My dad pinched his pennies so hard he had Lincoln thumbs. It had galled him deeply to borrow money to buy his 1983 Renault Alliance (see my COAL on this car here). Knowing Dad, he paid off that note very early. He submitted to those payments only because Mom fell in love with the Renault on the test drive and insisted he buy it. She knew she could play that card only so often – like, once each decade. But the Renault was, to her, a slam dunk: attractive, comfortable, well equipped in top-line trim. Then in 1987, when Dad was driving 50 miles round trip to and from work, Mom fretted as the Renault piled on the miles. “I don’t want you to be stranded on some back county road!” So Dad went car shopping – and didn’t take Mom along so he could get what he wanted. Dad returned to his first love, the blue oval, and made his signature move: a leftover new 1986 Ford Escort as the 1988 models were about to be delivered to the showroom. He got it for a song and paid cash. He was so tickled by that deal that he talked about it for years.
It wasn’t a Pony, as the pictured Escort is. But it might as well have been: the same utility white color, manual transmission (though a five speed rather than the Pony’s standard four), styled steelies, AM radio. It had cloth seat surfaces where the Pony was all vinyl, but it had the same plain interior door panels with the most perfunctory armrests I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure it had AC, the one nod to luxury Dad would allow himself as humid summer commutes were pretty brutal without it. But no wonder this pig had languished on the lot so long.
I drove Dad’s Escort a few times. It had good power for the time. I remember the shift lever being a little vague and rubbery but the clutch being sure. I always turned off the radio – can my memory be right, that the only speaker was in the center of the dash? It sure sounded that bad, anyway, and I didn’t need the resultant headache. But the Escort left an indelible impression on me as the only automobile I’ve ever driven where you could hear the gas sloshing around in the tank when you made a turn.
Dad drove that Escort until 1993. He’d have cheerfully kept driving it, but it had racked up the miles and Mom began to fret anew. So Dad returned to his Ford dealer and came home in an Escort LX four-door hatchback. It was so much better a car than its forebear – more comfortable, more fuel efficient, more lively – that even Dad had to allow it was worth spending the money.
Southside Indianapolis, April, 2018
Related reading: Paul Niedermeyer’s magnum opus on the first-gen US Escort
Man, the cataracts on that poor Pony! I sure hope this cowboy doesn’t do much night ridin’. 😉
I’m not Ford fan and have never experienced an Escort, but do respect this generation for its hatchback utility and good looks (for the era.)
It is hard for me to say anything good about that generation of Ford Escort.
I did abuse one, a rental. I wanted to see how fast it could go. So I stood on it. The speedometer only inched upward once it reached 80. After a while it started to smell funny so, not wanting to become stranded, I backed off and stopped…looked at the engine and saw the exhaust manifold glowing red.
I did not tell the rental car agent that I’d had it up to 84 mph, only that there was now a bad exhaust leak.
That car would not even keep up with expressway traffic in some places, now.
When I got married, I entered a family where El Cheapo Ford Escorts were the father’s cars of choice. However, they had succeeded Ford Pintos in that role. The best car they had was a hand-me-down Plymouth Satellite with the 318 V8, formerly belonging to an uncle who, for medical reasons, could no longer drive. But the Pennsylvania Tin Worm got it.
Your dad reminds me of mine. I learned to drive in his 1981 Dodge Omni Miser. All vinyl seats, no radio, manual steering, and a 4 speed stick. And the big MI$ER sticker in the rear window let everyone know how cheap you were. When the Omni was due for retirement after serving faithfully for 7 years, Dad finally upgraded…to an Escort.
For the ultimate saver those days, he would be much better off eith a Toyota Trecel of that vintage. My unscientific impressions are the low end and simple Toyota profucts lasting much longer than those more upscaled models.
You’re certainly right, but my dad would sooner have broken all his knuckles with a hammer than buy a Toyota! He was so dedicated to his beloved Ford, except during the 70s and early 80s when they lost their way (and so we had a two Chevys, an AMC, and that Renault).
