The Ford EXP is perhaps one of the more memorable domestic products of the 1980s, and certainly the kind of design that hasn’t been reincarnated in some sort of retro design homage (but give it time, I suppose). The EXP, based on visuals alone, looked like it should be one of the higher performing cars in Ford’s lineup at the time, but it really did start and end with its looks – under the hood was a powertrain that couldn’t keep up with the athletic body. This one is offered by Rawhide Sales, one of my favorite sellers, here on eBay with no reserve and bidding still comfortably under $2,000.
The EXP not only featured that memorable snout, but also a blacked-out taillight panel and a range of alloy wheel designs that even included a phone dial style that mimicked one of the more iconic Porsche wheel designs. This EXP presents quite well, with bright red paint, lustrous black trim, and factory wheels. One of my favorite design features of the EXP was the strakes in the C-pillar – nothing particularly significant about them, other than it further added to the raciness of the overall package. The seller provides a comprehensive condition report in every listing but doesn’t editorialize the car, so there’s no way to confirm the paint as original other than what we see here.
The EXP’s sporty undertones continued to the cabin, with two-tone bucket seats, a four-spoke steering wheel, and a full assortment of gauges. The concept of making a car look fast but having it actually be quite miserly is nothing new, but it just seems particularly disappointing with the EXP given the boldness of the design. The good news is here that the car is equipped with the preferred manual transmission, which should help soften the blow of the EXP’s rather uninspiring performance by at least being able to row your own gears. The odometer may read 14,245, but the seller is always quick to point out that cars over a certain age in Wisconsin are exempt from annual odometer readings.
The heart of the beast: the EXP came equipped with the 1.6L CVH engine, that pushed out a surprisingly modest 7o horsepower. Even by malaise era standards, that’s a sad number for a car with a bold body like this. At least it got the fully independent suspension from Ford’s European operations, but I suspect it was of little comfort to domestic car shoppers hoping for more of a pavement scorching sports coupe. Can you imagine if the EXP came with the turbocharged 2.3L engine from the Mustang SVO? That would have effectively re-written history, and moved the Big 3 into building high-performance hot hatches far sooner than they did – and maybe stopped its Japanese and European competitors from dominating that space. Did you ever drive an EXP back in the day?
The inspection says, body good, although holes in the floor pan are mentioned. That’s not so good, as the floor is an essential body part.
These were a take on a sportier version of the basic and simple Escort economy car. I kind of liked them, quirky front end and all. This one doesn’t look terrible, though you can see that it has not lived in a salt-free environment. Interesting ad, showing the inspection reports but essentially no accompanying verbiage. Buy it cheap, tinker around with it, have some low-dollar fun.
Fresh Red paint and holes in floor? Lipstick on the pig?
Back when I was racing in SCCA Showroom Stock,
I thought about buying one of these to race,as Ford would
pay (I think it was) $200.You only had to be the first Ford.
I figured I could make the payments with my winnings.
I had a blue 1981 5 speed, It was a fun car.
4 speed.
I had one of these in the 90’s. Mine had the metric telephone dial wheels and was fully loaded. AC didn’t work but it had a giant pop out sunroof and a pretty decent stereo with factory EQ. My biggest beef with the car was the steering wheel, too skinny. I’m 6 feet tall and had plenty of room, no backseat didn’t hurt. Fuel economy? Outrageous! I seem to remember driving from Manhattan to Manitoba one weekend on two tanks of gas. I don’t remember most of the drive so I might have missed a fill. My future wife had a little freakout once when I told her we had not filled up in almost 800 kilometers. Neat car, too bad its not the bubble back hatch instead of the notchback…
How do you end up with corrosion like that on the brake booster and master cylinder cap? I’ve never seen that and I’ve lived my entire life in the Northeastern US, where we get plenty of winter and use plenty of salt on the roads.
More power would of come with the optional 1.6 turbo engine that put out 120hp. I remember these smoking the Japanese offerings at the time in turbo form.
Looks like it must of been used as a fishing boat at one time with all the underside, engine compartment rust.
I had a New Red 84 model, manual.
Had the larger rear window and was a hatch back.
I remember my 1.6 had a little more hp too, about 105 or so I think. My wife drove it out to So Cal from Detroit back in 1986.
I rode my 82 GS750 Suzuki motorcycle and she followed me with a UHAUL car top carrier strapped to the roof!
That car ran well….after we had my son we traded the EXP 2 seater for a New White1987 Chevy Turbo Sprint!! 3 cylinder little pocket rocket!
The EXP 1.6 liter base engine had 70 HP, there was a 1.6 liter high out put that did 80 HP, 88 HP for the GT 1.6 liter and the turbo version did 120 hp. Later on the 1.6 was replaced by the 1.9 liter which had 90 HP. These were the same engines basically that the Escort was using in the 80’s.
Ive got a white turbo version, lowered, with konis and larger swaybars, sitting in a container waiting to bring out again one day
I had one of these in the late 80s early 90s. Loads of fun. I crashed it sooo many times I lost count. Parts were plenty available at that time. Had to replace the head twice do to missed shifts and bent valves. Funny thing was I bought it from a dude down the street thinking the back seat was folded down. That night a buddy and I tried to pick up a couple girls and surprise no back seat. So they sat on my buddy’s lap. Like I said loads of fun!
I worked for Ford Motor Company in 1982 right after the launch of the Escort/ Lynx / EXP/ LN7.
We handled consumer affairs for the upper Midwest.
Apparently, condensation would collect internally on top of the mechanical fuel pump arm. Whena deep freeze occurred, the fuel pump arms would snap in half.
This was in the midst of the Ford “Quality is Job 1” ad campaign, and with lots of unhappy customers with brand new vehicles that would not run, I had the privilege of staffing the consumer affairs customer complaint hotline.
