The Ford Escort Over The Years

Two-plus decades of the Ford Escort seemed to have gone by in the blink of an eye after it was introduced to the North American market back in 1981 as Ford's first "world car." Up to that time, Ford had largely been unsuccessful in making compact vehicles that would be widely accepted by its customers; the Escort would change that.

The Ford escort over the years, especially in North America, wore many different types of sheet-metal though all were aimed the compact market -- which prior to 1981 Ford had for all intents and purposes ignored. Beginning in that model year, however Ford introduced what it called "the world car" for the benefit of its customers in North America.

As a model that ran up through the 2003 model year, the compact Escort had a very nice life. The new Focus picked up the load after the little compact was put out to pasture though thousands of them still run on the roads to this day. Originally based of model off the same name sold in Europe, it was redesigned extensively before being put forward for sale to Americans.

Technologically, the Escort was Ford's first car sporting front-wheel-drive and it took over the small car duties from the Pinto, a car that made its debut in 1971 and was always a vehicle that elicited no small amount of controversy. The Escort was nothing like the Pinto, though, and became one of the Dearborn automaker's most popular vehicles. "The little Ford that could" became the country's best-selling car in its second year and throughout most of the 80s.

In total, three generations of the Escort was produced by Ford, with each model and body style being a qualitative improvement over its predecessor. Over the life of the vehicle a number of engines and transmissions were offered, including a little diesel engine of 52 horsepower and a high-performance powerplant the kicked out a healthy 120 horses and could propel the small Escort quite capably.

Over the course of the third and last generation, which lasted from 1997 through the end of 2002, engineers at Ford had managed to demonstrate a real facility with the design and manufacture of compact vehicles, managing to squeeze increasingly good performance and reliability from a variety of four-cylinder engines while also giving customers nice styling, especially for the relative low prices the Escort sold at.

Throughout its life span, the Escort appeared in a number of different body styles and/or combinations, including a three door hatchback, a five door hatchback/sedan, a station wagon and also a range of sporty looking coupes, which made their appearance in 1998. Ford kept up with the times in periodically freshening up the interiors to keep the vehicle interesting.

Over its life, the Ford Escort played a vital part in keeping the car's Dearborn-based automaker alive and well. Keeping it in showrooms allowed the company to learn how to manufacture compact vehicles while simultaneously selling a great many of them to many a customer. This had the happy effect of keeping the Blue Oval on the minds of many consumers and for that reason alone, the Escort must be considered a success.

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