For those of us who are fascinated by automotive minutiae, car models that were produced for a partial year hold special allure. Ford churned out several examples over the decades – the 1970 Falcon, the ’86 LTD… and if those aren’t exciting enough, the 1990 Escort. All of these represent the final gasp of long-running models, and this example carries the extra enticement of being the relatively uncommon wagon version. While far from the most exciting car to grace Curbside Classic, it’s unlikely that many other 1990 Escort wagons will turn up, so we might as well enjoy examining this one.
Ford’s subcompact Escort hit North American showrooms as a 1981 model under the guise of a “World Car,” since Ford developed it to replace both its European Escort and the North American Pinto. This model’s importance is hard to overestimate. Debuting at the height of consumer interest in subcompacts, the Escort’s tasks in North America were to simultaneously replace the aging Pinto, and to demonstrate that Ford could make money on subcompacts (which the Pinto never did). The “World” nature of this model was stressed heavily at first, though Ford President Phillip Caldwell was quick to point out plenty of differences between the European and North American versions. Said Caldwell early on, regarding the transatlantic Escort siblings: “Like most sisters, they will look a little different.” Which they certainly did.
North America’s Escort didn’t become the revolutionary or profitable vehicle its proponents had wished for, but it certainly sold in big numbers – exceeding 300,000 annual sales for nine straight years, and topping out at 430,000 in 1986.
Source of production figures: Standard Catalog of Ford, 1903-1998.
When introduced for 1981, Escort came in 3-door and wagon bodystyles – a 5-door hatchback was added for ’82. Wagons accounted for 40 percent of those first-year sales, and even after 5-doors joined the lineup, wagon sales still comprised between 20 and 25 percent of Escorts annually. By the late 1980s, however, Escort wagon sales slipped sharply, as the overall small-wagon sector contracted. By 1989, only 9 percent of Escorts were wagons.
1990 Escort production is somewhat mysterious. Escort’s 1990 model year was abbreviated, since the all-new ’91 models were introduced in the spring of 1990. Production statistics indicate that 290,516 Escorts were produced for 1990, which at first glance seems suspiciously high for an aging model with an abbreviated production year, leading one to question whether that figure includes some 1991 cars as well. However, production of the outgoing 1990 and redesigned ’91 models overlapped for three months. 1991 Escort production began on February 26, 1990, at Ford’s Wayne, Michigan plant, while the last 1990 Escort rolled out of the Edison, New Jersey plant on May 25. Given that overlap, the 290,000 figure appears believable.
Unfortunately, no figures seem available on 1990’s bodystyle breakdown, but given the preceding model years, it seems unlikely that wagons exceeded ten percent of total Escort production. In that event, 1990 Escort wagons probably numbered between 20,000 and 30,000.
With that background out of the way, let’s examine our Spinnaker Blue featured car. 1990 Escorts came in three trim levels – the value-leading Pony and sporty GT ( both available only as a 3-door)… and the LX, which brought plusher interior trim as well as some other nicities and was available in all three bodystyles.
All told, 1990 LX wagon prices started at $8,737 – a competitive price for the times. At about $1,500 under the similarly-sized Civic or Corolla wagons, this price advantage provided the Escort wagon’s major selling point. Of course, build quality and drivability couldn’t match the Japanese competition, but for price-conscious buyers, this was a reasonable choice.
Aside from the missing front bumper cover (replaced by a homemade battering ram), this car has weathered the decades relatively intact, with no visible rust or body damage – an impressive feat for a 30+ year-old economy car that looks like it’s been driven regularly.
Looking closely at the rear seat area from this angle, one can see the single visual clue that this is a ’90 model – rear seat shoulder belts, as required by US law for the 1990 model year. (For dedicated followers of automotive minutiae, the 1990 LX’s optional polycast wheels had a slightly different design – that’s the only other way to identify a 1990 vs. a 1989 Escort.)
