Ford Escort: История европейского семейного автомобиля

European small family car

The Ford Escort is a small family car that was manufactured by Ford of Europe from 1968 until 2000. In total there were six generations, spread across three basic platforms: the original, rear wheel drive Mk.1/Mk.2 (1968–1980), the "Erika" front wheel drive Mk.3/Mk.4 (1980–1992), and the final CE 14 Mk.5/Mk.6 (1990–2002) version. Its successor, the Ford Focus, was released in 1998, but the final generation of Escort was phased out gradually, with the panel van version ending production in 2002 in favour of the Ford Transit Connect. The Escort was frequently the best selling car in Britain during the 1980s and 1990s. A total of more than 4.1 million Escorts of all generations were sold there over a period of 33 years. In 2014, Ford revived the Escort name for a car based on the second generation Ford Focus, sold on the Chinese market.

The first use of the Ford Escort name was for a reduced specification version of the Ford Squire, a 1950s estate car version of the British Ford Anglia 100E.

The Mark I Ford Escort was introduced in Ireland and the United Kingdom at the end of 1967, making its show debut at the Brussels Motor Show in January 1968. It replaced the successful, long running Anglia. The Escort was also presented in Europe as the first passenger car to be developed by the merged Ford of Europe (the Transit van having been the first product of this collaboration). Escort production commenced at the Halewood plant in England during the closing months of 1967, and for left hand drive markets during September 1968 at the Ford plant in Genk. Initially the continental Escorts differed slightly under the skin from the UK built ones. The front suspension and steering gear were configured differently and the brakes were fitted with dual hydraulic circuits; also the wheels fitted on the Genk built Escorts had wider rims. At the beginning of 1970, continental European production transferred to a new plant on the edge of Saarlouis, West Germany. The Escort was a commercial success in several parts of Western Europe, but nowhere more so than in the UK, where the national bestseller of the 1960s, BMC's Austin/Morris 1100 was beginning to show its age, while Ford's own Cortina had grown, both in dimensions and in price, beyond the market niche at which it had originally been pitched. It competed with the Vauxhall Viva, and from early 1970 the Rootes Group's Hillman Avenger. In June 1974, six years after the car's UK introduction, Ford announced the completion of the two millionth Ford Escort, a milestone hitherto unmatched by any Ford model outside the US. It was also stated that 60% of the two million Escorts had been built in Britain. In West Germany, cars were built at a slower rate of around 150,000 cars per year, slumping to 78,604 in 1974, which was the last year for the Escort Mk1. Many of the German built Escorts were exported, notably to Benelux and Italy; from the perspective of the West German domestic market, the car was cramped and uncomfortable when compared with the well established and comparably priced Opel Kadett, and it was technically primitive when set against the successful imported Fiat 128 and Renault 12. Subsequent generations of the Escort closed the gap somewhat, but in Europe's largest auto market Escort sales volumes always came in well behind those of the General Motors Kadett and its Astra successor. The Escort had conventional rear wheel drive and a four speed manual gearbox or three speed automatic transmission. The suspension consisted of MacPherson strut front suspension and a simple live axle mounted on leaf springs. The Escort was the first small Ford to use rack and pinion steering. The Mark I featured contemporary styling cues in tune with its time: a subtle Detroit inspired "Coke bottle" waistline and the "dogbone" shaped front grille – arguably the car's main stylistic feature. Similar Coke bottle styling featured in the

