Ken Block gets dirty with a Mk2 Ford Escort – Click above to watch video
The North American Ford Escort was launched in 1981 and primarily served as a drab compact of choice for folks who didn’t realize where the Escort name originated. The real Escort was introduced to Ford’s European customer base back in 1968. It was still a fairly drab looking compact… but it had a couple of powertrain options that made it far more exciting than any Escort we got Stateside.
The early Mark I Escorts were offered with a Lotus-sourced 1.6-liter twin cam engine that helped turn the car into a rally favorite. In 1975, the Mark II Escort was developed and a 1.8-liter Cosworth BDA unit was placed under the hood. Burnt-rubber aficionado Ken Block got his hands on an example from 1978 and filmed some serious hoonage through the forests of upstate New York.
The clip, which can be viewed , is focused on glorious noises and sideways dirt action. Though Block drives a modern Fiesta and Focus in his various motorsports activities, we’ve gotta say we find his work in the Mark II Escort far more interesting.
Barring a last-minute hitch, it looks like and will soon be that have bound them for the last four decades. Though the U.S. maker has yet to issue a formal confirmation, it’s negotiating a deal that would have it sell off most or all of the remaining 11 percent stake it holds in its Japanese affiliate.
It appears that Mazda is as eager as Ford to go its own way.
No, it isn’t a bitter divorce. Ford and Mazda will likely still maintain some ties – in Thailand, for example, where their suburban Bangkok plant has just begun producing an all-new generation of compact pickup trucks, including the . But the two makers are already unwinding their manufacturing alliance in booming China.
And, perhaps most importantly, they’ll likely curb future product development programs that helped both companies squeak through the hard times of the not-too-distant past. One of the earliest examples of that alliance was the old Ford Escort, the U.S. maker’s first attempt to build a so-called “world car.”
More recent examples include the B-car platform that eventually went on to become both the and . Conventional wisdom is that these are virtually identical subcompacts – but as I was reminded during back-to-back drives this past week, there’s a surprising amount of difference between the American and Japanese production vehicles. Though they may have started out working together, the two companies soon branched off, yielding some surprisingly different results in terms of design and, more importantly, driving dynamics.
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Paul A. Eisenstein is Publisher of , and a 30-year veteran of the automotive beat. His editorials bring his unique perspective and deep understanding of the auto world to Autoblog readers on a regular basis.
Airbag: 1, Pumpkin: 0 – Click above to watch video
There are plenty of reasons to love Fall. Perfect driving weather, turning leaves, a host of excellent holidays and, of course, pumpkin carving all help to make the passing of Summer all the less painful. But what happens when you get bored with cutting scary faces into unsuspecting gourds? What then? With a little engineering ingenuity and sense of reckless abandon, you could always subject your pumpkins to the destructive force of, say, an airbag from a 1995 Ford Escort.
Hey, some people juggle geese.
Between the rapid expansion of gasses into a synthetic bag and the always hilarious popping properties of pumpkins, you’re all but guaranteed instant YouTube success. Just remember not to try this kind of shenanigans at home. Or, if you do decide to make your own airbag vs. pumpkin video, don’t tell the authorities where you got the idea. Deal? to check a duo of pumpkin popping videos. Thanks for the tip, Coop!
1997 Ford Escort Rally Car – Click above for high-res image gallery
Long before the and came to prominence in the world of rallying, the Escort often dominated the world’s backwoods trails. Today’s eBay Find of the Day is one of the last of the line before Ford retired the Escort nameplate after nearly three decades.
This 1997 Escort Cosworth did okay, but it really wasn’t one of the more successful in the line. It first competed in 1997 and ran until 2006, when it was used in the X-Games rally competition. The 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four produces over 300 horsepower and 400 foot-pounds of torque. The car currently has a seven-speed FFD gearbox installed, but the original six-speed unit is included in the deal, as is an extra engine and numerous other spares. The starting point is $60,000, and there were no bids on the car as of this writing.
Ken Block in the Mexico round of the WRC – Click above for high-res image gallery
Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino put on a helluva show at the Corona Rally Mexico round of the World Rally Championship. A number of incidents, including a puncture, some boulder kissing, and a fully day of stages were missed because of rather nasty date with a ditch, the pair still managed a classification of 18th out of 25. We’ll find out in two weeks at the Rally of Turkey if Block’s Mexico foray was a building block – and if it was, this could be a very good year for the man and his Monster Ford Escort. Dirty pics are in the gallery below, and a press release and video recap are .
One of the common, angry refrains that veteran 24 Hours of LeMons teams voice is the fact that the $500 junker series keeps increasing the safety requirements, especially when it comes to roll cages. After all, their cage passed the tech inspection last time, no problem. Why the hassle, man?
It can be safely assumed however, that the driver of the Ford Escort ZX2 sees no problem with tighter, tougher (and yes, safer) LeMons roll cage requirements. First and foremost, the driver walked away from the wreck (it took place at last weekend’s Gator-O-Rama 2010 race near Houston, TX) with zero injuries. Second of all, the following video is a very good lesson in why your wheels shouldn’t stick out past your car’s fenders. Sadly, the that the Escort climbed up isn’t visible. However, you can see a little piece of its side wing airborne in the image above. Watch the video, . Thanks to DrWife for capturing the footage!