Inside we see a well-worn Regatta Blue interior – and someone had been thoughtful enough purchase a protective dash cover at some point. This car was ordered with the Escort’s two highest-cost options, being air conditioning ($720) and an automatic transmission ($439). However, while many Escorts LXs came with the “Special Value Package” that added items such as a rear defogger, power mirrors, and intermittent wipers, this car instead has a scattering of individual options. The defogger and AM/FM radio here were evidently ordered as stand-alone options.
Most 1990 Escort brochure photos were re-used from 1989, but with rear shoulder belts airbrushed into place.
This brochure image illustrates the Escort wagon’s appeal. For well under $10,000 (these often sold at hefty discounts), one could enjoy 59 cu. ft. of cargo room – a good value for a practical car.
Practical – but hardly exciting. The 1.9-liter 90-hp engine produced adequate enough power for the day, though when mated with the 3-speed automatic transmission, much of that power vanished. But one group of people who wouldn’t complain about this car’s power would have been owners of older Escorts. When first introduced, Escorts were “powered” by a 1.6-liter engine with 20 fewer horsepower. The 1990 Escort was a powerhouse by comparison.
By 1990, Escort was showing its age. In terms of both build quality and drivability, these cars seemed almost antiquated compared to the Japanese competition. For example, Honda’s Civic range underwent two complete redesigns between 1981 when the Escort debuted and 1990 when our featured car was sold.
Though Escorts were common enough as to become almost invisible, this was an attractively-styled car – its vaguely European conservatism provided enough style not to look embarrassingly cheap. From a purely styling perspective, the wagon was probably the best-looking model in the Escort range, though by 1990, every shred of newness had long since disappeared.
Ford’s updated 1991 Escort, with its Mazda mechanicals, added refinement that the original lacked, though that advancement came with a cost since the ’91s carried a 10% list price increase over the ’90 models. Given that looming price bump, one can see how frugal buyers in 1990 would seek the outgoing, heavily-discounted older models instead of the ’91s that may have been on sale simultaneously.
Startlingly few of these cars have made in into the 2020s, and the sight of one has almost become cause for celebration…. particularly the largely-forgotten 1990 model. This particular wagon – one of North America’s cheapest station wagons when new – has provided over three decades of service to its owners. It may have been an outdated last gasp of a ubiquitous model when new, but in terms of the durability this car has furnished over the past few decades, this wagon is worthy of considerable respect.
Photographed in April 2023 in Mexico, Missouri.
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1990 Ford Escort LX – Still Going Places, But Not Really Jason Shafer
Curbside Classic: 1981-90 Ford Escort – You Never Get A Second Chance To Make A Good First Impression Paul Niedermeyer
My uncle has had a 1987 european Escort wagon, in Ghia trim and with the 1.3 engine, and curiously, the 1986-90 wagon was sold as “Escort Voyager” here in Italy.
I’m very interested in the advertising stating that the Escort was the best selling cars in the world “for seven years running” (I guess from 1983 to 1989). Has someone got any data for the period? Usually it is believed that the Corolla always was the best selling cars in the world, but maybe they counted several generations sold together on some markets..
This site says the Escort was the best selling car in the world in 1983, and then the Corolla for the rest of the decade (but without any data): https://bestsellingcarsblog.com/2019/08/world-1997-2005-detailed-historical-data-now-available/
That’s really interesting. I’ve not seen a source for Ford’s claims on the “best-selling car” honor, but I wonder if they did some creative calculations like counting the Corolla as several different models… or defining the “world” as Europe and North America.
Indeed, everything is possible, and on both parts 😀 anyway, I believe would be possible for the Escort to have been best seller in the world (or most of it 😀 ) because it stayed quite high in European charts (best selling car in UK from 1982 to 1989) and it was sold also in South America, etc.
Anyway, not completely related, but some days ago I photographed this 1985 Escort 1.1 Laser, the last surviving Mk3 in my area (usually 1981-85 are counted as Mk3 and 1986-90 as Mk4 in Europe)
I was able to find a Ford press release that gave figures for its 1987 claim of Escort being the world’s best-selling car. Production figures are listed as follows:
Europe: 460,000
US: 392,360
Brazil: 52,000
That’s over 900,000 units. But getting Corolla worldwide production is eluding me – even the article you linked to doesn’t have late-’80s production. However, it did note that 1990 worldwide Corolla production “increased” to 980,000 units. So there’s a good chance that Escort and Corolla were awfully close for much of the 1980s.
