay 1300 in it.
Ran that about more or less standard for a couple of years and then - with the money my parents had been saving since I was a baby for me to pay a deposit on a house - swapped the Holbay engine for a suicidaly powerful 1600 Swaymar Racing one.
Uprated springs went on, bushes were swapped, brakes were wrecked and gearboxes were shredded and I thrashed about in that sometime after I met Mrs JS who was originally only persuaded to come out for a drink with me when she saw and head the E.
We got rid to raise some cash to buy our first house together.
Sold it with quick engine and all and still immaculate for £800
RHK 383 M. Good times.
It belonged to an elderly gent who'd kept it absolutely spotless and had only done 30k from new. Within a month I'd Mullered the engine - probably because it'd never been thrashed and of course it was being to within an inch of its life now - and put a lightly tuned Holbay 1300 in it.
Ran that about more or less standard for a couple of years and then - with the money my parents had been saving since I was a baby for me to pay a deposit on a house - swapped the Holbay engine for a suicidaly powerful 1600 Swaymar Racing one.
Uprated springs went on, bushes were swapped, brakes were wrecked and gearboxes were shredded and I thrashed about in that sometime after I met Mrs JS who was originally only persuaded to come out for a drink with me when she saw and head the E.
We got rid to raise some cash to buy our first house together.
Sold it with quick engine and all and still immaculate for £800
RHK 383 M. Good times.
Yes, in 1985 I bought a mint 1300 Sport (still have the handbook for it) in orange, six dial dash, twin choke and a 4 branch manifold, cam etc.
First MOT i took it for the MOT tester said keep hold of it, best condition MK1 he'd seen.
Shortly after absolutely destroyed it in a head on - ended up in hospital. Engine was inside the car, wheels were horizontal where the front doors were.
Still surprised I never took any photos of it.
First MOT i took it for the MOT tester said keep hold of it, best condition MK1 he'd seen.
Shortly after absolutely destroyed it in a head on - ended up in hospital. Engine was inside the car, wheels were horizontal where the front doors were.
Still surprised I never took any photos of it.
Early days when my wife and I first got together she p/x'd her Sh*t Brown
1300 Marina Coupe (a hateful car) plus a couple of hundred pounds at a local garage for a late Mk1 Escort, 'P' plate Jade Green 2 door 1300L with what I remember had a set of period 4 spoke alloys (not RS), Cosmic or the like if my memory serves me right. It was a pretty tidy car and fairly rust free which was unusual even back then until some old Twonk in a Mk2 Granada decided to drive into the front corner of it subsequently righting it off
.
I owned a Mk2 Capri 1.6s at the time and just thinking back how simple and easy these cars were to own and work on back in the day...
1300 Marina Coupe (a hateful car) plus a couple of hundred pounds at a local garage for a late Mk1 Escort, 'P' plate Jade Green 2 door 1300L with what I remember had a set of period 4 spoke alloys (not RS), Cosmic or the like if my memory serves me right. It was a pretty tidy car and fairly rust free which was unusual even back then until some old Twonk in a Mk2 Granada decided to drive into the front corner of it subsequently righting it off.I owned a Mk2 Capri 1.6s at the time and just thinking back how simple and easy these cars were to own and work on back in the day...
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