Recently, Mercedes Streeter was doing a piece on diesel-powered Chevy El Caminos, something the “AI Overview” on whatever browser she was using claimed never existed. About the same time, I put “Ford Escort Turbo” into a different search engine and the bot that gives an AI-derived summary claimed this car was a figment of my imagination as well.
The AI stated that there was, of course, a Turbo Ford Escort made overseas; a number of them actually. The 1984 RS Turbo was but one of the examples of boosted overseas Ford subcompacts, and the later Cosworth Turbo was a truly legendary version. Being over 25 years old, the AI browser helpfully stated that I could import one of these if I wanted a blower-equipped Ford Escort. Barring that, though, I had no other options.
Wrong! Ford did make a turbocharged Escort right here in America, but it’s a car so rare that I could almost forgive the AI’s silicon brain for not knowing this. This homegrown hot hatch had a remarkable turn of speed combined with decent road skills, but failed to find buyers and Ford quickly discontinued it. What sealed the fate of this underrated and forgotten version of one of America’s best-selling cars?
Chevy Would Like A Word With You
Let’s face it: the statement of something being a “world car” is a lie right up there with “the check’s in the mail.” At least, back in the late seventies it was. Replacing the clunky but popular Pinto in America for the 1981 model year, Ford wasn’t ready to go full-on-Euro with their new front-drive subcompact. Our own Thomas Hundal wrote about this a while back:
See, Ford of Europe and Ford in America had very different ideas on how to build a small car. As a result, the European third-generation Ford Escort and American first-generation Ford Escort didn’t share a single body panel between them. In fact, Europeans got three Escort-branded body styles never sold in America, and a four-door sedan called the Orion.
That’s true, but the intent was to make something more attuned to American tastes; they certainly did that.
In retrospect, maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. The US Ford Escort quickly became the best-selling car in America, despite the fact that it was a bog-slow 1.6-liter, 69-horsepower slug. Thomas continues:
Sure, the Escort sold in America shared the CVH engine architecture with the European Escort, but it was also the economy car equivalent of fat Elvis, and while (for enthusiasts) Europe got the XR3 for 1981, America made do with the Escort SS.
Yes, that’s right: the “sporting” version of the world-car-that-wasn’t-in-America had the same designation as truly exciting Chevys from years past. Boy, if that stolen name set your expectations high, you were bound to be disappointed.
See that black grille, “sport” mirrors, the graphic stripes and “racy” stamped steel wheels? Well, other than “special” upholstery and a few extra gauges, that was all this SS package gave you. Yes, you got the same 69-horsepower engine, truly a delight when paired with an automatic transmission and the air conditioning running on High.
One would assume that GM sent Ford a knock-it-off letter about the name, and prospective “hot hatch” and “sport wagon” buyers certainly wanted actual “hot” and “sport” that the SS didn’t provide. Thankfully, for 1982, Ford gave us the GT version of the Escort (in three-door form only), complete with a whopping 23 percent increase in power! Calm down, that equates to 80 horsepower. For 1983, however, multi-port fuel injection raised output to 88 horsepower, and a five-speed manual was standard (yep, they were all four speeds up until 1983).
This uprated GT was a far better proto-GTI than the embarrassing SS ever was. Now, besides the increased oomph, the GT traded the SS model’s dumb stripes for spoilers and fog lights, and the suspension was tuned differently with the option of metric alloy wheels shod in 165/70 R 365 TRX tires. Yes, following in the path of the Mustang, this performance Ford used Michelin’s new standard of tire where inch wheel diameters like 13s or 14s on other Escorts were traded for all-metric dimensions in a new standard for rolling stock that would sweep the industry.
Just kidding; as our Adrian Clarke wrote about, TRX “system” essentially became the Sony Betamax of tires, adopted by virtually nobody. They were quickly discontinued as options and today are only available as ungodly expensive replacements (and they don’t necessarily perform any better than other contemporary performance rubber). That’s why you’ll probably never see an old Ford Escort rolling around on these TRX wheels (if you even do see any Ford Escort rolling around at all).
