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by Ross Finlay (22 July 00)
That's not just the end of Escort production at the Merseyside factory, which will now be converted to build Jaguars, but also the end of Escort manufacture in Europe. At various times, the cars were built at Cologne and Saarlouis in Germany, Valencia in Spain and Genk in Belgium. But as sales slowed, in 1998 all European production was centred on Halewood. There were some much farther-flung factories. Escorts have been built in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and India, and even at Wayne in Michigan, where the front-wheel drive Mark III models were re-engineered for the North American market, until being replaced in 1990 by a car carrying the Escort name but based on the platform of the Mazda 323. If you add all the European Escorts together, you get a production figure of 13,521,055. But if you take in all the American and Asian ones too, the figure rises to almost 20 million, which makes the Escort the best selling Ford ever, beating even the mass production pioneer, the Model T. It's not surprising so many people have Escort memories - some CARkeys characters recall a few of their own, elsewhere in the magazine (see list at foot of page). And it's remarkable how many people, at the drop of a trolley jack, can quote significant dates in Escort history - Mark I launched 1968, Mark II 1975, Mark III (introducing FWD) 1980, Mark IV 1990 - as well as when Escorts won their 31 World Rally Championship events, races and rallycrosses, and innumerable forest rallies here in the UK. And, of course, that London-Mexico World Cup victory which gave rise to the production Mexico model. The first Twin Cam in 1968 had a 106bhp Lotus-Ford engine, but by 1996, when the Escort RS Cosworth appeared, there was 227bhp available even in standard tune, plus a massive rear wing. Getting down to more reasonably priced road cars, The Lads, who seem to be creeping in as acting unofficial unpaid observers at CARkeys road tests, just love the XR3 as launched in 1980. They're even more enthusiastic about the XR3i, on sale from 1982 to 1990 and still a favourite Lad set of wheels. One great thing about the Escort was that it could be all things to all users - a family runabout, a sales rep's estate, a style-setter's cabriolet, a campervan conversion, and in its day the most popular stage rally car in the UK. Has there ever, really, been better viewing in the British forests than watching the late, great Roger Clark in full cry - "Sideways to Victory" as in the title of his autobiography - steering his rear-drive Escort on the throttle, looking straight ahead up the road through a side window, and casually adjusting those long, colossal, flat-out slides with the steering wheel? Then, having won an event like the Scottish Rally, what would he do? After the formalities, go for a few beers with the contemporary version of The Lads. Escort Memories: |
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The last of the 5,202,412 Ford Escorts to be built at Halewood was driven off the line yesterday by Ford of Europe chairman Nick Scheele. It was a blue five-door Finesse, one of the special editions which, like the Flight, will be in the showrooms until supplies dry up, some time before the end of this year.
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