The Ford Escort replaced the subcompact Pinto in 1981 as the company’s first “world car” meaning the platform was used on multiple continents. It went on to become the best-selling car in the U.S. throughout most of the decade. The GL was the nicer version of what was designed as an economy car and the 1987 edition offered by the seller is said to have just 17,000 miles. Located in Big Bend, Wisconsin, this nice survivor is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $7,500.
Escort production in the U.S. would run through 2003 although the vehicle had grown up to a compact car in the 1990s. Besides replacing the Pinto, the Escort became the smallest vehicle in Ford’s North American arsenal with fewer dimensions than the imported Fiesta. Mercury would get a rebadged version of the Escort that they dubbed the Lynx. Initially, the Escort was powered by a 1.6-liter inline-4 but was treated to a 1.9 version by the time the seller’s car was built.
We don’t know the history of this Ford Escort GL or how it came to only have 17,000 miles (unless it’s a babied 117,000). We’re told it runs well, and everything works as it should. New tires have been installed and you’ll have an AM/FM radio to listen to while tooling around. The big question before us is this: is the Ford Escort a collectible car today and – if not – will it ever be? BTW, thanks for the tip Barn Finder “Kiwie49”.
not wishing to be too negative, but I fear the answer to the question is probably, hmmm, “no”
Cars that were ‘cheap-n-cheerful’ when sold new, and produced is huge numbers, are not likely to be sought-after collectibles in later years. There are exceptions to that, such as the VW Bug, or Austin/Morris original Mini which became cult cars and still are…but those were both pretty unique cars, had personality, and didn’t look like anything else out there.
There is a following for Ford’s more sporty versions of the Escort, the RS1600i and RS Turbo in UK/Europe, and to lesser degree the Escort GT and GT Turbo in US, but a fairly plain-Jane GL, probably not going to be a hot ticket.
Completely agree. There was a time that my family growing up had 4 Escorts of this vintage. My Mom had a 1985 4dr in a two-tone blue. My oldest brother had a dark blue 1986 2door auto. My older brother had a 1987 Red 2 door manual. I had the new and improved 1988.5 Escort LX.
These cars were …fine. That is about it, generally reliable , forgettable cars. (Side note, I drive a friends Civic and Nissan Sentra if that time and was shocked at the difference in improved quality compared to my car)
This and it’s twin, the Mercury Lynx will never be close to mainstream collector cars. There may be a few people that have some dedicate to the model, but not enough to drive values. These will be an oddity that can draw some attention at a coffee and cars, but that attention will not equate to anything more than cursory interest.
This Escort will need to compete on price and condition with every other quasi collectible car, $7,500 isn’t likely to get it sold.
Classiccarfan is right there may be a few specific performance oriented models that have a following, but this GL won’t be part of that.
Steve R
Agreed on the price? A mint 17k mile Escort GT? I could be convinced to pay $7k for one, only because I had one back then and it’s one of those cars with memories I wouldn’t mind putting in my hypothetical collection.
When I was in high school, my dad had a Mercury Lynx roughly the same year of the one above, the main difference was it had a 5spd. It was the car me or my sister could borrow after he came home from work. It did exactly what it was designed for, basic transportation, but was far from inspiring. I understand that you could be convinced to buy an Escort GT for $7,000, it’s a different animal, but no one needs to be convinced to buy a true collector car. That’s why they are expensive, they tend to have strong following of enthusiasts searching them out. A base Escort is destined to compete on price with other cars that don’t have a strong following.
Steve R
Had an ’86 GT. Bought it with 10K on it. Great little car for a 19 year old kid who couldn’t swing the payments on a Mustang GT.
You wouldn’t touch a GT for anywhere near that with those miles. I saw an ’89 GT on Facebook Marketplace with 46k on it and a $7k ask sell in a day. Of course, I don’t know what he got for it but i’m sure it was close to the asking price given the short time. And my guess is he could’ve got more.
Some don’t like to admit it but these cars are getting pretty desirable given how rare they are now and given how many people with money have memories of them.
I worked with a guy about 20 years ago that picked up a diesel powered escort. He loved getting 50 mpg, but gosh, it was slow. These were fun with a 5 speed, but the auto sucks all the fun out.
Diesel !
My Dad worked at Ford for 38 years and he bought 2 of these Escort diesels off-lease for $10 ,000. Total.
Great for going FOREVER without refueling. Both 4 speeds (only manual was available I believe). Was a salesman and thought that the one I got was just what I needed – noisy but we loved them. Dad pulled all but driver’s seat and made it a little truck of sorts.
We had these for years, as well as the gas models, and served us well when we needed cars for the simple transportation needs and $200 car pmts.
