Somehow, A Crash And A Salvage Title Aren’t The Weirdest Things Going On With This Totally Normal Ford EcoSport

Ford’s decision to bring its EcoSport SUV to America was a good idea on paper. It was a rugged SUV built for rougher roads than those found in America, at a base price in the ballpark of $20,000. But Americans found it too small, too slow, and far too thirsty. One person fixed at least one of these issues by taking a 2019 Ford EcoSport Titanium that was crashed and slapping a second rear end on it. The more you look at this thing, the more hilarious it gets.

Sometimes, American car enthusiasts love to dream about the cars that other countries get that Americans cannot have. Who hasn’t drooled a bit over a Renault Avantime or a Smart Roadster? The Ford EcoSport was originally one of those cars, sort of. The EcoSport was originally designed for the Brazilian market. The second generation vehicle was redesigned to also appeal to Asian-Pacific markets, and out there, people loved it. Ford thought Americans might want a piece of the forbidden fruit, but miscalculated what compact SUV buyers in this country actually wanted.

The EcoSport might have been a failure–unloved by the press and the public alike–but that just means you can have guilt-free fun with one! This creation is for sale at Bring a Trailer, of all places, and the auction is so funny that it’ll make whatever bad day you might be having feel a little better. I know it’s making me smile!

From Forbidden Fruit To Forgotten Flop

Something I’ve always found fascinating about the EcoSport is that it’s basically a case study in how a car that might work in one market, or heck, much of the world, might not succeed somewhere else. This EcoSport is from the SUV’s second-generation, which is the only generation that North America got. I have written a deep dive on this car, and you can read it by clicking here. Otherwise, I’ll keep it short.

The original Ford EcoSport was a product of Ford Brazil, which took a European-spec Fiesta, jacked it up, and then sold it to Latin America beginning in 2003. It was a slam dunk, becoming one of the top 20 best-selling cars in Brazil. The EcoSport was so popular that over 700,000 of them were built in nine years.

Ford would eventually learn that its customers from the Asia-Pacific region–which was growing into one of the world’s largest car markets– weren’t too different from Americans. They, like Americans, wanted a vehicle that drove like a car, but looked tough like an SUV. The solution? In 2012, Ford came out with a new EcoSport.

Ford never intended for this car to come to America, but in the mid-2010s, it realized that there was a hot segment of small crossovers in America, and Ford had none to sell. The solution? In 2017, for the 2018 model year, America got the EcoSport. At a cute 161.3 inches (13.4 feet), the EcoSport was 16.8 inches shorter than an Escape. It still was five inches shorter than a Jeep Renegade, making that crossover seem huge.

Auto media eviscerated the poor thing. U.S. News & World Report minced no words in its summary of the 2021 model:

“The 2021 Ford EcoSport doesn’t compare favorably with most vehicles in the subcompact SUV class. It suffers from an underpowered base engine, a harsh ride and limited advanced safety features, which is why it ranks near the back of the segment.”

Other outlets complained about the EcoSport’s small interior, odd design choices, and big SUV-like fuel economy. Ultimately, the EcoSport sold 54,348 units in 2018, 64,708 in 2019, and then entered freefall. Not many were sad to see the EcoSport go when it left our market in 2022. Yet, if you watch your local roads closely enough, you can still see them running around your town.

That brings us to this EcoSport.

America’s Coolest EcoSport?

Six-wheel conversions are a fascinating niche in car culture. Six-by-six super pickup trucks and Mercedes-Benz SUVs tend to get all the love and headlines, but, honestly, I’m far more fascinated when someone takes a normal vehicle and slaps two extra wheels on it. I’ve seen everything from six-wheeled Smarts to six-wheeled Nissan Armadas, but I must admit, I never had a six-wheeled EcoSport on my car modification Bingo sheet.

Thankfully, unlike many of the custom builds on the Internet, this one does come with a story. It was constructed by Kincaid Kustom Kars of Ubly, Michigan, a sister company of Kincaid Electric. Apparently, Conrad Kincaid built the car as a “billboard buggy” to advertise different local businesses.

According to the listing, Kincaid extended the six-wheel EcoSport by tacking on a second rear subframe, which had its own pair of wheels. Then, he moved the original rear end to the rearmost subframe, filling in the gap in the middle with custom panels. Inside, a carpeted box lives in the new, extended cargo area.

The car was then used as a rolling billboard, with the right filler panel advertising a local graphic artist and the left panel advertising a real estate agency. The rear window advertised a baker and a power spraying company, while the tailgate advertised Kincaid Electric. Indeed, it was a rolling billboard!

Power thankfully comes from the EcoSport’s larger engine option, a 2.0-liter Duratec inline-four with 166 horsepower and 149 lb-ft of torque. Drive reaches the front wheels and the center wheels through a six-speed automatic, which isn’t the infamous PowerShift DCT, as that variant never made it to America. Yes, that means the rearmost wheels are unpowered.

The EcoSport is entertaining on its own, but the Carfax report is a sight to behold. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve seen a worse car report. This EcoSport hit the road with its first owner in mid-2019 with its first owner in Maryland. That owner rear-ended another car a few months later with 12,000 miles on its odometer. Apparently, the damage was bad enough that it earned a salvage title.

In 2020, the car was sold to someone in Ubly–probably Kincaid–and the title brand followed the car, as Michigan issued its own salvage title. A few months later, the vehicle was inspected, and a rebuilt title was issued. The vehicle’s owner got a duplicate rebuilt title issued in 2023, and another in 2025.

It’s unclear when the six-wheel conversion was done, but the car’s been like this for at least a few years. I wouldn’t even be surprised if Kincaid did the conversion when repairing the vehicle to get a rebuilt title. The 2023 duplicate title coincides with a for-sale listing that Kincaid published that same month. I included it in a Mercedes Marketplace Madness! At that time, Kincaid wanted $16,500 for the EcoSport. It appears that the car did not sell, because records show he kept it for two more years before getting another duplicate title and auctioning it through Mecum. That time, it sold for $9,350.

Now, the owner who got it in the Mecum auction is letting it go a year later. Amusingly, this person registered the car through the Montana title loophole, possibly due to the title brand that has now survived the list of owners.

The comment thread on Bring a Trailer is pure comedic gold. The seller opened the auction with the classic line of “You think you hate it now, wait ’til you drive it.” One person said, “No reserve-For those rare situations where there are no comps available.” Another said, “In this case, “No Reserve” means the seller has no reserve about selling it!” One more said, “This is your Ford. This is your Ford on drugs. Any questions?”

Someone else wrote an entire fictional story about this car, and I didn’t even know that Bring a Trailer allowed comments that long! The part that makes me laugh the most is the comments that assume the crash had to have happened in the rear. No, this car rear-ended another car, and the rear-end of this car wasn’t recorded as being damaged! But I guess if you’re already doing bodywork, what’s tacking on a second rear-end?

If this is the kind of crazy you want in your life, bidding is at only $4,650 with three days to go on Bring a Trailer in Virginia Beach, Virginia. While it might not sell for “screw it” money, I could see someone buying this just for the laughs.

In a weird way, it also solves one of the EcoSport’s problems. Some folks thought the original EcoSport was too small. Well, this one is a bit bigger! Call me crazy, but I think this might be the coolest EcoSport in America. I just love the fact that someone saw a salvaged EcoSport and thought that this was the way to go. I hope more people get into wacky builds like this.

Top photo: BaT