PH Heroes: Ford Escort Mexico
Speed doesn't matter quite so much in an Escort Mexico, finds Ollie Stallwood
The Mexico went on sale between 1970 and 1974 and was built by the freshly created Advanced Vehicle Operations at the Ford Aveley plant in Essex. It was fitted with a 1600cc pushrod ohv engine and was designed to cash in on Ford’s success in the London-Mexico Rally of 1970. The Mexico used the same strenghthened shell that the faster RS1600 used and could reach a heady 99mph.
Inside it has been treated to the ‘custom pack’, which was an option to prospective buyers and includes Recaro seats, carpets, walnut fascia, and clock. This last luxury likes to make itself known, ticking so loudly as I sit at a set of traffic lights you would swear the tappets have gone. Pressing the accelerator fills the car with a throaty four-cylinder thrum but not much else happens.
The gearstick on the four-speed box is a little slack but it clicks into gear without any fuss, leaving you with the task of tentatively increasing your speed. The steering wheel is oddly offset, not just to the side but at an angle, adding to the quirkiness of the driving environment.
Feed in the revs and the back tyres will succumb to the laws of physics easily and the back of the car will easily begin to come round. But the Mexico will oversteer so progressively that it leaves you with the option of holding it as long as you want.
The fact that such a low-powered car can be steered on the throttle if you so choose is a shock and I realise that the balance between grip and bhp is actually pretty near perfect. It turns in neatly too and squezing the throttle mid-corner will nudge the rear out a little more, tightening the line and giving you perfect control. Because you can do all this while feeling like you are in a real-life version of the Professionals is quite frankly a bonus.
For a while I seemed to get stuck on a sequence of deserted roundabouts somewhere just outside of Dagenham, unable to find my way out. The Mexico is pure, honest, good fun. It is incredibly easy to drive and I’m even starting to detect a little bit of shove above 4,000rpm, so as long as you keep the revs up progress can be respectable.
But of course that is not really what the Mexico is all about. Speed is only relative to everything else that is going on with the car. Plus you can have one of the best driving experiences available without even breaking the speed limit. OK, it bobs a bit at the rear if you hit a bump, but it has the kind of steering feel through the three-spoke leather-rimmed wheel that you only get in real exotica these days.
At the same time the satisfaction to be had from hussling the Mexico is far greater than going four times the speed in a modern-day four-wheel drive rally rep. Plus if people catch sight of the little orange Escort, tyres squealing at no more than 20mph, they smile fondly and point it out to their children. Very soon I'm so smitten by the Escort I'm making a mental list in my head of all the modern cars I wouldn't use for a twenty minute blast if I had the choice.
The nature of my work means that I driver a wide variety of modern cars, my daily drive is a BWM Tourer. However, when I want some serious fun, I get my Capri Injection 3,000cc turbo charged Cologne Cruise Missile out! 280 lbs ft of torque at 3,500 rpm= BIG FUN
The MK1 Escort is a genuine classic, is has character, charisa & style by the bucketful and a HUGE amount of rally pedigree behind it. It might not compete with modern Euro boxes & rep mobiles in terms of performance, sophistication, MPG etc etc. However, it thrashes the moderns with it's sheer fun factor & driver involvement. RWD, back to basics- you cannot beat it!
Long live the Mex!
But brilliant, and why don't modern cars look as good as that?
Oh, and I make it about 110bhp/ton, so surely that's actually decently quick?
Also I think the real weight is more like 850kg for a Mk1 Escort.
The 1600 Kent is quick enough to keep up with around town traffic, rubbish on the motorway, but in my experience, more fun than the 2.0L models as the pinto is a heavy sod of an engine and feels it on the front end, the 1600 is just the right balance all round, much more fun on a winding country road.
That's not orange, it's Sebring Red.
And they arn't Recaro seats either.
Nitpicking aside........he's right about the dear old Mex, but he was lucky to drive a mint original spec one, very few of them about nowadays.
Sweetest gearbox, and steering of any car I've ever driven, but so much better when there was BDA up front and RS1600 badges on the wings.....
Not personally my bag but can easily see the apeal, however with hindsight I wish I stashed a few in a barn back then and pulled them out for sale today
Yes, the RS recliners and matching rear seat in Beta cloth were part of the 'Custom Pack', which also included the wood dash and centre console with the vinyl roof and triple pin stripes.
Personally a large spike detonated and forced out of the steering wheel centre boss upon impact would bring darwinian evolution bang up to date...
Lighter cars as daily drivers without all the safety crud would be most welcome. think about the enivornmnetal impact of reducing a cars weight by 300-200kg linked with modern efficient engines. Has any manufacturer got the bottle to face off against the safety lobby and create? I'd be first in the que if it looked good.
In the meantime...
:startssearchingphclassifiedsformk1's:
Yes, the RS recliners and matching rear seat in Beta cloth were part of the 'Custom Pack', which also included the wood dash and centre console with the vinyl roof and triple pin stripes.
Who cares if they are recaros or not??!?!? Great car, great article.
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