Regardless, this new Escort GT (and nearly identical Mercury Lynx RS twin) was actually something to be reckoned with. You can see here in a Motorweek test that our man John Davis called it “right up there with the GTI”. He’s Autopian’s favorite car reviewer and got his salary from public television, so there’s no way that John could be lying to us, right?
Inside, you did get some pretty nice-looking sport seats with those Recaro-style donut hole headrests filled with nets so you could actually see out the back of the car. It lacks only plaid upholstery.
It’s amazing how big the transformation of the sporting Escort was in just twenty-four months, from a sticker-covered joke in 1981 to a rather legitimate “hot hatch.” Still, that turned out to be just the beginning.
The EXPeriment Fails
When most of you Ford fans think of a sporty version of Ford’s smallest car at the time, you probably imagine the rather odd-looking variant with sleepy eyes, the Escort EXP (and its twin, the Lynx LN7).
By removing the rear seat from an Escort two-door hatch, Ford had what they thought was the basis for a two-seater that might rival imported sports cars for buyers who couldn’t see beyond the new (sort of) sleeker body.
If you thought that low performance was a detriment to the standard Escort hatches and wagon, imagine what it was like trying to sell a “sports coupe” with such limited power. Ford sold over 98,000 EXPs when it debuted in 1982, but that dropped off a cliff to less than 20,000 units by the next year. Clearly, something needed to change.
What Ford offered was an SVO-developed EXP with a turbocharged version of the 1.6-liter motor, pumping out a strong-for-the-time 120 horsepower.
You want another road test? Here’s our man John with the EXP out on the test track. I really want to get a statue of Mr. Davis to put on my dashboard, Saint Christopher style, to ensure good sixty-to-zero stops.
The addition of the Turbo really didn’t change the EXP’s fortunes; sales were still low for the faux sports car. However, while the existence of the Turbo EXP is rather well documented, even most enthusiasts are unaware that this motor made its way into the more run-of-the-mill GT econobox. It’s about time that they learned.
Nice Try, GTI
I know what you’re thinking: Are you really sure this Escort GT Turbo really existed? Well, I found plenty of literature that seems to prove that it did, like this 1984 brochure lists the turbo as an available option. It’s pretty much identical to the regular GT except for a TURBO decal on the back and tiny TURBOs on the front fenders. Also, the soon-to-be-obsolete TRX alloys were standard:
The 1984 models featured a much, much nicer rounded dashboard that you can see in the lower corner of the above brochure pages. The 1981-83 editions had this slabby mess that looked painfully late seventies:
So the rounded replacement was a huge improvement; even better than the boxy thing in the concurrent VW GTIs if you ask me. Here’s a closeup:
There were advertisements made for the Turbo that I remember seeing as a kid, yet never seeing one on the road:
For 1985, before the more dramatic change to the 1985 ½ models, the Turbo yet again appears in a brochure:
With 120 horsepower on tap, it had close to twice the 69 BHP of the first 1981 Escort. I couldn’t find a road test of one, but tests of the turbo-powered EXP list zero to sixty times in around 9 seconds or less. Well, isn’t the EXP a smaller, lighter car? Actually, no! Despite the lack of rear seat and almost identical size, the EXP supposedly weighed around 100 to 150 pounds more than the Escort GT hatch, meaning that, if anything, that five-passenger car would have been faster than the “sports car” Escort.
Now, nine seconds to sixty is not neck-snapping territory, but it would beat a 1984 Volkswagen GT handily by almost a second; one would assume a Civic Si would also be in the Ford’s rear view mirror as well. I’m not about to claim that the Escort offered more refinement than the VW or Honda, but the turbo would indeed shut them down in a straight line, fair and square. Despite this, the imports shut the Escort GT Turbo down in the sales race like a 5.0 against a Festiva. What happened?
