Rare Rides: The 1986 Ford Escort EXP, for Driving Enjoyment

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis

Rare Rides featured an EXP once before, in the form of a tidy first-generation example painted in blazing orange. Today’s EXP is a much more modern looking second generation, in two-tone grey and black.

The first Ford EXP was manufactured until partway through the 1985 model year. It carried on alone after its short-lived sibling, the Mercury LN7, ended production during 1983. Small, lightweight, and down on power, the EXP focused on fun driving and fuel economy. It even reached an impressive 44 miles per gallon highway in the hands of Car and Driver. But, by the middle of the Eighties, the competition in the affordable two-seat economy coupe field grew up like weeds around the EXP. Pontiac created the Fiero, Toyota had the MR2, and Honda offered the CR-X.

Ford knew it was time for a new EXP.

Ready during 1985, the new EXP was offered officially as a 1985.5 model. Its release coincided with a refresh of the Escort, from which the EXP borrowed many of its parts and a platform. The odd looks of the first generation were gone, replaced with the smoother, ruler-designed Escort look. Fittingly, the model was renamed Escort EXP. Unique to EXP were the front and rear bumper designs, as well as a grille.

New for ‘85.5 was the larger 1.9-liter inline-four from the Escort. EXPs used a three-speed automatic, or four- or five-speed manual transmissions. Wheelbase, length, width, and height were all nearly identical to the old EXP, though weight increased from 2,047 pounds to 2,338.

There were two distinct versions of Escort EXP, a fact which seems to elude Modern Internet Times. The lower end version was the Luxury Coupe. Standard Escort seats and fewer options were matched with a carb-fed version of the 1.9 for 1986, which produced 90 horsepower. TBI was added for ’87 and ’88, though power did not increase. At introduction in 1985, only the Luxury Coupe was available.

Upscale EXP customers waited for the more expensive Sport Coupe, introduced for 1986. Here, upgraded bucket seats and a center console filled an interior which featured additional power equipment like side mirrors. The Escort GT donated many components to the Sport Coupe, including a suspension the Luxury Coupe did never received. Here, the 1.9-liter had electronic fuel injection and initially produced 106 horsepower (increased to 115 in ’87).

Unfortunately, sales of the EXP peaked its first year at over 98,000, and fell immediately. The second generation never recovered that initial figure, and averaged about 27,000 sales per year. It was discontinued during 1988. But by then nobody cared — it was Probe time.

Today’s 1986 EXP is a Sport Coupe located in Washington, which is in Pennsylvania. With a five-speed manual, recent repaint, and 75,000 miles, it sits at $5,000 on eBay presently.

[Images: seller]

Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

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  • IBx1 IBx1 on Jun 19, 2019

    That's actually a handsome little design.

  • Cimarron typeR Cimarron typeR on Jun 19, 2019

    I've always liked these , they were much more handsome than even the Escort GT, but our base FX16 (not GTS) was considerably faster . These seemed to be popular with the competition car audio fans. Inexpensive to get into leaving lots of money and space available for equipment

  • ToolGuy This might be a good option for my spouse when it becomes available -- thought about reserving one but the $500 deposit is a little too serious. Oh sorry, that was the Volvo EX30, not the Mustang. Is Volvo part of Ford? Is the Mustang an EV? I'm so confused.
  • Mikey My late wife loved Mustangs ..We alway rented one while travelling . GM blood vetoed me purchasing one . 3 years after retirement bought an 08 rag top, followed by a 15 EB Hard top, In 18 i bought a low low mileage 05 GT rag with a stick.. The car had not been properly stored. That led to rodent issues !! Electrical nightmare. Lots of bucks !! The stick wasn't kind to my aging knees.. The 05 went to a long term dedicated Mustang guy. He loves it .. Today my garage tenant is a sweet 19 Camaro RS rag 6yl Auto. I just might take it out of hibernation this weekend. The Mustang will always hold a place in my heart.. Kudos to Ford for keeping it alive . I refuse to refer to the fake one by that storied name .
  • Ajla On the Mach-E, I still don't like it but my understanding is that it helps allow Ford to continue offering a V8 in the Mustang and F-150. Considering Dodge and Ram jumped off a cliff into 6-cylinder land there's probably some credibility to that story.
  • Ajla If I was Ford I would just troll Stellantis at all times.
  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
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