I beg to differ on these and all other cars that were once common place. For that reason, they are now as rare as he’s teeth, and while they will never grab the big bucks, I think there will always be a place for them in the collectors’ world. The interest at a car show will certainly be more than cursory. Mustangs, etc are so common as to become boring. But when did anyone last see one of these, a Mazda GLC, a Datsun F10, or some of the other cars that were purely utilitarian in their day?
Check out any vintage Mustang forum,folks are still crazy over the 65′ to 73′
For some people, this car would be more fun to own as compared to something which had one (or two) more zeros in its price. It’s even beige. I’m glad Russ wrote it up for us.
Okay, I think most could see the difference in the Gremlin and this. This clearly has 17K, and coming from Wisconsin, boy howdy, you can’t hide the toll it takes. This car was simply only used on sunny days( all 14 of them) and never in the snow. Not sure about the price, it’s still an Escort, but just try and find a decent used car today. I’ve given up trying to help people in that regard, you can’t win. I bet $5grand on the hood would take it, and you don’t get much today for $5grand.
No. Turd then, turd now.
As someone else said, yes there is a strong following for the Escort RS1600/Turbos here in the UK, but prices are flattening out (finally) as these tend to be the most common on our roads and people are now searching for the lower spec Pop plus’s, L’s and GL’s as there are sooooo few of them left – they want to be a little different as and as such, prices of these are starting to rise.
The same applies to the Peugeot 205s, VW Golf’s (mks I & II), Vauxhall Astras, Ford Fiestas… all the family cars that my generation grew up with in the UK that we rarely see any more.
If that’s happening this side of the pond, I can’t see why the US shouldn’t be any different in the next few years.
$7.5k is a bit steep for a box on wheels, but most of these were “run hard and put away wet” as the saying goes, and most were recycled after the rust ate them away to almost nothing. So, as time goes on, they become more and more rare, and therefore valuable.
There seems to be an increasing demand for “malaise era” iron, particularly compacts like the Ford Maverick, Dodge Dart and Chevy Nova (and their corporate sisters), as the prices of 1960’s mid-size “muscle cars” continues to reach lottery ticket levels and the compacts can be restomodded to be decent performers. The Maverick in particular seems to have overcome its humble roots as an econobox and emerged as a sort of “pseudo-Mustang”, since it shares a platform with its much more popular (and expensive) pony-car sibling, along with both car’s ancestor, the lowly Falcon. Restomodded examples abound as six-cylinder cars get V8 transplants and a raft of upgrades to make them decent performers.
I had two of these back in the day, my first was a ’82 Mercury Lynx in this same uninspiring color. With the automatic it was a real dog, any hill was a “major ordeal”. I later had an Escort of this year and a manual transmission. It was worlds better than the auto, not fast but still fun. Oh, this color is like totally invisible to LE. Price is steep for this, probably worth 1/2 that to someone who wants to travel memory highway. Now if it were a GT that would be snapped up in a minute at this price and condition.
Paging Charles Atlas…
Some cars are destined to be just good used cars when they get older. This is exhibit A.
At least its a later model Escort with the 1.9 ; the 1.6 in the earlier Escorts was a major POS and everyone of them ended up with cracked heads. This was just a disposable car , and probably less than 5% were ever taken care of.
I owned a sea green ’82 Escort L wagon with white vinyl buckets and a 4 speed. When downshifting that car, it made the coolest noise (like a sports car would). My first new car was a black 1.9 liter ’86 Escort L coupe with tan interior, and a 4 speed. In 1987 Ford added fuel injection to the Escort. I loved how reliable these cars were, and purchased a new ’91, and ’94 Escort (sport appearance group) hatch. After the ’98 Contour SE, and the ’03 Focus wagon, I switched to Mazda 3’s…zoom, zoom.
Not too collectable. But, at $7500? I’d have saved around a hundred K, and almost get the same attention at the local car show, as the guy that buys that rot bucket 356, featured here on BF, this week.
Sorry, 911, not 356
I’ve always liked the Ford Escort especially in GT trim. Ford has always had better styling even with their economy cars. Nice Escort.
To many Escort stories post at this time
And when they take them to “Cars and Coffee” the only people that give them the time of day are other Mustang owners. Similar with Tri Fives, they are like backsides, everybody has one. Don’t get me wrong, I have owned 4 Mustangs from a ’67 Coupe to a ’71 Boss and loved them all, but take this little gem, which is worth BIG money for a small car here in UK, and see how many people crowd around it!
It’s a two door To bad it doesn’t have a manual trans. Just change the timing belt due to the age of the vehicle.