Hi Mark, Good little cars the MK2 Escort, there were so many models available the early cars 1975-77 all 1.1, 1.3, 1.6 engines were crossflow OHV except the 2.0 that was a OHC pinto and the badging on the early cars were the F O R D spread across the bonnet and boot we did not have the XL model, we had the base model called Escort Popular that came with a 1.1 or 1.3. We had L, GL and Ghia these came with a 1.3 and 1.6 engine but there was a 1.1 L. The 2.0 OHC pinto engine was on the RS2000 which had a different front end and had twin head lights. The cars from 1978-1980 had the blue oval Ford badge and the 1.6 cross flow OHV was changed to the 1.6 OHC pinto engine. By November 1980 the MK2 Escort was replaced with the MK3 a FWD hatch back and later fitted with a 5 speed gear box the engines were new 1.3 and 1.6 were fitted with the CVH OHC engine the 1.1 was still the OHV crossflow. My Father in law had a 1978 MK 2 Escort 1.3 Ghia in the 1980's the engine was smokey and he fitted a 1.6 pinto engine and 5 speed gearbox from a 1984 Capri 1.6 Laser that was in a scrap yard, this made it a better car he kept it for another 3 years. Great video on the Escort Take care
@@shaun30-3-mg9zs Thanks Shaun. A lot of models for sure. We also had cool panel vans too. We had the RS2000 as a 2 litre two door but even had an auto 4 door as my sister had a red one. 👍
Thanks Mark. What a great car, esp in 2.0! I happily overlooked its [many] flaws. I'd still like an RS2000. There was one rotting on my street in the Philippines. Wish I'd bought it. Cheers.
My mate bought a 1980 silver Ford escort ghia with black vinyl roof many years ago absolutely beautiful looking the car that is not my mate 😂he paid 5thousand but lost his job i should have bought it i love my fords 👍👍 cheers Stephen ✌️✌️🤠🐨🦘
They were "assembled" here with some unique elements that differed from UK and European Escorts. For example the seats in the non-Ghia models were Cortina seats as they made better high-back seats intended for the Cortina but not used in those. The 1977 2-litre version required the modification of the front end to take the bigger engine, redesigned and larger fuel tank and relocated fuel filler to behind the rear number plate. The 2-litre engine was straight from the Cortina and the old fuel cap replaced by a blanking piece. I loved my 2 litre Escort but as a car it was a real mixed bag with fun handling and "fun" handling. The latter being the really easy ability of the rear to lose grip while braking and trying to overtake you if you had to pull up quickly. The cart sprung rear was too light and did the car no favours. It had really sharp and tight steering but was quite heavy steering for such a small car in 2 litre form, a huge boot, great visibility and interior packaging. Mine had rust in the firewall where the heater shroud was jointed to the firewall so whenever it rained, the passenger front cabin became a swimming pool.
Looks like all euro ones in the ads. No “nappy” fuel tank visible on any of them, and the blinkers on the wrong side for Australia. The wheels on the euro Ghia look pretty good, but I think the alloys shared with the Cortina Ghia on our local cars are much nicer. I had a mate in high school with one. The 2L was quite tired, and where I was working as a weekend casual had a marinised 2.3L pinto engine on a pallet. It was brought in as a spare part for a stern drive setup, and never used. Boss was ready to scrap it (pre GST, so all the complex tax rules that made scrapping attractive to accountants). He gave me a weekend and said if what was on that pallet come Monday looked the same, I could take it for my mate. Swapped everything over in a weekend. Pretty much all the accessories, sump, pickup etc were no good for the esky, but swapping it to get a new core engine assembly and head was worth it. Had to buy grey paint for the old block and head to make it look like a new engine once we reassembled all the unique marine bits and bolted back onto the special pallet. The extra 300cc wasn’t noticeable at first, but when he got a performance cam for it, it woke up. Sadly, a guy in a Celica drifted off the road and ran up the back of it when parked. Split the fuel tank and burnt the back half of the car and the interior to the ground. He bought another one with rust, planning to build a good one single the burnt car’s clean firewall/heater dome, but never got around to it. I don’t now what happened to it, but about 10 years back another mate going through a mid life crisis bought a yellow one as a project. He found a good project in the same model, paint & trim colour as his first car - which itself was bought when it was only a few years old. He drove it for over 10 years, and (regrettably) sold to make way for a family car. He was so stoked to find a clone of it 25 years later. Escort guys I know love them, even with their faults. We used to see them all the time on the road, even the little panel vans that were ahead of their time, but wiped out by Japanese 4cyl commercial vans in the 80s. I still maintain that the VW carry and similar car based vans owe their inspiration to the escort. Sure, BL and other British makers probably had models that pre-date the escort van, but the escort sold in big numbers and carved out that niche well.
@ Very cool. I thought the red one at the railway crossing and the white Ghia at Arthur’s seat going up the windy hill were Aussie ones? Otherwise fully imported ad cars? 🤔
![FORD Escort MK2 - Best of | historic rally , drifts & hillclimb - Rally - pure sound [HD]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yH671DM2grg/mqdefault.jpg)
Here is a nice selection of TV ads for the Ford Escort Mk2. These were great little cars. Please Like 👍 and Subscribe. 👍
Snappy looking car especially the Ghia.
@ Yes and the RS 2000. 👍
i had the escort ghia, silver red velour trim, 2.0l manual, it was a great package, my first car
Mine was a yellow 2,0 4dr GL. That tail sure wagged!
@@georgeiliadis9240 Great package. 👍
@@UncleJoeLITE My sister in law had a yellow 2 litre Ghia. 👍
One of the worlds best rally cars in it's day!
