Which Weird Ford Do You Fancy? 1984 Escort Diesel vs 1987 Tempo AWD

All right, we now return you to your regularly-scheduled shitboxes. Today, we’re going to be looking at a couple of commonplace old Fords with weird mechanical specifications. They’re both low-mileage and in good condition, but is that enough to turn your heads? Let’s see.

On Friday, we checked out a pair of expensive replicas of even more expensive classics. It sounds like a lot of you liked the idea of a Factory Five Cobra, but not that Factory Five Cobra. The Brazilian Porsche 356 replica won sort of by default, by about a 60:40 margin.

Most of you thought they were both way too expensive, and I agree. But sometimes it’s fun to look at things you can’t afford, and daydream. Going by the “rich uncle buying a gift” scenario (even though I don’t have any uncles left), I’d go for the Super 90 as well. The Cobra is just too garish for me.

Some of the most interesting – not desirable, mind you, but interesting – old cars are the evolutionary dead ends. Automakers have tried lots of ideas over the years, and not all of them pan out. Diesel engines were all the rage in the late 1970s and early ’80s; nearly every automaker gave them a try. And while all-wheel-drive is commonplace today, several companies gave it a try and then gave up in the ’80s and ’90s. Today, we’re going to look at two such dead ends from Ford: one diesel, and one all-wheel-drive.

1984 Ford Escort GL – $4,000

Engine/drivetrain: 2.0-liter OHC diesel inline-4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Preston, ID

Odometer reading: 22,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

At the start of the ’80s, American automakers were getting their asses handed to them by imports, especially in the small car market. And it wasn’t just the Japanese; VW was selling Rabbits as fast as it could make them. Both Chrysler and Ford used the Rabbit’s basic template to create their small cars: front-wheel-drive, with transverse four-cylinder engines and handy hatchback bodies. Our Ford Escort was marketed as a “world car,” but it didn’t share much with its European counterpart. It did share one thing with the Rabbit, however: an available diesel engine.

The standard gas engine in the Escort was Ford’s own CVH four-cylinder, but for the diesels it turned to its japanese partner Mazda. This car is powered by a 2.0-liter naturally-aspirated diesel that makes 52 horsepower. It has a five-speed manual transmission to make the most of that power. The seller claims that the 22,000 miles shown on the odometer are original, which means this is practically a new car. It comes with a whole bunch of new-old-stock parts too, a couple grand worth, the seller says. That’s good, because I imagine parts for a diesel Escort are getting a little thin on the ground.

The early Escort was a cheap car, built during a time when “Quality Is Job One” was a catchy slogan, but not quite yet a reality. As such, the interior isn’t anything to write home about. It’s in good condition, considering, but I can feel the squishy foam-covered vinyl of the armrests cracking through this photo. Don’t get me wrong; it’s the nicest 1984 Escort interior I’ve seen in decades, but it’s still a 1984 Escort interior.

It’s decent outside, too, except those hideous LED headlights. Sure, they’re probably better at helping you spot deer in the ditches than the stock headlights, but they just look wrong on there. Does anybody make LED retrofit lights for old sealed-beam headlights that don’t look like ass?

1987 Ford Tempo AWD – $2,750

Engine/drivetrain: 2.3-liter OHV inline-4, three-speed automatic, 4WD

Location: Tacoma, WA

Odometer reading: 49,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

The idea of powering all four of a car’s wheels goes back a long way, but early on, it was reserved for trucks and other off-road vehicles. Automakers experimented with all-wheel-drive for passenger cars here and there, but it was the one-two punch of Subaru and Audi that showed what it could do. Both Ford and GM gave AWD a try, but in strange places: GM chose the Pontiac 6000 as its AWD platform of choice, and Ford, well… Ford chose the Tempo.

“All-wheel-drive” isn’t quite accurate for these cars, as I understand it; unlike Audi’s Quattro system, in which all four wheels are powered all the time, and two of the differentials can be locked to aid traction in slippery conditions, this Tempo is typically FWD only. On slippery roads, you can push a switch on the dash, and the rear wheels kick in. Apart from the rear driveline, it’s a bog-standard Tempo, with the 2.3 liter HSC engine and a three-speed automatic. The ad lists the mileage as 494,000, but I’m certain someone read the odometer wrong, and that it’s actually 49,400. (They also list it as a 2006 model.) It seems to run and drive just fine, though.

The Tempo AWD is its own model, but it’s basically equipped the same as an LX: power windows, air conditioning, cruise control, all that good stuff. It looks pretty good inside, too. The seller doesn’t give any indication about how much stuff still works, but based on the inaccuracies we know about, I wouldn’t trust them anyway. Try everything out, and see which buttons actually do something.

It’s nice outside, probably one of the nicest ’87 Tempos left. You know, it’s not a terrible-looking car for the time, actually. If Ford had offered the AWD version with a five-speed stick instead of the terrible automatic, it might have been a viable poor-man’s Audi 4000. Instead, it’s a curiosity. But for the price, it might make a good winter beater for someone.

The Escort lived on for many years, and the Tempo made it as far as 1994 before being replaced by the Contour. But there were no more diesel Escorts after 1987, and all Tempos were FWD after 1991. That makes these two essentially orphans. Interesting, as I said at the beginning, but not particularly desirable. But if you had to choose – and you do; that’s how the game is played – which one would it be?