Thanks for the information, that’s very interesting. Indeed, very hard to get Corolla production, and my link was all about “estimates”. I think they were very close too, and maybe the Escort won counting only the by then “current” generation, whereas the Corolla maybe was ahead counting several generations sold around the world.
There was a European Escort since 1968 plus the US effort which nobody else saw, the Euro version was a good seller in RWD form, Im not sure about the later FWD version but Ive never heard anything good about them my BIL had several as rep cars some of which expired before 100,000kms, the 323/Ford Laser was a better car in that size.
That you found this in Mexico says much…that town typically does not have much interesting in the way of automotive finds. Although there is a lot of rural area around Mexico from which this Escort may have emerged.
These Escorts used to be like wallpaper…always hanging around, not generating much attention. I had one briefly in driver’s education and Mrs. Jason’s father purchased an ’85 model new and kept it until a Jeep Cherokee wiped it out 13 years and 259,000 miles later.
While the market has evolved to C/SUVs, which are better for ingress/egress than is this Escort, this wagon shows where it is perhaps better in one key regard. When cargo volume is stated for new C/SUVs the numbers sound great and quite enticing (particularly the compacts), but so much of that volume includes cargo space height. Floor space is so often a very critical component because you have to place your stuff somewhere. This Escort appears to be superior in the floor space department in comparison to contemporary offerings. But I could be somewhat incorrect.
But such is life. My Impala at work is about to get reassigned with my new SUV having just been delivered. Plus, we are car shopping at home and I do envision a C/SUV of some variety. Of course I have only grown to appreciate small wagons such as this after they are no longer readily available.
Yes, for some reason Mexico most often seems like a CC-free zone, but the surrounding towns are often great for car-spotting. Go figure.
As I was writing this, I couldn’t help but compare the Escort to the the Chevy Traverse and Nissan Pathfinder parked on either side of it. In terms of real-world measurements, would those vehicles offer appreciably more cargo room than the Escort? I’d like to know. When we’ve been in the car market in recent years, I’ve been disappointed by the cargo room of many C/SUVs – even big models like Tahoes have disappointingly small below-the-window-line cargo capacities.
I’m not sure what kind of space inside an Escort you are expecting to find below the greenhouse, because it’s certainly not deep:
Many (most?) European wagons (Audi, Volvo, Mercedes, VW, Ford in Europe) usually offer as an option or integrated with the rear roller cargo cover a net that goes up and hooks into the roof thus making the rear cargo area actually able to safely hold cargo all the way up to the roofline without concern for it toppling forward onto occupants. I believe some of them can also be repositioned to be behind the first row if the second row is folded down, I think they clip on to the folded rear seatback, I believe the 2000 or so Allroad/A6 wagon did it this way. I have yet to see any non-Euro-branded offer any kind of net like that, their ancillary purpose is generally to keep pets in the back.
That 2022 or so Traverse has 57 cubic feet of space behind the second row and 98 cubic feet if only the front seats are in place. The 2007 or so Pathfinder has 49 cubic feet behind the second row and 79 cubic feet if only the front seats are in place. The featured Escort has 58 cubic feet of space behind the FIRST row per cgiguy’s ad above (or below?) this, the rear only portion is probably around 30 or 35?. So yeah, the CUVs are far larger inside (and out).
I had occasion to be in a 1998 or so (XJ) Cherokee the other day. I well recall them when they were new and thought they were quite roomy at the time. Well, I may have grown a bit in the intervening years but my goodness, the XJ Cherokee has shrunk far more than I have grown! It’s positively tiny inside…
OK – you all convinced me – Traverse wins handily here! The general class of vehicles still disappointed me though as far as real-world cargo carrying.
And it seems like those cargo barriers are only seen in the US for people with pets.
If cargo capacity is important to you your best bet is a minivan, or any van. They have much lower floors than C/SUV’s.
