What on earth is going on with the prices of the MK2 Escort..??

When I was younger and the MK2 was current I had a MK1 Mexico followed by brand new MK2 Mexico, plus several MK1 Escort estates as company cars.  When the MK3 arrived it was a revelation.

The MK3 1.3L estate I was given as my new company car was faster than both the MK1 and MK2 Mexico’s, and that’s both acceleration and top speed, and still did more miles per gallon. The MK3 steered and braked better and was much quieter and way more comfortable, just a better car in every respect.

I remember at first putting my 18,000 mile Mk2 Mexico in the garage to ‘save for best’. Three months later I got it out only to realise what an awful thing it was to drive now that I’d become used to the MK3. The MK2 was slow, noisy, tiresome and generally a dissapointment. Why on earth are people paying such stupid money for them? Me and my mates who all had one of some sort couldn’t wait to get rid of them!

I actually shoved my MK2 Mexico back in the garage where it sat for three and a half years, when I dragged it out of the garage with the brakes and clutch seized I couldn’t wait to get rid of it. It was a basic Escort body tub with a 1.6 engine (twin choke carb for some performance LOLOL… performance…. LOL), plus stick on stripes and a boot lid spoiler… oh and Recaro seats. It makes me laugh to think of it now.

The RS2000 was an Escort tub with a transit van engine, and a lump of plastic hanging off the front so that it could have four headlights, oh and Recaro seats, don’t forget the seats.

Whatever next? Ancient Nissan Micra’s changing hands at £50k a go? Classic car dealers must be wetting themselves with laughter. The sad fact is that when this looney bubble bursts some poor schmucks are going to be stuck with £40k worth of awful car with cheapo stripes and some Cibbie spotlights (which will be the best bits on display).  Hilarious… Oh well.

 

Bet you wish you still had it though.

1 hour ago, MarksST said:

Bet you wish you still had it though.

I'm trying to recall what I did with the money and I can't.

If I did still have it I'm afraid I'd have to sell it quick before the bubble bursts, but on that basis alone you are right, I wish I still had it. LOL.

Regards.

Steve.

I had nearly all MK2 Escort models, except RS1800, of course, and you're right, they drove like dog ****

 

Rose tinted spectacles...

Most people seem to remember things far more fondly than they actually were at the time.  Not just cars but all sorts of events...  I regularly heard family members recount events as positive, where I was also present, and had the opposite opinion.  But I do the same myself too, it's strange how we eventually get used to a more modern car/appliance/device, then try to use the old one again a few months later and it seems archaic in comparison!

I think it's to do with the 'lifestyle' people had at the time as well though.  I remember a couple of previous cars fondly, despite the actual car being a bit poor for one reason or another.  But they took me to different places, some that I'd never been before, some I haven't been to since.  Some helped me meet people I'd never have met otherwise.  Car clubs and shows, for example, are about so much more than how well the cars drove!

Having said all that, the prices of anything old with a Ford badge have been daft for last decade, it's not just a recent thing!

17 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Rose tinted spectacles...

Yes, there's a lot of truth in what you say there, Tom.

You tend to associate certain things (including cars) with people, times, and places and the mind seems to focus on the better bits and filter out the rest. 

Probably better to keep the fond memories as just that, and not try and re-live them. As L P Hartley said at the start of the Go-Between: "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there".😀