Ford Escort MkII Ghia - today's tempter

By: Guy Allen, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 06.01.2018

Good tidy and original Escorts aren't always easy to find.

Good tidy and original Escorts aren't always easy to find.

Do you hot it up or leave it alone?

Ford Escorts are hot property on the local classic market at the moment, in either MkI or MkII form. Of course it's the sport-focussed RS models that are the glamour cars, but neverthelesss there's plenty of interest in the other variants.

Some 79,000-plus MkIIs were assembled locally, with a variety of engines: 1.3lt, 1.6lt and 2.0lt fours. They were matched to either a four-speed manual or three-speed auto transmission.

The 2.0lt Pinto engine is the one to have and that's what is in this car. For some reason the local variant was in a lower state of tune than the UK version, though there is a lot of hot-up knowledge out there and it wouldn't be too much of a challenge to get the performance sparkling.

A new owner might be tempted to change the auto over for a manual. It would make for a more sporty car, though it's debatable whether that would lift its value.

In any case the big issue with these things is rust, particularly around the vents front and rear. Mechanically, they're quite simple and repair parts are generally plentiful. Trim might be the greatest challenge for a restorer.

The car shown here is said to be original, running an registered, with 96,000km on it. Located in NSW, it's priced at $15,000.

We recently published a buyer guide on these, with the help of the local RS club.

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