Junkyard Find: 1988 Ford Escort GT
Published: April 27th, 2016
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The first-generation North American Ford Escort looked a lot like its European namesake, but was a very different machine under the skin. For the 1991 model year, the Escort moved to the same platform as the Mazda 323, so the late-’80s models are the last of the all-Ford American Escorts.Here’s one that I spotted in a Northern California yard.
For some reason, 1988 model-year Escort GTs are the ones I find in these self-service yards; so far in this series, we have seen this first-half-of-1988 red one and this post-mid-model-year-refresh white one. Today’s Escort is another “1988.5” version.
The 1.9-liter CVH engine in this car made 110 horsepower. This would be considered intolerable in 2016, but wasn’t bad back then.
Poor bedraggled junkyard mini-disco-ball.
I hadn’t seen one of these Ford-issued EMISSION CONTROL SYSTEM MODIFIED stickers in a California car before. Since the California emissions check involves a ball-bustingly strict, factory-equipment inspection, this probably authorizes a different type of EGR valve or similar minor change.
A much worn, late-1980s-vintage KEEP ABORTION LEGAL sticker is a very San Francisco Bay Area-appropriate accessory.
The list price on this car was $9,093, which was a lot cheaper than the 132 hp, $12,058 Mazda 323 GT Turbo. However, the 1988 Dodge Omni GLH (which was lighter and had the same horsepower as the Escort GT) sold for a mere $8,226.
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Weedly-weeee guitars and a trip to Club 911? Take the Escort GT![Images: © 2016 Murilee Martin/The Truth About Cars]
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 am happy to hear about your good service experience. I had a 85 Mercury Lynx that was the worst car I have ever owned. Four speed manual 2 door charcoal grey with matching interior. The electronic carburetor went which was very expensive, the 4 speed manual transmission seized which I had replaced with a junkyard transmission (the only manual that I ever had that went out). the heads went, and then at the bottom of the firewall the car was rusting out to where it was unsafe (the only place where there was rust). I didn't want to sell the Lynx to anyone so I traded it in on a new 1994 Ford LX wagon with a 5 speed manual which was excellent and a trouble free car. The Mazda based Escorts were a much better car than the earlier Escorts. The Ford Ranger was vastly improved when it became Mazda based.
What was the name of the sportback version? I remember the son of the Police chief in my hometown got one new. Looked fast but my MK1 GTI was faster( 0-60 9.5 sec.?)