Records of the Escort GT Turbo’s production are tough to find, but most sources claim that only around 1000 were made for 1984, with an indeterminate number made for the shortened 1985 run. A thousand cars out of 273,000 Escorts sold for 1984! You want really obscure? Well, this ain’t Mercury Monday, but there appears to have been a turbocharged version of the GT’s twin, the Lynx RS Turbo. Exactly how many Lynx RS Turbo examples hit the streets is another mystery, but one would guess that finding one today would be like finding an Azerbaijani restaurant in central Iowa (well, I couldn’t find one when I was there).
This Turbo Barely Got Hatched
The reasons for the market failure might have had less to do with the Turbo Escort itself and more about the cars it was in competition with internally. My guess is that Ford simply didn’t promote the non-EXP Escort turbo in an attempt to let their slow-selling so-called sports car gain as much momentum as it could with the new blower option. The GT hatch was obviously a far better value proposition, and it’s not like the GT was suffering in the sales department like the weird two-seat car was.
The bigger issue was probably price. An Escort GT Turbo priced out at only around $1000 less than a Mustang GT; a totally different kind of car, but one that would ostensibly seen as “much more car” without any connection to an econobox. Remember, in 1984 the idea of $50,000 plus hot-hatch like a performance Civic would have been unfathomable.
Midway through the 1985 model year, the Escort GT was reintroduced with a high-output, normally aspirated 1.9-liter motor with 108 horsepower and more conventional wheels and tires. Performance still trailed behind the turbo, but the lower cost for production and resulting lower MSRP for just a few fewer horses put an end to the turbo.
The late-nineties Escort GTs were certainly fun, as I am certain our many, many Gen X readers will tell me in the comments from their experiences of riding in or owning one. Still, the idea of an Escort that could spool up its little turbo and beat the vaunted GTI fair and square is something that just adds to the allure of this mysterious and elusive bit of Ford history.
Top graphic image: Ford
This should still be unfathomable, to be fair.
There even used to be an aftermarket tuner for American Escorts, ironically named “BAT”. My first car was a 1988 Escort GT (pre facelift) and after my first HPDE at Road Atlanta, I called them to get their handling kit – Koni Reds, poly bushings, camber kit to get to zero degrees (car came stock with 2 degrees POSITIVE camber), and springs. It made a significant difference. BAT went out of business, but I cannot find anything on the net to show they ever existed. Their ads in the car mags were black and white and at the very back..lol
Oh man, my dad had one of these!!!
The first “cool” car I remember my family having was a 1984 Ford Escort GT Turbo. My dad bought it to commute in rather than commuting with our family’s 455-powered 1970 Olds 98 convertible. His was black with cool orange gradient stripes, and I swear it had the updated dash but had the 4-spoke sport steering wheel, but I could be wrong. I have some very early memories of riding around in the back seat of that thing. I thought it was a racecar because it had a 5-speed manual and those cool phone dial wheels. There WAS video of this car that my dad shot on his camcorder, but my old dog quite literally ate it along with a ton of other home movies (she also ate a bumper pool table, but that is another story).
He didn’t have the car very long, because it was unfortunately a complete turd. On the way home from buying it new, it broke down due to a bad fuel pump, which proved to be ominous. The issues spiraled from there, and it got traded in on a 1983 Ford F150 Flareside XLT probably about a year later. I was so sad when he traded it in, but it had to go. I haven’t seen another one with my own eyes since. They truly are very rare cars.
In 1992 I got my first car. It was a 1984 Ford Escort station wagon with a 4spd manual. White with blue interior. The biggest thing I am getting from this article is that the wagon actually looks good. Something I never thought at 16 driving one. I had it until I started college and replaced it with a 91 Galant 5spd. I think the wagon aged better. Now I wish it had the turbo lol
I don’t get all the John Davis adulation on this site. He had/has maybe the easiest job in automotive journalism history. You never see him drive or wrenching. Top Gear was far more entertaining to watch until they went corny into “Challenges.”
I don’t care whether the Turbo Escort was a second faster to 60 than my ’86 Accord. The Honda merged comfortably with traffic for over 160K miles. And was so superior in so many other ways. And not nearly as ugly as the EXP.
