Escort XL
My first ever car
| Purchase Price | Sales Price | Year Purchased | Year Sold | Years Held |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $750 | $750 | 1986 | 1987 | 1 |
I got my license in 1986, 9 days after my birthday off the back of three driving lessons from Trish’s Driving School in Launceston.
My first car was a 1970 Ford Escort XL 1100 in British racing green.
*Not actual images of my car or the interior as I don’t have any. These ones are sourced from the internet.
The Eski was in pretty good nick but had a fair bit of rust in the doorsills so my dad bent up some checkerplate and covered it up for me.
There were no mod-cons in this one – no radio, no aircon, no power windows… and no grunt.
I gave this car a bit of a hard time, with little to no mechanical sympathy, and only kept it for around twelve months before I traded it for my next car, a Datsun 200B
Favourite Memories
Everton Lane
My Escort was so underpowered it was the perfect car to learn to rally drive in, as it didn’t have enough power to really hurt you.
I spent hours driving on the gravel roads around my hometown learning how to control my car on a slippery surface. Everton Lane at White Hills (between Blessington Road and White Hills Road) was a favourite.
Seeing how she goes
As a young bloke, curiosity can get the better of you some times.
I was curious as to how fast this car would actually go. Along a straight piece of road with no incline, it was flat out at about 65mph (the instrument cluster was in mph). That’s about 105kph in todays money.
What would it do down a hill? I thought I’d find out. I had the car flat out coming down the (very steep) Southern Outlet into Launceston one night and she managed to crack 80mph on the speedo (almost 130km/h in today’s money).
And it was screaming it’s tits off…
* All stats on this page from https://www.automobile-catalog.com
Identification Data
Ford Escort 1100 (man. 4 speed) as offered for the year 1970 up to mid-year 1970 in Europe Australia
Production/sales period of cars with this particular specs:
mid-year 1968 – mid-year 1970
Country of origin: GB United Kingdom
Make: Ford (U.K.)
Model: Escort Mk I 1968-1974
Submodel: Escort Mk I Saloon 1968-1974
Class: compact / small family car
Body style: sedan
Doors: 4
Traction: RWD (rear-wheel drive)
Basic dimensions
Length: 3978 mm / 156.6 in
Width: 1572 mm / 61.9 in
Height: 1402 mm / 55.2 in
Wheelbase: 2400 mm / 94.5 in
Fuel capacity: 41 liter / 10.8 U.S. gal / 9 imp. gal
Drag coefficient: estimated by a-c: 0.45
Weights
Curb weight estimated: 805 kg / 1775 lbs
Engine Specifications
Engine manufacturer: Ford Crossflow 1.1L
Engine type: spark-ignition 4-stroke
Fuel type: gasoline (petrol)
Fuel system: carburetor
Charge system: naturally aspirated
Valves per cylinder: 2
Additional features: Ford
Cylinders alignment: Line 4
Displacement: 1098 cm3 / 67.1 cui
Horsepower net: 33 kW / 45 PS / 44 hp (DIN) / 5300
Torque net: 73.5 Nm / 54 ft-lb / 2800
Car power to weight ratio net: 41 watt/kg / 18.6 watt/lb
Car weight to power ratio net: 24.4 kg/kW / 17.9 kg/PS / 40.3 lbs/hp
Transmission specifications
Gearbox transmission type: manual
Number of gears: 4