Not a 1990 model but this 1983 promo showed an Escort wagon being compared to the Nissan Sentra wagon with some Laurel & Hardy lookalikes at 14:21 in this clip.
Thanks for this great post! ESCORT was a big joke. Only fitting to have an Oliver Hardy clone involved! 😄 😁 🤣. 😎
These final-year first-gen Escorts had a very weird and clumsy rear seatbelt arrangement. The lap and shoulder belts were separate pieces with separate buckles, like in the front seat of a 1968 car. And the lap belt fastened on the outboard side.
Thanks for mentioning that. In the brochure picture, it sure looks like the car has separate shoulder belts, but I couldn’t find any photos of 1990 Escort rear seats to confirm that (and I didn’t photograph the rear seat of this car). But I found it hard to believe that was really the case – I guess that’s really the case though. I assume this was the last instance of any car produced with separate lap and shoulder belts.
Non-integrated rear shoulder belts met the letter of the law, but what an ugly solution!
When buying our ’88 Taurus, we learned there had been a running change during the model year to integrated shoulder/lap belts for outboard rear passengers. We made sure to find one that had the update.
Speaking of rear-passenger comfort/safety, when did headrests for rear seats become a requirement (or is it even required now)? It’s not surprising that this ’90 Escort lacked them, but it appears that its successor, the Focus, still lacked them until around 2010. That was a big minus for me when I was cross-shopping the Focus with the Mazda 3 in 2007.
Ford’s Escort ~ the car gearheads love to hate .
They were so simple & basic they bordered on crude but did the job very well .
-Nate
I learned how to drive in one of these, an 86 wagon with the chrome bumpers and a 4 speed manual, when I was 11, in the service drives of the small local airport. Almost got pulled over while doing so (my dad was with me) which was a bit unnerving, so I didn’t drive again until Drivers Training.
Even though I’ve never been a Ford guy I had a fondness for the Gen 1.5 Escort like this and always wanted to get one, but it was hard to find one with a stick that was in decent shape. Haven’t seen one in over a decade.
FMC has made several mistakes over the years. So happy to see ESCORT escorted out the door! Miserable little piece of trash! EDSEL was the wrong car at the Wrong time. But BIGGEST mistake was dropping Crown Victoria, GRAND MARQUIS, and TOWN CARS.
Ford has to sell them in quantities worth making, are there really that many punters wanting a new 50s car?
There’s probably a few dozen out there, however they would only buy them used, never new, so that would present a conundrum as Ford only builds new cars. The biggest complainers about manufacturers stopping building any particular car usually never actually purchased or would consider purchasing one new themselves, that’s always someone else’s job 🙂
“… 1990 Escorts came in two trim levels – …”
There was a 3rd, the GT, still around for ’90.
Ford had 1.9% financing in winter/spring 1990 to ‘blow out’ the outgoing models. At same time, 91’s only had had $500 rebates, which were better IMHO.
Oops – thanks for pointing that out! I’ll correct the text when I get a chance.
The 1991 models were a major leap forward in refinement. I remember really liking the GT version.
I had an 85 1/2 Escort (where 1.9L debuted, though with 2 bbl, while I think the 1.9 had TBI a few years later). I remember CV joints failing and in August 1989 the car leaving me stranded when a computer module failed. Two months later, the timing belt broke, and being a foolish 25 year old, I decided to trade it in (and obviously I ignored the owner’s manual and didn’t get the belt replaced at 60,000 miles). Salesman, about my age, wanted me to consider a 1990 Escort, but I purchased a used 1989 Crown Victoria with 12,000 miles which I kept for 12 years, but in retrospect, I wish I had fixed the Escort and kept it a few more years.
When I returned from Asia in 2004 I had a series of beaters and one was an Escort wagon just like this. Mine was a five speed manual. I didn’t have it for long but it wasn’t a bad car for what it was. The motor was totally gutless. I bought it for $500, used it to move some stuff and sold it for $700. Not a bad beater deal.
My father had a 1986 Pony, an aunt had a 1987 wagon and a friend had a 1988 five-door hatchbook. All three gave good – if uninspired – service.