I’ve seen Tercels blowing blue smoke when you don’t see that from contemporary Corollas or Camries. I’ve never felt like the Tercel was the blue-chip bet that other Toyotas were. There are a lot of corners to be cut between an LS400 and a Tercel, but those last few hit bone.
I assume you are talking about the 90-94 Tercel (the rounded one)? The 3E series 1.5l engine was a big bucket of shit that suffered from valve seal wear out so that it belched copious amounts of blue smoke.
This is identical to my youngest brother’s first car, right down to the paint.
Not a fan.
Among my brother and sisters our family had 5 or 6 of these 80s Escorts, mostly 3 door hatchbacks but 1 sister had a station wagon. All of them had manual transmissions. My older sister actually liked her’s, an 87 hatchback in two tone grey and charcoal. She finally traded it when her new husband offered to buy her a new car.
The sister with the lone wagon had one of those cars that had somehow wound up with parts from 2 different trim levels. The seats in the front had a completely different type of upholstery than those in the back…same colors, but vastly different patterns. I forget whether the Escort replaced a Tempo, or the Tempo replaced the Escort.
One brother had 3 different Escorts, he would wear them out just about the time that the last payment was made. My father, I think, never really taught us how to use the clutch correctly so the 1 time I drove my brother’s car I could barely get it up to speed. The poor engine revved it’s heart out but the clutch slipped very badly.
I almost bought an 89 Escort GT, but couldn’t fit under the steering wheel comfortably.
My impression of these cars is that they were quite cheap, a typical low-buck Ford. And yet I’m not sure if I can say they were HUGELY better or worse than a Cavalier or an Omni/Horizon.
“Lincoln thumbs” – your first line had me laughing out loud. I also came from a “frugal” family, so I know exactly what you’re talking about.
I always thought Ford’s reuse of “Pony” for the stripper versions of the Escort sounded a bit odd. It made more sense on the “Pinto Pony”, as both of those names have equestrian connotations. But “Escort Pony”?
Almost in a reversal of your story (“almost”, as in, we didn’t pull the trigger on the Escort purchase), we had test-driven a similar-year (’85) Escort before we purchased our Renault Encore (similar to your Alliance) – a car we considered vastly superior, even despite its vinyl seats. The Encore just seemed like such a better car. We maintained it well, so it lasted for over ten years. That Encore was a purchase my family stood proudly behind, years after the fact. I’m sure we might be some of the few.
Full disclosure: I stole that line from an Archie comic I read as a kid. Have always looked for a reason to use it in writing!
Lincoln thumbs but a Ford wallet. 🙂
I used to work with a woman who drove an Escort like the one pictured. Hers was navy blue. One day she announced at lunch, that she would never buy another Ford because her Escorts engine blew with 53,000 miles on it. I asked her how often she changed the oil in it. I’ll never forget her response, “Are you supposed to change it?!” I didn’t have the heart to ask her if she ever checked it. My guess would be no.
1 of my sisters damaged the engine in her Escort when the timing belt broke after the water pump seized. She had a reaction similar to the reaction your co-worker had in that she had no idea the water pump was going bad….in her words: “….I didn’t know cars had a water pump”.
Regarding the one speaker in the center of the dash, I have no idea about the Escort, but my Dad’s rather basic ’79 Corolla was the same way. I’m guessing that was the norm for cheapo econoboxes in the 1970s and 80s.
I had an EXP from this era (think Escort with no back seat) with the base AM-FM radio. It had what looked like speaker grills in all 4 corners of the interior, but only the drivers side had actual speakers in them. When I went to put a better stereo system in it, I discovered not only were there no wires going to the passenger side, the “vents” in the speaker grills were fake! I had to take an X-acto knife to them, to open up the slots molded into the grills. On the drivers side, the rear speaker areas behind the grills were either 5×7 or 6×9, but the holes molded into the grills were for a tiny round speaker, like 2.5”… ugh. So having one speaker in the middle of the dash wouldn’t surprise me on an AM- equipped car. And mine blew 2 head gaskets, cracked a head, and snapped the timing belt (which bent all the valves) before it hit 80k… I don’t miss cars from that era at all.