larger Cortina Mark III, launched in 1970 (a visually similar reskinned version of the Cortina was built in West Germany as the Taunus). Initially, the Escort was sold as a two door saloon (with circular front headlights and rubber flooring on the "De Luxe" model). The "Super" model featured rectangular headlights, carpets, a cigar lighter and a water temperature gauge. A two door estate was introduced at the end of March 1968, which, with the back seat folded down, provided a 40% increase in maximum load space over the old Anglia 105E estate, according to the manufacturer. The estate featured the same engine options as the saloon, but it also included a larger, clutch, stiffer rear springs and, in most configurations, slightly larger brake drums or discs than the saloon. There was a 1300GT performance version, with a tuned 1.3 L crossflow (OHV) engine with a Weber carburetor and uprated suspension. This version featured additional instrumentation with a tachometer, battery charge indicator, and oil pressure gauge. The same tuned 1.3 L engine was also used in a variation sold as the Escort Sport, that used the flared front wings from the AVO range of cars, but featured trim from the more basic models. Later, an "executive" version of the Escort was produced known as the "1300E". This featured the same 13" road wheels and flared wings of the Sport, but was trimmed in an upmarket fashion for the time, with wood trim on the dashboard and door cappings. A higher performance version for rallies and racing was available, the Escort Twin Cam, built for Group 2 international rallying. It had an engine with a Lotus made eight valve twin camshaft head fitted to the 1.5 L non crossflow block, which had a bigger bore than usual to give a capacity of 1,558 cc. This engine had originally been developed for the Lotus Elan. Production of the Twin Cam, which was originally produced at Halewood, was phased out as the Cosworth engined RS1600 (RS denoting Rallye Sport) production began. The most famous edition of the Twin Cam was raced on behalf of Ford by Alan Mann Racing in the British Saloon Car Championship in 1968 and 1969, sporting a full Formula 2 Ford FVA 16 valve engine, producing over 200 hp. The Escort, driven by Australian driver Frank Gardner, went on to comfortably win the 1968 championship. The Mark I Escort became successful as a rally car, and eventually went on to become one of the most successful rally cars of all time. The Ford works team was practically unbeatable in the late 1960s / early 1970s, and arguably the Escort's greatest victory was in the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally, driven by Finnish legend Hannu Mikkola and Swedish co driver Gunnar Palm. This gave rise to the Escort Mexico ( crossflow engined) special edition road versions in honour of the rally car. Introduced in November 1970, 10,352 Mexico Mark Is were built using bodyshells with additional strengthening panels in high stress areas, making them more suitable for competition. In addition to the Mexico, the RS1600 was developed with a 1601 cc Cosworth BDA which used a crossflow block with a 16 valve Cosworth cylinder head, named "Belt Drive A Series". Both the Mexico and RS1600 were built at Ford's Advanced Vehicle Operations (AVO) facility located at the Aveley Plant in South Essex. As well as higher performance engines and sports suspension, like the Mexico these models featured the strengthened bodyshell. Ford also produced an RS2000 model as an alternative to the somewhat temperamental RS1600, featuring a 2.0 L Pinto (OHC) engine. This also clocked up some rally and racing victories and pre empted the hot hatch market as a desirable but affordable performance road car. Like the Mexico and RS1600, this car was produced at the Aveley plant using the strengthened bodyshell. The Escort was built in Germany and Britain, as well as in Australia and New Zealand.

Model Year Capacity Compression Head Power/rpm Torque/rpm Escort 1100 Low Compression 1968 1970 1098 cc 8:1 OHV (8V) @ 5300 @ 3000 rpm Escort 1100 and Deluxe and Super 1968 1970 1098 cc 9:1 OHV (8V) @ 5300 @ 2800 rpm Escort 1300 Low Compression 1968 1970 1298 cc 8:1 OHV (8V) @ 5000 @ 2400 rpm Escort 1300 and Deluxe and Super, Manual and Automatic 1968 1970 1298 cc 9:1 OHV (8V) @ 5000 @ 2500 rpm Escort 1300 GT 1968 1970 1298 cc 9.2:1 OHV (8V) @ 5800 Escort Twin Cam 1968 1971 1558 cc 9.4:1 DOHC (8V) @ 5500 @ 4000 rpm Escort 1100 L Low Compression 1970 1974 1098 cc 8:1 OHV (8V) @ 6000 @ 3000 rpm Escort 1100 L/XL, Manual and Automatic 1970 1974 1098 cc 9:1 OHV (8V) @ 6000 @ 3000 rpm Escort 1300 L/XL Manual and Automatic 1970 1974 1298 cc 9:1 OHV (8V) @ 5500 @ 3000 rpm Escort 1300 GT and Sport 1970 1974 1298 cc 9.2:1 OHV (8V) @ 6000 @ 4000 rpm Escort Mexico 1970 1974 1599 cc 9:1 OHV (8V) @ 5500 @ 4000 rpm Escort RS 1600 1970 1974 1599 cc 10:1 DOHC (16V) @ 6500 @ 4000 rpm Escort RS 2000 1972 1974 1993 cc 9.2:1 SOHC (8V) @ 5700 @ 4000 rpm
All models 1100 and 1300 were offered in 2 door Saloon, 4 door Saloon and 3 doors Estate versions.

