The Escort was Ford’s successor to the Ford Pinto. As such, it was produced as the company’s first “world car” from 1981 to 2003, sharing a lot with its Ford of Europe counterpart. This 1996 edition wears LX trim and a 5-speed manual transmission but has been off the road since 2017. A true barn find, dust, grime, and small woodland creatures have invaded this vehicle, so it may be only a parts car now. Located in Huntsville, Arkansas, this set of cheap wheels is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $500 OBO.
Early Escorts were subcompacts, but later they graduated to compact status. Millions of copies of the Escort were sold over two decades, and it would become the best-selling automobile in the U.S. for most of the 1980s. The second-generation Escorts rode on the same platform as the Mazda 323, and examples like this one used a 1.9-liter inline-4. This version was last registered eight years ago and started five years back but has since succumbed to the passage of time and critter damage.
This Ford has had just two owners and covered 226,000 miles before being parked. The body is said to have held up well and may have no rust. That will have to be verified by giving it a good bath and inspection. The interior is okay but dirty, and the headliner and sun visors are a mess. The tires are likely as hard as rocks by now and will have to be replaced if you dare to get the auto on the road again.
Escorts aren’t likely to ever be considered collectible, so a restoration here may be remote. Using it for parts may be the only way out, and we assume the wiring has been chewed up as pack rats took up shop under the hood. Bring $500 (or less) and a trailer and this barn find can be yours. Assuming you’re able to determine why. BTW, thanks for the tip, barn finder Terry.
The old hot rod guy in me says to sub frame it and put a 4.6 under the hood and go have some fun ,my logic brain says scrap it
I see the droppings on the floor pans and SOMETHING did that to the headliner..
226k, it had a good life id say.
Yup. Time for this Escort to go nite nites!
Too many ” fives ” in the price. I owned a 1989 same color .I sold it as fast as I could after replacing the cracked head.
Noscort to this yescort. Y Bother.
Freddie Krueger headliner.
Someone had a date with a girl in stilettos heels….
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
What do you call a Ford Escort at the top of a hill?
A miracle…leave this one to rest!
The 1981 North American Escort shared nearly zero parts with the European version. The two started out as part of Ford’s “World Car” project, but quickly diverged due to different consumer expectations in each market. By the time this ’96 was built, only the name was shared with the European Escort. Speaking of this ’96, the seller appears to be charging $500 for someone to take it to the scrapyard. I can’t imagine any other scenario. People looking for 2nd-generation Escort parts are few and far between. People who would restore a 2nd-generation Escort are likely institutionalized already.
leave where it sits. good if you need body parts but that’s about it.
Make a great circle/oval track sub-compact racer.
Mike Brewer will go nuts if he sees this. He loves them.
Mother waddles called, she wants her car back.
I used to see these everywhere back in the day, they were very popular cars. Then they all seemed to disappear in a day’s time. They provided decent transportation needs at a minimum cost. Fuel efficient, compact but roomy enough for a couple and two kids. And I guess the majority of them were painted red.
Later SEFI & split-port 1.9s/2.0s were terrible about dropping valve seats if you let them get the least bit hot. Kind of a shame because otherwise they weren’t a bad running engine. I’m willing to bet that’s what happened here.
I suppose by textbook definition it’s a barn find. That being said, I can’t imagine anyone was looking for it or asking for it to be found.
Leave it in the barn for at least another 9 years. By then it might have turned into a 1974 Mustang II.
🤮🤮🤮