@@wonkychikn For sure. 👍
Hi Mark, Good little cars the MK2 Escort, there were so many models available the early cars 1975-77 all 1.1, 1.3, 1.6 engines were crossflow OHV except the 2.0 that was a OHC pinto and the badging on the early cars were the F O R D spread across the bonnet and boot we did not have the XL model, we had the base model called Escort Popular that came with a 1.1 or 1.3. We had L, GL and Ghia these came with a 1.3 and 1.6 engine but there was a 1.1 L. The 2.0 OHC pinto engine was on the RS2000 which had a different front end and had twin head lights. The cars from 1978-1980 had the blue oval Ford badge and the 1.6 cross flow OHV was changed to the 1.6 OHC pinto engine. By November 1980 the MK2 Escort was replaced with the MK3 a FWD hatch back and later fitted with a 5 speed gear box the engines were new 1.3 and 1.6 were fitted with the CVH OHC engine the 1.1 was still the OHV crossflow.
My Father in law had a 1978 MK 2 Escort 1.3 Ghia in the 1980's the engine was smokey and he fitted a 1.6 pinto engine and 5 speed gearbox from a 1984 Capri 1.6 Laser that was in a scrap yard, this made it a better car he kept it for another 3 years. Great video on the Escort Take care
@@shaun30-3-mg9zs Thanks Shaun. A lot of models for sure. We also had cool panel vans too. We had the RS2000 as a 2 litre two door but even had an auto 4 door as my sister had a red one. 👍
@@markbehr88 Hi Mark, Escort RS2000, four door and automatic that must have been a great car
@ Yes, it was pretty cool. 👍
Thanks Mark. What a great car, esp in 2.0! I happily overlooked its [many] flaws. I'd still like an RS2000. There was one rotting on my street in the Philippines. Wish I'd bought it. Cheers.
@@UncleJoeLITE My sister had a red 4 door auto RS2000. Rare. 🤔
Great adds thanks for sharing 😂
@@paulchasteauneuf2098 Cheers. 👍
My mate bought a 1980 silver Ford escort ghia with black vinyl roof many years ago absolutely beautiful looking the car that is not my mate 😂he paid 5thousand but lost his job i should have bought it i love my fords 👍👍 cheers Stephen ✌️✌️🤠🐨🦘
@@stephentaege6255 If only we knew. 🤔👍
Would have love a 20 litre 4 speed
@@GerardDaly-y1n Yes. Nice car. 👍
Did these come in as Knock Downs or did we build them here?
They were "assembled" here with some unique elements that differed from UK and European Escorts. For example the seats in the non-Ghia models were Cortina seats as they made better high-back seats intended for the Cortina but not used in those. The 1977 2-litre version required the modification of the front end to take the bigger engine, redesigned and larger fuel tank and relocated fuel filler to behind the rear number plate. The 2-litre engine was straight from the Cortina and the old fuel cap replaced by a blanking piece.
I loved my 2 litre Escort but as a car it was a real mixed bag with fun handling and "fun" handling. The latter being the really easy ability of the rear to lose grip while braking and trying to overtake you if you had to pull up quickly. The cart sprung rear was too light and did the car no favours. It had really sharp and tight steering but was quite heavy steering for such a small car in 2 litre form, a huge boot, great visibility and interior packaging.
Mine had rust in the firewall where the heater shroud was jointed to the firewall so whenever it rained, the passenger front cabin became a swimming pool.
@@royferntorp They were built at Homebush plant. I am sure there were kits. 👍
@@harukinzaphod Great info. 👍
Looks like all euro ones in the ads. No “nappy” fuel tank visible on any of them, and the blinkers on the wrong side for Australia. The wheels on the euro Ghia look pretty good, but I think the alloys shared with the Cortina Ghia on our local cars are much nicer.
I had a mate in high school with one. The 2L was quite tired, and where I was working as a weekend casual had a marinised 2.3L pinto engine on a pallet. It was brought in as a spare part for a stern drive setup, and never used. Boss was ready to scrap it (pre GST, so all the complex tax rules that made scrapping attractive to accountants). He gave me a weekend and said if what was on that pallet come Monday looked the same, I could take it for my mate. Swapped everything over in a weekend. Pretty much all the accessories, sump, pickup etc were no good for the esky, but swapping it to get a new core engine assembly and head was worth it. Had to buy grey paint for the old block and head to make it look like a new engine once we reassembled all the unique marine bits and bolted back onto the special pallet.
The extra 300cc wasn’t noticeable at first, but when he got a performance cam for it, it woke up.
Sadly, a guy in a Celica drifted off the road and ran up the back of it when parked. Split the fuel tank and burnt the back half of the car and the interior to the ground. He bought another one with rust, planning to build a good one single the burnt car’s clean firewall/heater dome, but never got around to it. I don’t now what happened to it, but about 10 years back another mate going through a mid life crisis bought a yellow one as a project. He found a good project in the same model, paint & trim colour as his first car - which itself was bought when it was only a few years old. He drove it for over 10 years, and (regrettably) sold to make way for a family car. He was so stoked to find a clone of it 25 years later. Escort guys I know love them, even with their faults. We used to see them all the time on the road, even the little panel vans that were ahead of their time, but wiped out by Japanese 4cyl commercial vans in the 80s. I still maintain that the VW carry and similar car based vans owe their inspiration to the escort. Sure, BL and other British makers probably had models that pre-date the escort van, but the escort sold in big numbers and carved out that niche well.
@ Very cool. I thought the red one at the railway crossing and the white Ghia at Arthur’s seat going up the windy hill were Aussie ones? Otherwise fully imported ad cars? 🤔
Good cars, but the styling is bland compared to the curvaceous mark 1 imo . A bit roomier though I suspect?
@@barrycuda3769 I actually thought it was a very nice looking little car. 🤔