“Pony” was used on stripped Pintos and Mustang II’s were brought out during the 1975 recession. Bare bones trim to counter ‘[price] sticker shock’. I think kept them til ’78? Trim name reappeared for 1985.5 Escorts, even though wasn’t a ‘western’ car name.
1991 Mazda based Escort used Pony for one model year, then just was called ‘Standard’ trim, 1992-96. But, tuners liked the Pony’s manual steering and lighter weight. IMHO, this generation made the first gen ‘scorts’ seem like FWD Pintos. But, I’ll admit they are guilty car pleasure, since I had an ’86 and liked the handling and Euro look.
I also worked with a woman in the ’90s who had an ’85 or so 2-dr Escort. It was red with cloth seats and very basic, auto and not much else. She gave me a ride home in it once and I was unimpressed. Fast forward 10+ yrs and I ended up with a ’96 Escort LX wagon with power windows/locks, AC and auto. It was lightyears better than that thing from the ’80s.
Hey, at least the Grey family sprung for new cars instead of used as the Kleins did so…Looking back it was likely more a matter of making do with what we had and not wanting to owe money to anyone if it could be avoided in any way. I nowadays find myself thinking and behaving similarly, and it’s turning out to be very satisfying in many respects.
As far as the Escort goes, the basic shape and idea are alright, but there wasn’t much love in the engineering and build when the visually very similar car in Europe is of a higher caliber. And is likely one of the reasons why Ford finds itself in its present situation, thirty-odd years later.
On another note, good to see you back!
That might have been the first new car my dad ever bought! Maybe even the only one. The next Escort miiiiiight have been new, maybe.
Writing CC Capsules is a good way to work my way back. So far, one’s queued each Tuesday for the next two weeks. Hope to keep the streak going.
I had an 82, stripper but not Pony model. It was base, vinyl seats, 4 speed, and we had dealer air installed.That was the problem with the car. The dealer did a crappy job installing (no doubt due to my mother harassing them to deliver it asap!) and leaving out the drain tube. Well, that and a timing belt broke on an interference engine, but due to a TSB being issued, they fixed it for free. Other than that, it gave 6 years of service and 96K before I handed it over to my brother.
If you had no familiarity with actually owning or driving an equivalent import, then you liked an Escort. Millions of Americans were still at that stage into the 80s.
As I said before, a 1985 1/2 Escort was my first car. I had speakers on both doors since I had an AM/FM radio. I had it for 9 yrs. & was very happy w/it. I only got rid of it since it rusted from the inside. I remember my father (who owned a ’73 T-Bird) calling it a wheelbarrow when I first got it, but he ended up driving it as much as me & loving it!
I recall the first time I drove one of these – it was a new 81 Lynx that belonged to a guy I worked with. My mother had bought an 80 Horizon the year before and I found that Lynx to be quite a cheap-feeling car by comparison. The Horizon was no Lincoln but hers was a higher trim model and the interior seemed much more nicely done. I also liked the way the Horizon drove better. Something about the Lynx just did not allow me to bond with it.
My own father was a “stretch for the highest lease payment you can possibly manage” guy and I have been a lot closer to your Dad than my own in this respect. Your Dad would have loved my Kia Sedona. 🙂
Once in my life I wrote a check for a new car (the Honda Fit) and Boy-oh-Boy did it feel good!
My parents had an ’82 Escort Wagon, the lowliest of utility cars. The AM radio did have only one speaker in the dash. No A/C; I don’t think the 69-hp 1.6L CVH engine could have operated a compressor and moved the car at the same time. Trans was a 4-speed manual, seats were leg-burning vinyl. It was the last car we had with no passenger-side mirror. Unfortunately the car rusted aggressively and was sold in ’91.