When the timing belt broke on my friend’s 1988 Escort (with well over 100,000 miles on the odometer), he simply repaired the belt and drove that car for another four years while he attended flight school in Florida.
My father traded his Escort with 120,000 miles on the odometer. That car received some rough treatment from him.
Not the most refined or stylish cars, but they got the job done.
Although I wound up buying a hatchback, I was shopping for a wagon in 1989. The reason the Escort wagon didn’t stand a chance (at least with me) is that just up the street at the Dodge dealer, from whom I wound up buying an Omni, was offering the similarly long in the tooth Aries Wagon for a price that was about the same as the Escort.
The K-wagon was a class larger than the Escort, and wagon buyers are generally a practical bunch. I found the Aires/Reliant to be an overall much better value than the Escort.
Between the Escort, the K-cars and GM’s J-cars, late ’80s domestic compact wagons were downright geriatric!
Well, now I am too, and I wouldn’t mind one like this (maybe a Focus instead though).
My car tastes are pretty much the same over the years, though I didn’t appreciate them at the time, of course you think they’ll always be offered. I’ve always had hatchbacks, but small wagons are even more practical, but they’re also just about extinct…for that matter, so are hatchbacks. Now that I’m getting older I’m thinking about my next car, which will need to be an automatic since no one in my family can drive my current car….I’d just like to get an automatic version of my current car (2000 Golf) but they no longer sell them (know I can still buy GTi, but I’m a bit old for those, having had an ’86 GTi 37 years ago). I prefer cars to crossovers or SUV, don’t need AWD, I like the smoother ride of a car,
My friend bought a new ’81 Escort wagon when they were first offered….mostly because it was inexpensive and interest rates on new cars were better than used, which was a consideration when one of my other friends had a 24% interest rate on his used Sunbird at the time. It wasn’t very impressive, especially compared to the Audi Fox he used to have (but it rusted badly such that the driver seat tilted down due to mounting bracket rust). It was a good placeholder car, even more since he had a family, but such cars seem to have disappeared.
Darn…I should have bought a 2005 Focus wagon while they were still offered (of course my Golf was only 5 years old, never can line up purchases with what I want when I’m actually in the market to replace my current car. Guess my tastes don’t line up with the target market, which writes off people of a certain age, after all, how many more cars might I buy (not many if I keep them as long as I’ve had my 2000 Golf)…pretty safe to write me off, except there are bound to be more people like me…maybe not hatchback fans, but of a similar age anyhow.
From the rear 3/4 view the Escort wagon reminds me of a shrunken Fairmont wagon.
My ex and I had an ’89 5 door hatch w/ 5 Speed for 10 years or so. It was actually a really, really good car. Super reliable, decent in the snow and aside from one timing belt, and a clutch there was very little done to that car. Sold with 250,000 km on it and I saw it driving for many years afterward.
Crude, yes but it worked. Amazingly even at 16 years old the AC still worked well and the only real issue was the headlights became so baked and UV damaged they were all but unusable. I changed the spark plugs somewhere around 200,000 km because, amazingly it simply refused to start when the plugs wore away to all but nothing.
Maybe not well liked cars but it did a great job for a young couple just starting out who needed every dollar we could get.
I knew a number of folks in the 1990s who owned this generation of Escort, and they were good “invisible cars.” They did their jobs without much fuss or attention.
I’m particularly impressed by your picture of the Escort parked next to the Traverse. It looks so tiny next to that Chevrolet, and in many ways it seems that folks who would have bought the Escort wagon back in 1990 might nowadays wind up buying something like the Traverse.
That point might be underscored by watching more of the cross-shopping sales video that Stéphane Dumas posted above…but OMG I couldn’t make it through more than a few minutes of that. Although it did make me want to go dig up the Commodore 64 that we used to use for video title generation back in 1985. (Our oscilloscopes didn’t talk to us, but that’s a minor detail.)
Anyhow, nice survivor find. I completely love the wooden front bumper adaptation.
I realized only when driving away that the Escort provided a great contrast to the similarly-sized SUVs parked on either side. At that point, I swung around to get one final shot from the rear of all three vehicles but just then one of the SUV owners appeared and backed out of the spot. Oh well – would have been a good addition to the article.
