RE: My First Car: Mk2 Ford Escort 1.3

[MrTickle]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Left hand drive and an Auto!!!

Ah but to be fair it has headlamp wiper - that must add a few K

[JonRB]

Great article!

My first car was a 1979 Mk1 Ford Fiesta in 1987 which my grandparents' accountants told them they had to give away or pay tax on, so they gave it to me. I promptly crashed it within 2 months and my dad bought me a Skoda as punishment.

[epom]

so ou got your first car for free, wrote it off and then you got your second car free.... and you were being punished ??

[JonRB]

epom said:

so ou got your first car for free, wrote it off and then you got your second car free.... and you were being punished ??

It was a Skoda Estelle at the height (depths?) of the Skoda joke craze in the late 80's. I take your point about free cars, but you have to concede there is some punishment there.

(My dad's rationale was that if he didn't buy me a car I'd go out and buy a real nail and he'd end up having to help me fix it, so he concluded that buying me something newer and more reliable would save him in the long run)

Edited by JonRB on Wednesday 2nd February 17:21

[epom]

very very little conceded, but will give you a small bit...

[newdogg06]

I had one called Kermit (the ex wife named it), a MK11 estate, 1.3L in lime green with a yellow bonnet. 9 months of motoring for £200 until I seized the engine on the Hog's Back in Surrey on the coldest night of the year. No hazards either. Loved it.

[jeremyc]

Not my first but rather second car. Many a happy hour spent driving, mending and modifying.

[ES335]

I learned to drive in the family MKIII Cortina - three lessons from my mother then off I went.

I bashed it into the grandstand of Mondello Park racing circuit - driving it round the outside of the fencing which you could do back then. I tied the bumper back on and pretended nothing had happened. Amazingly, my parents kept stum too.

However, my real formative years were in our '78 MK II Escort. Boy did I thrash that thing and it never complained.

Had a few very hairy moments in it but amazingly never really pranged it. The worst was when a Renault 4 indicated left and then turned right onto the gravelled forecourt of a pub as I was overtaking him. He glanced off the Escort which hadnt a mark on it but his Renault was toast. Probably a severe tinworm case that was about to go at any moment anyway. I admonished him as to the error of his ways and hopped back in the Escort before he had any more time to think about it.

Great cars - the 1300 was pretty quick for 57 BHP or it felt it at the time - anyway, shows how porky monderns have become.

[vit4]

Want one so, so badly. The Mk4 I'm running is lovely in a crap kind of way but just isn't the same. Bloody prices though, don't have a hope in hell for a few years, even getting a basket case and restoring it.

[Bob ST]

I had a 1300 1978 (S Reg)exactly the same as the green one at the start of the item, complete with the replaced wings as in the photo.

I paid £400 for it, it had a genuine Ford exchange engine, the brakes non servoed but new, 90,000 miles on the clock
noisey back axle and jumped out third gear on overrun........... Happy happy days

[Gompo]

My first car was a Mk2 Escort too, albeit a 1.1 2 door in white, 10/11 years ago.

Unfortunately it never made it on the road, my first car that did was another Mk2 2 door, but a 1.3 in 2002 this time in Royal Blue. Great fun and taught me lots.

[ClassicMercs]

MrTickle said:

1988 I bought my 1980 Mk2 1.3GL with square headlights, in brown with a vinyl roof, VPT301V (why can I not remember my current plate but I still remember that???)

Inner wings rusted away and re-welded with a mate. Replaced engine myself also, with a £50 scrap engine. I remember paying £19.80 for a FULL exhaust system from KwikFit in Reading.

Oh the memories. Ran it for 20,000 miles for less than 1 replacement tyre on my current car! LOL

Just what I remember - under £20 for a whole exhaust. No vinyl roof here though - nor servo brakes on the '79. That came for the '80 model my brother had. Mine was the nicer car.

It was what we had in the late 80's - although on friend only had his a few hours before it was upside down. Similar to the other lad who has his Lancia Delta for 30 minutes.

I may regret saying this, but sometimes I dream at night. I still have LVY477T tucked away - good condition - no tax or insurance - and sometimes I take it out for a spin. Other times I dream about other things.

[Smike]

Bob ST said:

I had a 1300 1978 (S Reg)exactly the same as the green one at the start of the item, complete with the replaced wings as in the photo.

I paid £400 for it, it had a genuine Ford exchange engine, the brakes non servoed but new, 90,000 miles on the clock
noisey back axle and jumped out third gear on overrun........... Happy happy days

Hehe

Had a few Mk2 Escorts - in fact, looking back, between my friends and I we had all the variants, 1300 and 1600 Sport, Ghias, Mexico, RS1800 and RS2000.

This was my 1300 ( later 1760 ) bought as a winter runabout for around £350 in between having a couple of RS 'scorts

[gog440]

scx454t
hearing aid beige 1.3 pop plus.
Fixed angle low back seats, no brake servo, only 1 wing mirror, no radio (i got an ashtray section from a scrapper, took the ashtray out cut the hole to the size of a stereo and bobs your uncle)
Also had a rusty patch on the wing that when I poked it to see what was what I put my finger straight through. Also had red primer on one rear wheelarch and grey primer on the other.
My starter motor also didnt work reliably but the hammer wouldnt work on mine, After I slammed the bonnet shut in a temper I found that was the only way to free it off lol. I also managed to make the clutch explode when doing a racing change from 2nd to 3rd which made for an interesting few minutes as there were no hazard lights so i just had to cut straight across the nose of the car i had just overtaken and dump it on the pavement.
Paid £150 whole pounds for it in 1989, traded it in against a 5yr old chevette and got £200 for it.
I still love my escorts and I have my never ending project in the garage a rally prepped 2.0 escort, 2 big fat dellortos, stage 3cam, lsd the whole works just needs to be finished off.

[Garlick]

jeremyc said:

Not my first but rather second car. Many a happy hour spent driving, mending and modifying.

I can just imagine you as a young hooligan

[Life Saab Itch]

Garlick/Riggers. Are you after write ups like this?

Do you want a Morris Minor one?

[HereBeMonsters]

Is it just me, or is the scene tax on these even more than VW these days?

[Mystified]

This thread made me a bit emotional! Loved the write up!

1st Car MKII - Sahara Beige - NWL 26T - in 1989 - Insurance - £72 per year TPT&T - Cost £350 with 32k on the clock and sold it a year or so later for £650.

I remember climbing up the towers looking for a set of Spax in the scrappy near Bicester.

I was so proud 'coz the strut top mounts hadn't been welded!

In those days you could open the bonnet and find everything easily & fix it yourself.

My headlamps were cocooned in Isopon, chicken wire and newspaper as were the areas behind the number plates.

I remember reversing up the hills in the snow and sitting in it reading the Highway Code whilst preparing for the driving test that would release me on the roads.

I felt so proud joining the rest of the mob in Budgens car park in my very own car...

All the stories in this thread brought back so much! I think I'm gonna' like this forum! :-)

[Silver]

Glad people liked the write up!

I had so much fun writing it too, there weren't enough words to describe everything that went wrong with the car, but it was certainly a learning experience and I think the rose-tinted specs have blocked out the breakdowns in the middle of nowhere, the near-daily frustration of it not starting and the bizarre noises that it sometimes emitted.

I seem to remember that for about two weeks it made a horrific grating noise in second gear so I just skipped from first to third and pretended it wasn't happening.

[vit4]

fk it, if anyone's got a ropey one they're willing to let go dirt cheap pm me.