The Ford Escort Over The Years
The long life of the Ford Escort — the model sold in the United States and Canada, for the most part — took on several different shapes, though every one aimed to capture a large segment of the compact car market. Up until 1981, Ford had mostly failed at doing so though its new attempt with what it dubbed a “world car” would seek to attract buyers in North America.
By and large, the compact Ford was successful right out of the gate and through the end of its life at the close of the 2003 model year, when it was supplanted by the new Focus. Originally created off the platform of a European model of the same name, it showed up in Ford showrooms sporting new sheetmetal and U. S. Technologies for its 1981 introduction.
The Ford Escort was also the company’s first front-wheel-drive car, and it replaced Ford’s subcompact Pinto, which had been in production since 1971 and had been through several controversies which impacted sales of that model. In the 1980s, the Escort was one of Ford’s most successful models. In fact, it was so well-liked that it was the single best selling car in the United States by its second year and for most of the 1980s.
In all, the Escort carried on through three generations of increasingly improved vehicles and body styles that reflected the age in which the car was built. It was offered in a number of different engine and transmission combinations, even including a 52 hp diesel engine and a higher performance turbocharged model that delivered 120 hp, which was a fairly robust engine, given the Escort’s relatively small size.
By the third generation, which ran from 1997 until 2002, the people at Ford had managed to deliver a seriously well-liked vehicle that managed to deliver good performance from its four-cylinder engine (four cylinder engines were the only power plants available) while also managing to deliver a nicely styled automobile for the masses.
Over the two-plus decades of the car’s life, the Escort appeared in a variety of body styles. There was a hatchback sporting what Ford called “three doors, ” and a station wagon model along with a couple of different performance sport coupes that first appeared on the scene back in 1998. The designers also kept up the car’s appearance, freshening and redesigning it over the years.
Over its life, the Ford Escort played a vital part in keeping the car’s Dearborn-based automaker alive and well. Keeping it in showrooms allowed the company to learn how to manufacture compact vehicles while simultaneously selling a great many of them to many a customer. This had the happy effect of keeping the Blue Oval on the minds of many consumers and for that reason alone, the Escort must be considered a success.
Andy Zain is the admin of Ford Escort Forums , a place where fans and owners can get the right information for tuning, customization and general discussions on anything about Ford Escort. Get the information you need when you visit Ford Forums
