Ifmildest of evolutions from the original Mk1, the Mk3 which was unveiled to the European press in September 1980 was a the Mk2 Escort had been the revolution.
Not only did the car represent a giant multinational reacting neatly to a changing and more sophisticated car market but it also represented a shift in engineering principles.
Whereas the first two generations of Escort had deliberately employed basic and conventional engineering in the interests of both ease of ownership and cost of production, the Mk3 leapf rogged the competition to provide independent rear suspension and modern lean-burn engines – plus of course, the f ront-wheel drive and hatchback which were now the norm across Europe.
Project Erika as the car was known began life in 1976 and was to be a truly international effort with development work spread across the Ford of Europe empire. The team at Dunton in Essex concentrated on interior styling, suspension design, steering and brakes as well as engine development, while Cologne covered the engine’s basic design, external styling, transmission and prototype development.
The popularity of f ront-wheel drive in the European market had shown the packaging advantages of this layout and so there was no question that ‘Project Erika’ would follow the same layout.
The aero look was very much in vogue by then and in line with its marketing focus on efficiency and technology, Ford set a drag coefficient target of 0.40Cd, slightly lower than the 0.43Cd of the VW Golf. Concept cars like the Probe had majored on aerodynamic style and Ford also had an eye on corporate average fuel economy requirements over in the USA and had come to the realisation that improved aerodynamics achieved efficiency at less cost than major engine redesigns. It’s said that conservative Ford management used to the boxy looks of the US-market cars took some convincing but by the late 1970s the responsibility for efficiency was shared between powertrain and styling departments and Project Erika was one of the first to benefit from this.
XR3
Ford knew that before long owners of to a newer car and didn’t want them but the original go-faster model in the had been created by adding a twinchoke engine for a total of 96bhp, which in the similar to the old RS2000: slightly Sitting on its 5.5-inch allow wheels the part but was only