Ford had to expedite pallets of fuel pumps to the upper Midwest, as well as issue a corrective bulletin to channel the condensation internally away from the top of the fuel pump arm.
Evidently they fixed this fuel pump issue by 84, My friend and I both had 84 models in frigid Detroit and never had that issue.
I worked at a Ford Mercury dealer when these first appeared. Almost got talked into buying one by the dealership owner. Bronze metallic color, and I think it had the phone dial TRX wheels. They were fun cars, but a little anemic in the power dept.
Being as they were the Escort / Lynx platform, you could actually order a back seat addition kit to make it into kind of a four seater through the Ford parts book.
In highschool in 1986, I had a 1982 that was two tone green on black, 4 soeed manual with that giant sunroof. I thought I was the shiznit. No back seat never stopped me from carting two extra passengers! Man I miss that car sometimes…
Get real and stop your whining, Here’s a vehicle that’s 39 years old, still running and not that bad looking for a dirt cheap price. Throw in a 2.3 &
trans upgrade and have a blast.
In Europe there are A number of owners that swap in the engines and transmissions from the later Ford Focus. Even a box stock Focus engine will give you a 100% power boost.
And I believe the wheels from either a Focus or a later Fiesta will work on these cars, I forget which.
BTW…..They didn’t have 5 speeds in 82, this is a 4 speed.
There were a limited number that had 5 speeds later in the model year, as I and a friend had 5 speeds in ours that we bought in 1982. Ours also had tubular header style exhausts on a High Output labeled 1.6 motor, instead of the cast manifolds. This made the cars extra peppy compared to another friend that had the 4 speed lower output model from earlier in the model year.
after she drove the mommie buss (2 teens shuttling to practice, school, etc) w/renault dolphene, simca 1000 & fiat 128 she finally retired that duty & got an 850. No more kids – time for any “karmen gihas” type things. One of the last 850s was sorta robins egg blue, nxt in line was a same color EXP. Had same fl pan as escort – in fact since the rear seat bolts were in the EXP – I bolted in some seats from the local yard when she was not lookin. Never even noticed. Wk later I asked fora ride. She smiled “Oh U know I drive 2 seaters now and dad remover the pass seat for my pottery stuff.” Shoulda seen her face when I showed her the rear. “Justa joke mom”, her teen/self driver said. Soon she went on to the 124 Spyders and Lancia Beta Coups.
I had a 1983 LN7 in orange with camel vinyl. Loved that car, but it had a boat load of problems. I had paid $5000. for it in 1985 with 40k miles and traded it in in 1988 with 100k plus. They gave me $99. The 1986 Sunbird SE Coupe I traded it in for was a great little car and had zero issues. I miss them both!
In my hands this car would consume exactly no fuel.
A friend had a Mercury LN7. Cute car, well put together. The economy was in the turlet at the time and her old man went down to the local dealership with a wad of cash in his hand, and lowballed the bejesus out of them.
Gutless as heck. Driving up local mountain roads 25 mph was about as fast as it would go. Having my 350 carcass in the passenger seat sure didn’t help. At least on the uphill runs.”
I worked at the Ford plant in St. Thomas, Ontario when the EXP/LN7 was launched. There were high expectations for this car prior to Job #1. Our plant was to be the sole plant building these car. After we had built the the pre Job 1 training vehicles, the big boys from Detroit flew in to review our quality indicator. Several of the trailing cars were dispatched to the airport to pick them up. At that point there was a back seat in the EXP. An executive stowed his briefcase in the rear hatch and squeezed into the back seat. When the driver slammed the hatch shut, he knocked the executive out colder than a mackerel. Needless to say that was the end of the rear seat for the EXP. The LN7 with the curves back hatch glass managed to keep the rear seat configuration. Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play!
I owned one of these. I traded in my 1971 Super Beetle for it. It was a pretty reliable little car, but definitely not fast. Mine was a light metallic blue and I remember enjoying the air conditioning!
HEY MOTORSPORT…….Sell me your white EXP…..I miss my 84, is it a manual I hope??
Well well. I already have an 84 turbo exp and I got an Ebay alert that this car was for sale. So i put in a bid on Ebay and now with it on BF, no wonder I’ve been outbid.
SAVE my number and call me when you’re ready to sell your 84 Turbo. I miss my 84 that I used to have!
Jerry 951 218 0501 im in South Carolina
I’d rather have the turbo 2.3 in an Escort wagon, if it’s going to be fwd, heavier than a standard Escort and not much lighter than a Fox Mustang – it might as well be useful!
What hurt the sales on these was the lack of a back seat. Insurance companies saw them as a sports car and charged much higher rates than a standard Ford Escort.
My 84 wasnt any more expensive to insure than the 83 Escort I had.
Insurance companies rate by the engine size, 4, 6 or 8……at least they used to.
Man, I’d buy this just to pull the 5-speed out for my Austin Healey.
Its a 4 speed, the add is wrong.
I remember the EXP came out in April of 1981 as a 1982. I was at a Ford dealership on the Saturday before the Monday release and they led me see and sit in a white one with blue interior that was hidden back in the closed service department that Saturday. I thought it was so cool to see the car had a Ford dealership 2 days before it went on sale.
I really like the 79 to 82 fox body Mustang and remember at the time I like the Mustang a lot more than the EXP.
Speaking from experience….. they rust out around the mounts in the rear wheel well.
Inspection reports notes bad floor pans and repaired frame damage. Car is a rot bucket.
I never owned one but I did work in the plant that built the exhaust system for them, and some other flavor of the Escort too. We were saddened to learn that a two seater was not built as a performance vehicle.