Excellent find and biography, of a wagon that was so ubiquitous in the early 80s. I thought Ford was wise, offering the more versatile wagon first. If they had to decide between introducing the five-door hatchback, or wagon in 1981.
Prepared a Photoshop a few weeks ago, showing what I thought was a better-looking ‘woodie’ version. With the woodgrain having a consistent bottom edge, that was aligned all around the car. Rather, than dipping to the rocker panels, within the wheelbase. A much cleaner look IMO.
You’re right – that looks much better. In addition to avoiding the exaggerated wheelwell cutouts, the photoshopped version works better on a smaller vehicle since it seems to accentuate the wagon’s length.
And out of curiosity, I looked up my 1983 price guide, and the Escort wagon’s Squire Package added $350 to the car’s cost. That’s pretty hefty (over $1,000 in today’s dollars), and the package only included the wood trim and the luggage rack. no wonder they weren’t seen too often.
I don’t know whether it was legal there, but that’s practically begging for a semi-dark tint/filter/something over those reversing light lenses.
“I blackened out my lights so they work less!”
I originally bought an Escort station wagon with the intent to flip it. Four years later, I was still driving it; an 86 Escort, 1.9/5 speed that I “enhanced” with parts from a Mercury Lynx.I swapped the front doors for ones with the swing out vent windows, the fold down split seat, and the rear window spoiler. It turned out to be a great little car, with A/C that blew fog from the vents. I later came to regret selling it. 🙂
My first car was a 1982 Escort wagon, bought in 1989 a few days after my 16th birthday. It was a loaded GLX. Cruise, a/c, dual remote mirrors, and importantly, the HO engine and close ratio 4-speed manual. The HO bumped up from 70hp to 80hp, including a factory tubular header. The tight transmission ratios were a boatload of fun around town, but were a little buzzy on the highway. Not that 16-yo me minded that very much. It was a surprisingly fun car and cemented my interest in wagons.
I remembered when these came out – I remember driving a new 81 Lynx and not liking it as well as my mother’s 80 Horizon. But I do not remember when these went away – I had long previously stopped paying attention to them. If I had known about that 1/2 1990 model year, I had long since forgotten.
I think the Escort was like so many American subcompacts of the time – everyone started with the idea that it was a good car and they could make money on it, but soon enough they became loss leaders to offset against larger more profitable models under CAFE. I would have loved to have seen how the 1980s and early 1990s would have progressed in America without the market distortions that CAFE caused.
Back when I was driving my ’93 Escort wagon around (when it was 10 years old or so), there were still some earlier Escorts out on the road. I always noticed that the newer, Mazda-based Escorts such as mine had noticeably more rust, especially in the rear quarters. Because of that, I always found myself wishing I had an earlier Escort, which has to be the only time that thought ever crossed someone’s mind.
I guess I’m old enough to have appreciated the Escort when they were unveiled. Compared to a Pinto, the Escort was a modern, quality ride. The Escort was FWD, transverse mounted engines, with upright seating, entry and exit ease and dependable. Your choice that year was the new Escort, X-Car, Omnirizon, and the decade-old AMC Spirit/Gremlin. The Escort was better than a B-210, as good as a Tercel/Starlet, and was made in Michigan, USA.
While my X-car was dying in the Chevrolet dealer weekly, my replacement was a new Escort. My boss approaches me one day and tells me that my new car was going to be an Escort – and then apologized that it wasn’t as good as the Citation that broke down on me every week. “It’s smaller.”
That it was, but it never broke down. Worst part of that car was the automatic transmission that sucked the life out of the little car as it tried to make it up over the Rockies. Yet everything else about the car was eye-opening in a positive way. When the lease was up on the Escort, my boss found me a grandma car – a Fox body Cougar.
So I remember how well the Escort held its own against other small cars in the market. Better than what came before it and never a bad car.
Yep, nothing but a joke .
That must be why they sold nearly a million of them and they remained as road roach daily drivers for twenty years .
I bet Ford was laughing all the way to the bank .
-Nate