Ford Escort '68 (Mk I)

The Ford Escort was introduced in the UK as a British automobile at the end of 1967. It replaced the successful long running Anglia. The car was presented in continental Europe as a product of Ford's European operation. Escort production commenced at Halewood in England during the closing months of 1967, and at a new plant on the edge of Saarlouis, Germany in 1970.

The Escort had conventional rear wheel drive and a four-speed manual gearbox, or 3 spd automatic transmission The suspension consisted of a simple live axle mounted on leaf springs, but with rack-and-pinion steering. The Mark I featured contemporary styling cues in tune with its time - a subtle Detroit-inspired "Coke Bottle" waistline and the "dogbone" shaped front grille — arguably the car's most famous stylistic feature. Initially, the Escort was sold as a 2-door saloon (with circular front headlights) and rubber flooring on the "De Luxe" model. The "Super" model featured rectangular headlamps, carpets, a cigar lighter and a water temperature gauge. A 3-door estate was introduced in March 1968 and a van in April 1968. The 4-door saloon appeared in 1969.

Underneath the bonnet was the Kent Crossflow engine. Diesel engines on small family cars were very rare, so the Escort featured initially only petrol engines — in 1.1 L, and 1.3 L editions. A 950 cc engine was also available in some export markets, but few were ever sold.

There was a 1300GT performance version, with a tuned 1.3L Kent (ohv) engine sporting a Weber carburetor and uprated suspension. This version also featured additional instrumentation with a rev counter, battery charge indicator and oil pressure gauge. The same tuned 1300 engine was also used in a variation sold as the Escort Sport that used the flared front wings from the AVO range of cars but featured trim from the more basic models. Later on a further "executive" version of the Escort was produced known as the 1300E. This featured the same 13" road wheels and flared wings of the Sport but was trimmed in an upmarket, for that time, fashion with wood trim on the dash and door cappings.

There was, in the early days of the Escort, a higher performance for rallies and racing - the Escort Twin Cam, which featured an engine with a Lotus made 8-valve twin camshaft head fitted to the 1500cc non crossflow block which had a bigger bore than usual to give a capacity of 1558cc. Production of the Twin Cam, which was originally produced at Halewood, was phased out as the RS1600 was developed.

The Mark I Escorts became very successful as a rally car, and they eventually went on to become the one of the most successful rally cars of all time. The Ford works team was practically unbeatable in the late 1960s / early 1970s, and arguably the Escort's greatest victory was in the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally being driven by Finnish legend Hannu Mikkola. This gave rise to the famous Escort Mexico (1.6 "Kent" engined) special edition road versions in honour of the rally car.

In addition to the Mexico, the RS1600 was developed which used a Kent engine block with a 16-valve Cosworth cylinder head. This engine was essentially a detuned Formula 3 engine designated BDA, for Belt Drive series A. Both the Mexico and RS1600 were built at Ford's Advanced Vehicle Operations (AVO) facility located at the Aveley Plant in South Essex. As well as higher performance engines and sports suspension, these models featured strengthened bodyshells making them an ideal model for rallying. Even today Mark I's are still popular in the amateur rally scene. The BDA engine has a distinctive growling which can be heard for quite a distance when the vehicle is being driven hard, such as in competition.

Ford also produced an RS2000 model as a more "civilised" alternative to the somewhat temperamental RS1600 featuring a 2L "Pinto" (ohc) engine. This also clocked up some rally and racing victories; and pre-empted the hot hatch market as a desirable but affordable performance road car. Like the Mexico and RS1600 this car was produced at the Aveley plant.

The Escort quickly became one of Britain's most popular cars and was also a success on export markets (the car was built in Germany, Britain and several Commonwealth countries).




Production Jan 1968 - Nov 1974
Assembly Halewood, England & Saarlouis, Germany
Body style(s) 2-door saloon
4-door saloon from 1969
3-door estate
Engine(s) 1098 cc Straight-4,
1298 cc Straight-4 (1300 & GT),
1558 cc Straight-4 (Twin Cam)
Wheelbase 94.5 in (2400 mm)
Length 159.25 in (4045 mm) (saloon)
160.8 in (4084 mm) (estate)
Width 61.8 in (1570 mm)
Height 58.5 in (1486 mm)
Curb weight 1690 lb (767 kg) approx
Fuel capacity 9 imp gal (41 L/11 US gal)