And now, my ’17 Accord V6 is alleged to do 0-60 in 5.6 seconds. Is there a Ford sedan that can do that? Oh. Wait. There aren’t any Ford sedans anymore.
My buddy in Boston had a Taurus SHO with a stick that might have, but that was a long time ago.
Which GTI are we talking about? Golf? Rover? Peugeot? Maserati? It’s a pretty common trim level name.
I guess for US audiences there’s only one GTI ‘that matters’ but I don’t know what it is.
“Larger P-metric steel-belted radials.” Be still my heart. But that green one up at the top looked awesome. I would have bought one back then. Had they been sold in the US.
I find the best way to check whether a variant exists or not, is on the EPA’s fueleconomy.gov website:
https://fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=26833&id=26896&id=27895
Not only did the Escort 1.6 turbo exist, there were also Sunbird 1.8 turbo and Buick Skyhawk 1.8 turbo. Of course everyone already knows about the Chrysler 4 cyl. turbos of that era, and the Regal v6 turbo. So that era was kind of a turbo-boom for the Big 3.
I don’t know if this constitutes a full test drive but if you look on Automobile Catalog, they have a couple of specs pages for the ’85 GT Turbo:
https://www.automobile-catalog.com/auta_perf1.php
Hmm, reading further into the description it looks like the acceleration times are all calculations, not based on real world timing. Bummer.
In 1987 my girlfriend – to whom I’ve been married since 1989 – had an ’88 GT, non-turbo of course, and that thing was a hoot. I really liked that car.
And there’s a decent Nepalese place (I can’t find Azerbaijani either, so we’re going to have to make do) in Des Moines, though I admit that’s not very central. I spend my Iowa time in Mason City and there’s nothing. But go find the Maid-Rite in Cedar Falls and get the Maid-Rite sandwich. It’s the precursor to the classic Sloppy Joe and worth the drive.
Worth the drive, assuming you’re already in Cedar Falls.
I’ve heard about the Maid-Rite sandwich. I doubt that I’ll ever get to Iowa again, which is sad since I’m sure I’d enjoy it.
Plus, kudos on being married to the same person since ’89. No sarcasm… I mean it. 🙂
There’s other Maid-Rites to be had, plus the Mark Twain Dinette in Hannibal, Missouri has it. Not bad stuff, I drove a bit out of my way to eat there again.
As for being married, at the time I didn’t really know what I wanted. I still don’t, but at least now I have someone with me to help me try to figure it out!
I remember the EXP turbo, but can’t say the same for the Escort GT-Turbo. Might have looked past them…assumed that they were all the same as the N/A variants. Friends of mine bought EXP and Escort GTs from the later 80s and really loved them. They weren’t super hot performers but they were sporty enough and were great step-up vehicles for many.
I went to high school with a guy that had a turbo escort. It was in rough shape but he always made a big deal about how rare it was. He got hit in a parking lot and it was totalled.
Never been in one of these of course, but I’ve been in more than a few Ford Escorts circa 1980s and they were all pretty much crapcans. I do love the four-hole wheels on the silver car at the top of this article. They’d look good on lots of ’80s cars IMO.
“The bigger issue was probably price. An Escort GT Turbo priced out at only around $1000 less than a Mustang GT”.
Ding, Ding, Ding – we have a winner. The number of people willing to pay Mustang money for an Escort was about 1,000. I lived in a Michigan auto town where almost everyone drove Ford or GM products and I don’t think I ever saw an Escort Turbo.
I almost bought an Escort GT when I was in grad school in the early 90’s. Professor had it, was his son’s, and they were trying to sell it. Drove it for a few days, too much $ and a little too much smoke out the rear tailpipe.
Still wish I bought it. I almost bought a Honda Wagonvan thingy, the 4×4. You know, the cool one. Just married me bought a used 1984 Toyota Camry because the ex-wife liked it better, it was an automatic and the Honda was a stick.
Yeah.
I think my E28 BMW originally came with TRX tires on the odd rims which is why it was rolling on aftermarket rims by the time I got it.