FOR some bizarre reason I found the Ford Escort cuttings file in The Northern Echo’s library hidden away in a folder labelled ‘Ford Escorts’. It was filed next to ‘escort agencies’ which was preceded by ‘call girls’.

When the Escort Mk I went on sale, in January 1968, it had remarkably few vices.

The Escort was manufactured at Halewood, on Merseyside. Ford had bought the 346-acre site in January 1960 to expand its UK manufacturing capacity. Government policy at the time was to encourage job creation in areas of high unemployment, and the location gave Ford access to skilled workers who could be retrained for motor manufacturing.

Two separate plants were planned, one for vehicle assembly and the other for transmissions.

Ford didn’t stint on its new plant – the new facilities used 40,000 tonnes of structural seel, 300,000 tonnes of concrete, four million bricks and six acres of glass. The final bill was £38m.

To prepare Halewood for the Escort Ford invested a further £15m and the first new models rolled off the line in November 1967, two months before the vehicle went on sale.

 

The Northern Echo:

 

RED LEADER: Yep, the Red Arrows drove Escorts back in 1971. Sadly, they didn't get a Mexico or a twin-cam.

Halewood became the Escort’s spiritual home. It produced its millionth car in May 1969 and its one millionth Escort in September 1973. By 1995 it had built four million of them and in 1998 all European Escort production had been transferred there.

The first Escort was launched with the advertising slogan ‘the small car that isn’t’ and it instantly re-wrote the rule book on compact family saloons.

The space-efficient body offered enough room for the driver and three adult passengers (even though it was little bigger than the Anglia it replaced) and the crisp, modern looks, struck an immediate chord in a world where the Nasa was planning a trip to the moon and London was swinging as never before.

Originally only available with two doors, the five model line-up opened with the 1100 De Luxe which cost £635. Critics hailed it as a great value family car and praised the standard equipment which included such luxuries as vinyl seats, rubber floor mats, single speed wipers and vinyl door panels. A radio was extra, however.

The potent Escort twin-cam cost a rather more serious £1,123.

 

The Northern Echo:

 

NEED A TOW? With rear drive and skinny tyres I don't give much for the twin cam's chances of getting off the beach

A four-door saloon, estate and a van soon joined the line-up Britain’s ailing economy made the Escort less of a bargain. In June 1974 The Northern Echo reported on the second price rise in three months. The 8.7 per cent price hike meant the cost of an Escort had soared by 16 per cent in less than a year.

Ford attempted to soften the blow with standard radial tyres and heated rear windows on several models.

Despite the increasing cost, by the time the Escort Mark II arrived in 1975 the Escort was Britain’s best-selling new car.

 

The Northern Echo:

KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD: Signing a deal with the AA was a major coup.

The second generation retained the rear-wheel drive layout, engines and running gear from its predecessor but was clothed in a straighter-edged body.

The Northern Echo approved. Testing an Escort GT in 1979 it reported: “The ride is firm and steering direct with crisp gear change and close ratios, the ideal formula for a sporting car, but modified a little to make it an acceptable road car.

“The 1300GT engine developing 70bhp is free revving with a close ratio gearbox rapid acceleration is achieved.”

But time was running out for the Escort. Despite its good points, the GT was starting to look increasingly old-fashioned compared to cars like the VW Golf GTi. The rear drive layout was old-fashioned (although many enthusiasts still prefer it) and the engines were archaic. The Golf was a better drive, more efficient and just plain better.

 

The Northern Echo:

SAME AGAIN: The Mark II Popular wasn't that different to its predecessor beneath the skin.

Ford responded with the front drive Mk III in 1980 – and the XR3 took on the Golf GTi – but never again recaptured the first Escort’s incredible commercial and critical success.

The last car – an Amparo Blue Finesse five door - rolled off the production line on July 21, 2000. The Escort gave way for an altogether better car - the Focus - which , despite being vice-free, somehow failed to make the same emotion connection. Today, Halewood is used by Jaguar.