I spent a lot time behind the wheel of an ’81 (I think) Mercury Lynx wagon in the summer of 1985, for a job I had delivering typewriters (remember those?) for an office supply place. In contrast to many of the negative comments above, however, I actually found the car to be a blast to drive—engaging and fun—and most of my driving experience to that point had been in a Datsun 510, which, even in stock form, was kind of a tough act to follow, fun-wise. It helped a lot I’m sure that the typewriter car also had a manual (the 4-speed)… and it being a company car, I didn’t have to worry if my spirited driving resulted in any mechanical issues or repair bills. For a struggling student who also happened to love cars and driving, that meant the world. Based on those memories alone, I would love to have one of these today.
While there was an earlier Hyundai sold outside the US called ‘Pony’, I also thought there was briefly a strippo version of the US Excel with the same name. But I’ll be damned if I can find confirmation anywhere on the ‘net of it.
Regardless, I never much cared for those first generation Escorts and never understood the styling. It was a poor replacement for the tossable ’78-’80 German Fiesta and seems like it was one of the first cars that had the wonky, ersatz trunk lip hatchback which I’ve always hated (the more recent unlamented Dodge Caliber had the same thing). The Escort could have used some of the polarizing touches that gave other, out-of-the-box styled vehicles some character. The Escort was just plain ‘meh’ and zero fun in every way.
But I can see why someone would pass on a Tercel for one, with the main reason being simply that Toyota dealers didn’t negotiate, even though a higher priced Tercel would have been a better buy in the long run.
You won’t be surprised that there is a significant price gap between your two examples, but it isn’t in the direction you think. A 1986 Escort Pony listed for $6,360. A Tercel was $5,758…
That’s interesting. I wonder if it was the old game of Ford artificially inflating the price so they could then discount, getting the consumer to think they’re getting a better deal than a Tercel at full MSRP.
What you’re likely thinking of is “Pony Excel” which was the name used in Korea, and as I recall in reports about the car before its US introduction.
I wonder what the deal is with the added, generic taillights on the feature car. Is it possible that the housings for the rear bulbs somehow rusted or became otherwise unusable? That seems really strange.
Drove these strippos as gub’ment fleet cars. Pretty much the same except a slushy automatic that didn’t improve performance. Pretty awful. Worse than Omnis, except for the retro-control placement on the Dodge dash (heater controls on the left…). The 1990’s Escorts weren’t that bad. Agree the taillights are weird.
First new car I ever bought was a 1985 Escort. White like this one, with a tan interior and cloth seats. It had only an AM radio but speakers on both doors. 4-speed stick, no A/C, no power-anything. Just bare-bones transportation. It was cheap to operate and reliable. I drove that car six years and covered more than 135,000 miles. Only hiccup was a timing belt breaking, around 100k. I got it replaced, and the car soldiered on.
That’s one way to go about fixing dead taillight bulbs when you don’t know how to access the sockets, I guess.
80s Ford cars are so hot and cold, on one hand the Mustang, Thunderbird and just about anything else Fox based were excellent, but the first gen Escort and Tempos were just trash. I never liked the looks of these, especially after the aero facelift. Ford was the major force in getting headlight regulation changed for these things, but so many of the cars they were initially fitted to were just BLAH, they remind me of the 87-91 F150.
I learned how to drive a manual transmission in an 84 Mercury version of one of these. The old man had one as a company car at the time so alternating between that and his 74 Buick Electra 225 was interesting to a new driver. My recollection is that it was a crap box compared to even a Cavalier or Omni/Horizon. My aunt had a new Cavalier around the same time and IIRC it was smoother, quieter, had decent AC performance, etc.
I drove one of these as a servce vehicle for a vending company. It was the pony and if I remember orrectly it had a 5 speed and vinyl seats but had cloth inserts in them. I remember it being a pony because I always wondered what the hell that meant! It also had an AM radio with the only speaker on the driver’s door.
