1971 Ford Escort MkI
These were two of four Mk I Escorts in which I drove a total of about
250,000 miles as company cars between 1968 and 1975. I had one
bronze,
one white, one blue and one in red. They were all the cheap,
basic,
1100cc models with minimum upholstery and instrumentation - they didn't
even come with temperature gauges and that proved costly when one lost
all its water and burnt a hole in a piston! The white one here
had
to be resprayed under warranty when it was 6 months old as it came out
in hundreds of rust patches all over the roof, bonnet and doors - which
looked lovely on white! It also suffered from very bad vibration
and, again under warranty, a split propshaft assembly had to be fitted
including welding in the central bearing support. Another one of
them had to have 4 clutches inside 50,000 miles, I would normally go
65,000
on a car without replacing the clutch before the car was replaced.
Otherwise I did not have much trouble and the performance and road
holding was excellent - I used to rush about all over England in these
motors which even in basic form at the time were attractive little cars.
- 4 cyl. 1098cc. OHV. Cast iron. Cross flow.
-
Bore and Stroke - 81mm x 53.3mm.
-
55 bhp at 6,000rpm. Max speed 82 mph
-
Independent front suspension by Mcpherson struts.
-
Semi-eliptic rear springs and live axle.