Ford New Zealand's Seaview plant in Lower Hutt built 1.1 and 1.3 litre versions, initially as Deluxe (1.1) and Super (1.3) two door sedans plus panel vans. The four door sedan was added in 1970. Trim levels were revised after the 1972 UK facelift with just one run of 1.3XLs (with the GT instrument pack) before these were downgraded to 'L' trim. Base and L trims were offered to the end of the Mk I run. Some 1.6 Mexicos were imported in 1973–74 after the government temporarily freed up import licensing owing to a shortage of new cars. Estate versions were mostly imported.

The Mk I was produced by Ford Australia from 1970 to 1975 as a two or four door saloon and as a two door panel van. 1100 cc and 1300 cc engines were offered, as was the 1558 cc twin cam unit., Some 67,146 examples of the Mk I were built in Australia,

Assembly of the Mk I Escort was undertaken by Automotive Industries in Upper Nazareth, in conjunction with the local distributor, Israeli Automotive Corp. Assembly from UK sourced kits started in April 1968. The last Mk I, a light green 1100cc two door, was produced on 14 November 1975. A total of 14,905 units were assembled in Israel, including 105 Escort 400 vans.

The Mk I Escort was sold in Japan, imported from the United Kingdom by Kintetsu Motors and was available with the 1.3 L engine in GT trim, and was sold alongside the Ford Cortina and the Ford Capri. Sales were helped by the fact that this generation Escort complied with Japanese government dimension regulations concerning vehicle dimensions and engine displacement. Only the four door saloon was offered, and this was the only generation available to Japanese buyers. The engine displacement contributed to a lower annual road tax obligation to Japanese buyers which helped sales.

Approximately 100 Mk 1 Escort RS1600s were sent to South Africa as knock down kits (CKD) in 1970/1 and were assembled in the Ford Port Elizabeth plant. They were sold through the Ford dealer network but some of the initial cars suffered oil feed problems which was later rectified by Ford in collaboration with Cosworth. A batch of sixty RS1600s were sold by Ford SA to Basil Green Motors in Edenvale, Johannesburg who replaced the twin cam BDA engines with the 2000cc SOHC Pinto engine and the car was renamed the Escort Perana. Approximately 40 of the original cars retained the twin cam BDA engine and these cars were sold as RS1600s by Ford dealers throughout South Africa. These cars had an identification tag under the driver’s seat in addition to the Ford SA VIN tag in the engine compartment. South African RS1600s had various detailed differences from the Ford UK cars. They were painted yellow with a black stripe to the rear panel and to the cills. They also had black blocks painted on the bonnet. The front seats were from the Capri V4.

The origins of the codename "Erika" for the Escort Mk III is now subject to dispute – the most likely being Ford of Europe policy in the late 1970s for using female names for new projects such as "Brenda" (Escort Mk II), "Gloria" (Granada MkII), "Carla" (Capri MkIII), "Teresa" (Taunus TC3/Cortina Mk5) and "Toni" (Sierra). It was known that Henry Ford II's secretary's name during his tenure as CEO of Ford Europe was Erika, and it has been suggested in some sources that the name came from here. Other theories being that the Escort was originally meant to be called the "Ford Erika", but ended up retaining the Escort name. Some say this was due to British consumers' reluctance to let go of the "Escort" badge (as the first two generations of Escort had been among Britain's most popular cars, with the Mk II being Britain's best selling car in 1976), and some say that the Germans were concerned with the song Erika, which was a famous battlemarch of the German armed forces during World War II.

