The Ford Escort replaced the Pinto and was the company’s first “world car,” meaning that the car was developed across numerous global markets. It debuted in 1981 and was in production across three generations through 2003. The seller has a 1995 second-gen model in LX trim, and it has covered a fair number of miles (143,000). Few details are provided, but the car is in Allenton, Wisconsin, and is priced in cheap wheels territory at $1,500 here on Facebook Marketplace. Thanks for the tip, “Lothar… of the Hill People.”
While earlier Escorts were considered subcompacts, the remainder (including the seller’s car) were sized for the compact market. The car was a hit in the U.S. and was the market’s best- selling car for much of the 1980s. This edition of the car was based on a Mazda platform, as Ford had a partnership with them at the time. An 88 hp 1.9-liter inline-4 provided power for the 1995 Escort. At one time, there was also a Mercury version called the Lynx.
The seller’s car is a 4-door sedan with a hatchback, one of 50,000 built for the 1995 model year. So, you saw a lot of these cars running around 30 years ago. But most have since moved on to the automobile graveyard. This one has plenty of miles and is only photographed in a parking garage, leading us to wonder if it even runs. It has an automatic transmission.
A bit of rust appears to be in one rocker pane,l and the car’s silver paint is well past its prime and would be ready for a redo. The blue interior seems to be fine. But the seller is tight-lipped about the qualities of this car, which is a shame. Would you hand over $1,500 for a faded, 31-one-year old Escort?
The composite valve seats are known to crack apart around 135,000 mi.– it happened to mine.
Can you imagine this with a 3sp slush box? Rust or no rust, worth very little to me. Escorts with sticks, were okay for the day, but nothing to write home about.
The reason you saw so many of these in the junkyard is service, or
A lack thereof–especially here in the South where front drive cars
got crushed AFTER the first major repairs. Not too many mechanics here wanted to service them because they were
FWD and training for techs here
almost non existent. It was so bad here in Florida that if you were a Ford mechanic 🧰 from
up north, and had the training to
repair these cars, you could write
your own ticket 🎫. Shops here
were desperate for skilled technicians in the dark times during the ’80s when these cars had more problems than Carter has liver pills. Underhood fires,
engines that wouldn’t stop running when the key was turned off, and the cheap shoddy quality
of those early cars drove people
to Toyota dealerships in droves.
So Ford teamed up with Mazda to
get a better build quality than they could on their own. And if
anything said Fix Or Repair Daily,
it was an early Escort. The ’95s
weren’t bad, but the damage here
in Florida was already done. Even with the bump in build quality these were a tough sell.
Too bad they didn’t have the Japanese build quality in the beginning instead of the substandard European build quality they had back then. If they had, things might have been
different.
winter hooptie
My first new car was a 1995 Escort black with a five speed pretty decent little car I remember the window sticker was 13,620
I owned four Escorts. The first two were 4 speeds, and the last two were 5 speeds. An ’82 frost green/white L wagon, an ’86 black/tan L coupe, a ’91 blue LX coupe, and a ’94 blue LX (sport appearance pkg.) coupe. I never had mechanical problems with any of them. The ’91 had problems with the clearcoat paint on the roof (discoloring), and the bottom side panels (peeling) a month in.
I had an original issue wagon withbthe hemi head with the domed pistons. with a 4 speed. I got it for next to nothing. (No rust and ok paint.) It had broken the timing belt so the engine was toast. I found out that the 2.3 HSC used in the Tempo was the same block. I found a very rare 1.6 HP new cylinder head and a very rare 1.6 HP camshaft and had 1 6 .040 over over bore pistons (still domed) made up for me. (It’s great when United Engine (the company that makes Keith Black hyperutectic pistons) is in your town!) I ended up having to cut down the piston tops by about. 020 to clear the combustion chambers. And installed a later year factory HP header. That car was a screamer! It could fry the tires easily and roll past 100 mph with ease. My (now ex) wife pleaded with me to sell the car to our baby sitter. I reluctantly agreed with the understanding that I get the car back when she wanted to replace it. The following week, came the Reno flood. Unbeknownst to me. She lived down by the river. The car was completely under water for a week amd never contacted me. And had the car towed to the junk yard. My the time I found out and got to the junk yard ot had already been crushed. Because many of the engine parts were unobtainium. I would gladly, carefully rebuilt the engine.
I had a wagon version of this model here with a 5 speed. No speed demon. But living in the desert allows extra legal speeds (80 to 85 mph) most of the time. It handled and rode very well. And the only repair I had to do was a clutch. (A royal pain to pop the CV joints out of the transmission!) I drove the daylights out if it for 3 years and 75,000 miles and sold it for $1,500 more than I paid for it when I retired as I didn’t need it anymore. The new tires I installed on the car when I bought it were still in excellent condition. I wish I still had it, as it was a great beater!
Other than the name I’m at least 90% sure that the Eurpeans had nothing to do with the first generation north American Escort. They were still on thier 2nd gen when we got our first. Two totally different animals . I believe the Mazda sourced version we see here , did sale in Europe as also thier final gen before the focus came in 99
The Mercury version of this generation Escort was the Tracer.
I bet that thing’s COMPLETELY roached underneath.
Sincerely,
– a Wisco gal