Mk. 1
1968 - 1975
The rear-wheel-drive Mk1 Escort came as an 1100 or 1300 and in both 2 or 4 door sedan, and in some markets also as a two-door estate, or in sporty form as a GT or Twin Cam. All the Escort engines were based on a new Kent crossflow unit, which proved very suitable for tuning and modification. | Twin-Cam
1968 - 1970
While other sporting Ford's could be called sedans capable of being raced or rallied, the Twin-Cam Escort was unashamedly a racing sedan de-tuned for road use. In production form, with quantity sales needed to justify its homologaation as a Touring Car, the Twin-Cam gave the customer exactly what they expected | RS 1600
1970 - 1974
The successful Escort Twin Cam was replaced by the more powerful Escort in 1968, the RS1600. The letters "RS" stood for "Rally Sport", a brand name invented by Ford and one that continued for many years. Quickly the term "RS" came to be known for high performance Ford's |
Mk. 2
1975 - 1981
The first major styling revision occurred in 1975, giving the Escort a crisp lean flowing style that was well in proportion and arguably a cut above the small car offerings emanating from Japan. The interior was always functional, but was somewhat Spartan in comparison to the Japanese cars – but on the plus side the seats were extremely comfortable even on very long drives | Mk. 2 Ghia
1975 - 1981
For the over ten years that the Ford Escorts was on the Australian market, it underwent many and varied model improvements, including different engines and changes to its image. Starting off with the 1.1 litre Kent, they had six engines in the next eight years, and by 1981 the 1.6 litre was offered on the L Sedan, with the option of the 2.01itre in the GL, and the 2.0 litre only in the top-of-the-line Ghia. | RS 1800
1975 - 1977
Based on the Mk II Escort the RS1800 closely followed the original RS1600 concept. The RS1800 used a 1835cc version of the Cosworth BDA engine and produced 115bhp. Many special features were standard on the RS1800 including stiffened suspension, wide wheels and an uprated gearbox |
RS 2000
1976 - 1980
The RS2000 used a 110bhp Pinto engine which meant the car could reach over 110mph. Cosmetically, the biggest difference to the previous model was in the uniquely angled GRP nose panel which contained four headlamps. | Mk. 3 Erika
1980 - 1986
The long-awaited 'Erika' was an expensive event for the Ford Motor Company, and revealed itself to be the Company's second front-drive model, but with an even more upmarket specification than the Fiesta which had brought them into the front-drive/transverse engine sector. | RS 1600i
1981- 1984
The concept of the RS 1600i Escort was defined in the prototype shown almost at the 1980 Frankfurt car show, and the definitive version of the car went on to be produced in the number of 5000 necessary for homologation in Group A. |
Mk. 4 Erika 86
1986 - 1990
The Escort Mark III received a facelift in early 1986. Codenamed within Ford as "Erika–86", it was instantly recognisable as an updated version of the previous model, with a smooth style nose and the "straked" rear lamp clusters smoothed over. | Laser KA
1981 - 1983
Ford's long serving rear-wheel-drive Escort was due for replacement both here in Australia and in Europe. Through various model updates and styling changes the Escort was able to stay in service far longer than its mechanical specifications suggested it should, although the smallest of the Ford’s always had a huge allegiance of fans, and we are sure many will take us to task on making this claim. | Laser and Meteor KB
1983 - 1985
The Laser/Meteor range was a pleasantly straight forward product which had established itself as a number one in the small car market by the end of 1982, with sales in excess of 50,000. Meteor backed this performance right from its introduction in March 1983 |
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