I’ve owned an 88 wagon. With fuel injection and the 5 speed the 88 was a great city car. It had good power, 30+ mpg, and haul a shocking amount of stuff. My dog was also a big fan. The back had room to lounge with good sniffin’ window access.
Just think, you could get an even more gutless one with a diesel .
We had hightop van conversions of these as pizza delivery vehicles, back when I was 18. Manual with the injected engine, they were pretty spiffy doing deliveries. We never went on the highway though.
European version.
I had a 1990 Ford Escort 5 door hatch. It was the the last year of the 1988 1/2 -1990 Escorts. Which depending on which auto rag or book you read was ether the 2nd gen Escort or just a face lifted version of the first generation.
It was manual transmission and was the car I learned how to drive stick on. It had the full gauge package with the next to useless upshift light
It did have all the speakers and it had the first ever power accessory in a car of mine (power mirrors)
It also had the roof mounted clock
The thing i hated was it also had that power seatbelt set up that a lot of cars of the era had.
Yes, my ’86 VW GTi had that upshift light…I think they started putting them in on the ’83 models, to try to encourage you to shift (early) to save fuel…it seemed that you could be lugging the engine, it wanted you to shift to the higher gear no matter what (to keep the revs low).
Sounds like your Escort was well equipped. My GTi was pretty good too, but didn’t have power windows/locks, and the sunroof and side mirrors (2 sides) were manual, as well as the seat adjustments. It also lacked power steering, which though the car was pretty light (~2200 lbs) it also had the 60 series tires which were quite wide for that time, and when I had a bicycle accident where I fractured my collarbone, and some ribs, it was a very inappropriate car for my ailment (plus the 5 speed transmission…kept my arms busy.
My current 5 door Golf came with the power locks/windows, still a 5 speed, but now has (standard) power steering. The only option was a package that included alloy wheels (which were optional on the Golf) and a power sunroof (which I probably could do without).
I helped my middle sister pick out her first car, which was a used ’85 Escort 2 door hatchback (with Automatic…she doesn’t drive standard). She got a really good deal on the Escort; had a long commute distance wise, but it was mostly country roads (her job was in the country but she lived in the city) and the Escort was pretty good, she used it in a carpool for awhile. Worst thing about it was the fuel delivery system, she kept having fuel pump problems (think it was still carburated) which led to her borrowing my Dad’s Dodge 600, which she promptly totalled (I think she ran a red light, still not sure what happened)….she kept the Escort another year or so until she traded it in on a used Toyota Tercel.
F.Y.I
The Hyundai Pony was sold in Canada for a few years in the eighties before it was replaced by the Excel.
I’ve driven both. Next to the Hyundai Pony, the Escort Pony was a Cadillac!
I’d agree totally. The second new car I bought was a 1987 Mitsubishi Precis — a twin to the Excel. It had a sunroof and all the toys. Great car — for the first six months or so. Then, it started to fall apart. Fortunately, I still had the Escort, on which I could thoroughly rely to get me from Point A to Point B, even halfway across the country a couple of times.
The Hyundai Pony was sold in Canada from 1984 until 1987. It was a cheap rear wheel drive 4 door hatchback. They were popular and sold like hotcakes until they aged and showed how cheaply and poorly made they were. They helped GM sell more Chevettes and Acadians which were built like tanks in comparison with a reputation for reliability.
Late to the party but I had a bog standard 86 Escort Pony in the early 90’s, mainly because I couldn’t afford a Civic,Tercel or a 323.
It was….okay I guess but the more kms it amassed the harder it was to maintain a consistent speed, and the interior just fell apart – dash cracking, door handles inside and out broke off in my hand, seat frame snapped like a twig, window regulater basically collapsed, the gearshift always fell out of gear when it was cold, etc. etc.
Sold it and bought a 86 Mazda 323, a far better car that I miss to this day, that Escort, not so much.
Epic depreciation made them affordable but in comparison to the Japanese competition it was no contest, the 80’s Escort was hopelessly outclassed.