A NEW GENERATION OF ESCORT
When this project was first suggested, there was talk of a 1600 Ghia, but it sold before we could get to it. I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the Mk3 Escort Ghia’s thin wooden strips on the door cards and plush interior fabric, so I must admit I felt a pang of disappointment when I heard we’d picked up a 1.3L instead. However, after I’d taken custody of the bronze beauty, I couldn’t help falling for its modest charms, and it inexplicably took me back to a time before my own – this car is 11 years older than me, but somehow it still picks me up and places me in 1981!
Apparently it does the same thing for a surprising number of other people too, many of whom approach the car with wide, gleeful eyes and exclamations of ‘Now that’s a proper classic!’ or ‘I used to run one of those!’ And that’s just those who catch it when stationary and aren’t simply restricted to fond stares from the pavement. There is no doubt that the Mk3 Escort stirs just as many emotions as its more classically established RWD forbears.
For those not fully acquainted with Ford’s model structure, the L is one up from the base Popular, but options were a big