To compete with Volkswagen's Golf GTI, a hot hatch version of the Mark III was developed – the XR3. Initially this featured a tuned version of the 1.6 L CVH engine fitted with a twin choke Weber carburettor, uprated suspension and numerous cosmetic alterations. It lacked a five speed transmission and fuel injection. Fuel injection finally arrived in October 1982 (creating the XR3i), eight months behind the limited edition (8,659 examples), racetrack influenced RS 1600i. The Cologne developed RS received a more powerful engine with , thanks to computerized ignition and a modified head as well as the fuel injection. The final performance update arrived in the form of the turbocharged RS Turbo model in October 1984. The RS Turbo was somewhat of a disappointment; it had been delayed several times and when it went on sale in early 1985, the chassis came in for severe criticism. Ford initially planned to build 5,000 RS Turbos, the minimum number required for homologation in Group A. However a total of 8,604 were built due to increased demand, almost all in Diamond White. Produced in both LHD and RHD, it was only marketed in a few European nations with 5,000 examples for the UK, and was only sold through official Rallye Sport dealers. They were well equipped, with the alloy wheels from the limited production RS 1600i, Recaro seats, and a viscous coupling limited slip differential. The Series 2 RS Turbo continued with the 1986 MKIV model.

Ford were initially keen that the Escort Mk III continued the strong rallying heritage of its two predecessors. The Ford Escort RS 1700T was a prototype RWD car designed by Ford Motor Company in 1980 to compete in Group B rallying. Prototypes were based on the Mk III Escort bodyshell, but other than this had almost no engineering commonality with the regular production version, being rear wheel drive and featuring a Cosworth developed 1.8 litre turbocharged four cylinder engine that produced over maximum power. Also a prototype with a 2.4 litre Hart engine (derived from a Formula Two unit) was tested in 1982. Persistent problems during the vehicle's development, coupled with unease within the marketing department that a Mk III Escort with rear wheel drive would be perceived as a retrograde step and prompted Ford to drop plans for its production and instead begin work on a bespoke all wheel drive model to beat the Audi Quattro, designed and built from scratch, resulting in the RS200.

The two door Escort Van was first sold in February 1981, a slightly delayed introduction caused by large remaining stocks of the Mark II Escort Van. The Van has twin rear doors and unusual small side windows behind the front doors, necessary to provide more over the shoulder visibility which would otherwise be limited by the use of the short front doors from the five door Escort. It was originally available in base (Popular), L or GL trim levels, with four or five speed manual transmissions. In October 1983 the luxurious Ghia version was added. This model was exported to Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway from 1983 until 1986, as the Escort LX, where it replaced the low priced German built Escort L. The car had a bad reputation in Scandinavia, with severe rust problems and issues with the wet liners of the Renault designed engine. The engines were also designed to run on petrol containing some ethanol (10 20%), leading to troubles when using straight petrol. That problem could be avoided by adding ethanol in the petrol manually. The Brazilian Escort LX was also available in Switzerland, only with the larger engine option. Brazil also received an XR3 version towards the very end of 1983, only available with a tuned version of the 1.6 liter engine running on alcohol. Aside from interior and exterior enhancements including spoilers and 14 inch alloy wheels, the XR3's engine produced , a bit more than the regular versions but not quite enough to be considered a sporting car. In April 1985, the Escort Cabriolet was introduced. It was built in Brazil in collaboration between Ford and Karmann, with the top imported from Germany.

The Escort was also available in South Africa, as hatchback only, from March 1981, with the 1.3 and 1.6 litre engines. The South African Escorts differ only slightly from European ones, as a result of local parts content regulations. The XR3 was also sold, known simply as the Ford XR3 and later XR3i, rather than the Ford Escort XR3.

As part of the run out year of the Erika platform Escort and Orion after a decade of production, several notable special edition models were created – a luxurious Orion 1600E with leather seats, fuel injection, alloy wheels and most optional extras as standard was produced during 1989 and 1990. A total of 1,600 were made. The "Bonus" was essentially a 3 door 1.3 Popular, but with metallic paint and tailgate wash/wipe as standard. The Escort Eclipse (based on the 1.3 LX) fitted with electric windows, alloy wheels, boot spoiler and only available in two colours – Amalfi Blue or Flambeau Red (shades that were previously reserved for the XR3i) – was sold up until the model's discontinuation in September 1990. Despite the appearance of the new generation Escort, dealer stocks of the Mk4 remained available well into the following year – in the United Kingdom a small number were registered with "J" prefix licence plates indicating a post August 1991 registration date – one year after the end of production, possibly due to overstock or the negative reception of its successor.

