Cars that made the ‘80s – The Ford Escort

The impact of Ford’s most infamous hatchback on British car culture, not to mention the UK modifying scene, can never be overstated. But, if we’re talking about the 1980s in particular, and we’re looking for just one car that made the era, it simply HAS to be one with an Escort badge on the boot lid. It’s all for one key reason – in the 1980s, the Ford Escort was absolutely everywhere.

To say that this car was a success for Ford of Europe is something of an understatement; you simply can’t have the 1980s without it… or the 1960s, 1970s and 1990s for that matter. So, if you happen to be over 30, and you remember your dad, grandfather, neighbour, postman, school teacher, butcher, baker and candlestick maker all owning different Ford Escorts, it’s probably not your memory playing tricks. That’s simply because the Escort was a bona fide British institution. Even Princess Diana had a Mk3 Escort – one of only a few black Series 1 RS Turbos no less. 

But let’s sideline the RS Turbo and its XR-badged kin, if only for a moment. It goes without saying that, here in the realms of retrospective automotive commentary, we tend to focus on the most iconic, performance-orientated versions of any car. Many an article will reminisce about the stuff that made just about every bedroom wall a hall of fame, chiefly because it still gives us petrolheads a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. And rightly so, too. But that’s not the most enduring legacy of the Ford Escort, or the reason why it had such a presence in the 1980s. No, in a way it’s a simple numbers game.

The real story is that the Escort was the true everyman car. What with all the engine choices, trim levels from ‘Popular’ to ‘Ghia’ (with the Popular Plus, L and GL in-between), along with all the panel vans, performance models and estate variants, in the 1980s alone around two million Mk3 and Mk4 Escorts were sold to everyone from road sweepers to royalty. And that’s just the brand-new ones.

It’s also worth noting that 1980 may have been a landmark year for the Ford Escort with the Mk3 hitting the streets, but millions of Mk1 and Mk2 models were sold way before that. The Escort was infinitely popular from the time it launched in the late 1960s, and most of them were still on the road in the 1980s. The very first passenger car developed and built by Ford of Europe has certainly created many fond childhood memories for Gen-Xers and millennials alike. 

And by the time the 1990 Mk5 Escort marked the beginning of a whole new decade, the Escort had become one of the most popular cars ever sold in Britain. Not bad for a model that started out as something of an experiment to take on the – now largely forgotten – Vauxhall Viva.

The question then isn’t if the Escort had a huge presence, but where did this almost mythical popularity come from? And we have to say that it’s not just because it was perceived as more desirable and (dare we say it) a little more grown-up than the Fiesta. No, the truth is that, in an era where national loyalty still influenced the car market here in Britain, the Escort was seen as one of our own.

Of course, by the early 1980s the UK was beginning to open up a little to imports such as the VW Golf, BMW 3-Series, Citroën BX and Nissan Sunny. And sure, technically speaking the big Blue Oval is a brand with its roots firmly across the pond. But the Americans never had the same Escort as we did – a car developed specifically to work on our roads. In fact, the Escort was perfect for the UK because it was created here in Britain and built here (mostly at the Halewood Plant) in Britain. Seen as better, more modern and even a little more exotic than other aging offerings from British Leyland brands like Rover, Austin and Triumph, the 1980s Escorts soon became a part of every walk of life from road cars and Royal Mail vans to rally cars. 

The typically 1980s takeover wasn’t even noticed by social commentators of the day; but in hindsight it’s clear that the Escort quickly (and rather quietly) infiltrated Britain, blending into the background and becoming synonymous with the whole landscape. The truth is that the Ford Escort IS the 1980s, and the 1980s is the Ford Escort. But most importantly – the Escort was as British as pie, mash and that green stuff.

Of course, that’s not to say that the hot versions weren’t vital to the Escort’s popularity and success. Slap a couple of spotlights and a rear spoiler on your lowly Escort 1.3 Popular and it’s practically an RS Turbo, right? That’s just how modifying works. What with all the interchangeable parts and the public’s willingness to keep the nation’s scrapyards stocked with freshly written-off performance variants, the Escort is easily one of the original, not to mention most popular, modified cars of the 1980s era, and well beyond.

The front-wheel-drive Mk3 served as a pivotal car for Ford and, as the template for the modern compact hatchback, inspired many other offerings from other brands around the world. The 1980 Mk3 Escort XR3 was also the first true Ford hot hatchback, helping to usher in what we now blanket term as ‘the hot hatch era’. The Mk3 marked a shift away from the rear-drive Mk1 and Mk2 layouts, including the popular hot models such as the RS2000 and Mexico which, while sporty for the day, can never be considered true hot hatches. Two years later, Ford of Europe even added a tiny but crucial letter to the XR3 badge and, just like that, the XR3i was the first UK Ford with fuel injection.

This trend of developing performance models is a work of marketing genius that’s as important as the Escort itself because it sold not just the performance versions, but every other variant down the line. It was also key to their strategy all through the 1980s with (among others) the 1984 Series 1 RS Turbo, the 1986 Series 2 RS Turbo (along with the rest of the Mk4 Escort lineup) and arguably it didn’t peak until the early 1990s with the world-conquering Escort RS Cosworth… which was actually based on the Sierra, although who needs that kind of nerdy nitpicking? 

Perhaps most important of all though, that’s not the end of the Escort story. Ford may have killed off the nameplate in favour of the Focus in the late 1990s, but it’s obvious that the lineage continues in every Focus ever made, and perhaps even more so in the current Focus ST. The ST badge being the closest modern equivalent to the XR nameplate and the Focus… well, come on, that’s just another Escort really, isn’t it?

And while this all begs the question – will we ever see another RS-badged model? – let’s not ponder the issue, or Ford starting to shy away from developing hardcore performance hatchbacks, for too long. The real point is that, for now at least, the Escort legacy is still going strong. And that’s all but unheard of for a car that saw the end of its run nearly 30 years ago.