Junkyard Find: 1992 Ford Escort GT
The early-90s Escort GT was a decently fast car for its day, but Escorts were always such disposable cars that you seldom see any of these semi-goofy-looking GTs these days, on the street or in the junkyard. Here’s an example that I found in a Denver self-service yard last week.
Weighing just 2,458 pounds and equipped with 127 horsepower under the hood, the Escort GT wasn’t quite as quick as the Nissan Sentra SE-R or Honda Civic Si. However, the Civic Si cost $11,900, the SE-R cost $11,850, and the Escort GT cost… $11,871? Huh?
OK, so the Escort GT wasn’t a great deal compared to the Japanese competition. Still, it’s sad to think that almost all of them are gone.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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I owned this identical one, it was a 1991, white with the 5 speed. It was my third one. I owned an 88GT thru high school, that was a fun car, but the valve seals were shot within 30k. Luckily it was under warranty and Ford rebuilt the top end. I traded it in on new a 93GT and that was the best car I ever owned. After the lease was up I managed to find a 91 GT with only 70K on it for $2400. That that was in 1997, I sold the car last year at 150K to a kid going into the military for $950. It never once broke down, sure I had to replace things as it got older like timing belts, struts, bushings, clutch and body work to keep the rust away (northeast weather), but the car never once let me down. If I thought I could find a mint condition one today I would buy it just cause I miss driving it so much. One of the best cheap rides Ford ever built that didn't break down or cost a ton to maintain. (Thanks Mazda!)
I own a 1992 teal Ford escort limited edition. Great car. Good mileage. I got it for $1895 down from $2495 at a st Vincent DePaul.