Escorts for European markets continued to be assembled at Halewood, near Liverpool, and at the West German factory of Saarlouis. Sales were strong through the decade, and during the later 1980s Escort production also commenced at the Ford plant originally established for Fiesta production in Valencia. European production finished in 1990, although stocks of the model, especially the XR3i and RS Turbo variants continued well into 1991 and eventually finished in 1992. At this time, the Escort was dropped in South Africa and replaced by the Mazda derived Laser and Meteor. However, the Escort‐based Bantam pick up remained in production, facelifted, and was also sold as a Mazda Rustler.

In 1998, Ford announced an all new car, the Focus, which replaced the Escort and superseded the "Escort" name that had been in use for 30 years. The Escort range was cut down to just "Flight" and "Finesse" editions, and sold for a further two years in parallel with the Focus. In the United Kingdom, all engines except the 1.6 L petrol and 1.8 L turbo diesel were dropped, as were the three door hatchback, four door saloon and cabriolet bodystyles. The range was also condensed in mainland Europe, New Zealand, South Africa, and South America. The Flight cost £10,380 and offered electric front windows, a three speed fan and a cassette player. For an additional £1,000 the Finesse added alloy wheels, air conditioning, a CD player, fog lamps and metallic paint. The more competitive prices managed to keep European Escort sales going until the last one rolled off the Halewood assembly line in July 2000, although remaining stocks were sold into 2001, making it the last Ford car to be assembled there. The plant was transferred to Jaguar that year for the new X Type saloon, and following the later merger with Land Rover and the sale of the plant to Tata, Ford now only has a small presence at Halewood – retaining the transmission works at the site.

The van variant remained in production in a facility located behind the now Jaguar plant at Halewood until October 2002 when the new Transit Connect model was introduced. The Escort hatchback and estate were produced in Argentina until 2004, having been sold alongside its successor (the Focus) during the final stages of production. Escort based light vans had been offered since 1968, although the market sector, always larger in the UK than in continental Europe, dated back beyond the 1950s when successive Ford Anglias had been available with a van variant. After the demise of the Escort, Ford would be represented in this niche by the Turkish assembled Ford Transit Connect.

While it was never sold in Australia, this generation was however sold in New Zealand imported fully built up from the UK between 1996 and 1998 in all bodystyles including the van, replacing the Ford Laser. The hatch and saloon were replaced in 1999 by the Laser due to unfavourable exchange rates, the Focus being introduced to the New Zealand market only in 2003, whereas the Escort estate and van continued on sale on the local market until 1999 until stock from the UK dried up, the estate having reasonable success due to the lack of a replacement Laser wagon following the end of local production of the outdated 1980s KE Laser wagon in 1996. 1.6 or 1.8 litre petrol and the diesel 1.8 were available.

ModelModelyearEngineDisplacementPower / rpm. Torque / rpm. Top Speedfuel system1.3 CFi/H Endura E1995 1998OHV 8V inline four1299 cc / 5000 / 2500petrol,fuel injection1.4 EFi CVH PTE1995 1998SOHC 8V inline four1392 cc / 5500 / 27501.6 EFi Zetec1995 2000DOHC 16V inline four1597 cc / 5500 / 30001.8 EFI Zetec1996 19981796 cc / 5750 / 45001.8 EFI ZETEC1996 19981796 cc / 6250 / 4500RS2000 I4 DOHC19961988 cc / 6000 / 45001.8 D Endura D1995 1998SOHC 8V inline four 1753 cc / 4800 / 2500diesel1.8 TD Endura D1995 1998 / 4500 / 2500turbodiesel1.8 TDDi Endura D1995 2000 / 4500 / 2000−2500