Did you ever think you’d see the day a front-wheel-drive Ford economy car would be collectable? Well it’s happened before we knew it, because a pristine 1994 Ford Escort LX just hammered on Bring A Trailer for $8,100. Plus, in one of the greatest Ford colors of the 1990s: Cayman Green Metallic. Oh yeah, it’s time for glorious nostalgia.
Sure, I may have never experienced the glory of a brand new second-generation North American Ford Escort, but these cars were everywhere up until about 2008 [Ed note: I sure as hell did. My college car was great 5-speed base-as-hell black one with the shiny Rubbermaid-esque bumpers. I’m glad I didn’t see this one or I’d be tempted to bid. –MH] . There was one in my extended family that once left a massive streak of coolant down a residential street, but it looked decent in white and liftbacks are always neat. Sadly, these were pretty much disposable cars, and by the time of the Great Recession, the Rust Belt had done its best to finish them off.
However, outside of the Rust Belt, at least one Escort was cared for. This thing was a California car since new, covering just 25,000 miles. Evidently, it’s been staying out of the sun, because that paint absolutely gleams, right down to the painted wheel pockets. Why can’t we get new Fords in this fantastic shade of teal? Sure, only about four people will be brave enough to get it because it’s 2023 and we’ve run out of collective optimism, but still.
On the inside, this 1994 Ford Escort LX is just as fresh as it ever was, meaning it’s a bit nasty but in a way that’s grown mildly endearing with time. Don’t get me wrong, the velour upholstery is fantastic, but that upper dashboard looks a bit medical-grade. The urethane steering wheel looks pleasingly squidgy, but the gaps around the horn pad match the whiff of cheapness to this cabin. See, Ford just wanted something cheap so it could continue to sell big V8s and meet CAFE regulations, so it seems like Escort cabins featured two sorts of assembly tolerances: “Yes” and “no”.
In 1994, Ford was still using the 1.9-liter CVH engine, making 88 horsepower in this Escort. Keep in mind, by 1994, the Toyota Corolla made 105 horsepower and the Honda Civic LX made 102 horsepower, so the 1994 Ford Escort LX wasn’t exactly playing with a full deck. Add to that the presence of a four-speed automatic transmission, and you end up with a car that’s officially slow.
However, the switch to Mazda’s 323 as a base meant that core competence was built in, resulting in a car that road tested surprisingly well when it was new. In the words of Car And Driver:
The chassis combines a supple ride with secure, rewarding handling—under its unassuming clothes, this is a real driver’s car. Lock it onto the highway at 80 mph and it will happily arrow along all day.
Speaking of handling, this is a note that pertains more to this specific example, but it’s so nice to see a low-mileage car being sold on Bring A Trailer with fresh tires. Old tires might have plenty of tread, and they might not even have visible cracking, but they’re absolute hockey pucks. As soon as the date codes on your tires hit five years, tossing them is a good idea since that’s about the end of their life expectancy.
In any case, job well done to the person who acquired this thing for $8,100. Though a 1994 Ford Escort LX might not be the quickest or most pedigreed car out there for the money, it makes people smile, and that’s enough. Plus, it’s proof that anything becomes collectable if it survives sufficient attrition. Fifteen years ago, an old Ford Escort was a typical throwaway car. Now it’s a crowd-pleasing classic.
(Photo credits: Bring A Trailer)
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That car is neat for old Ford product.
Could we also get some background on the 5 year old tire bad “rule”? I guess this would be true for a tire that’s seen salt and sun and shit for a number of years, but would that also be true for a new tire that has simply been stored for 5 years? Aren’t you friends with Hankook or something,
I love the Cayman Green Metallic paint. Like several of Ford’s paints during this era, it changes color in different lighting. I had a Ford with this color, it was green in bright sunlight, blue under a sodium-powered streetlight, and teal the rest of the time.
I do wish automakers would bring back paints like this. Colorful, metallic, and color-shifting paints all seem like historical relics at this point.
These were pretty decent cars (for the time). I think the styling has held up well too.
Sure they can drop valve seats, but that usually happens with higher mileage. Not sure if time would speed up that process even at 25k miles. Some later split port motors also would separate the harmonic balancer making some very interesting noises in the process… but I don’t remember if that problem was on these earlier ones.
Other than the valve seat issue, not a whole lot else went wrong on these. The automatics were surprisingly durable too!
Man I so badly want to buy this and slap a Focus RS engine/drivetrain in it.
I love these articles, and I love seeing throwaway cars surviving. They have their own prize category at my events. The Regular Prize has gone to a Tempo, a Celebrity Wagon, an LTD, a Tercel, and an unmolested ’93 Civic CX coupe on the original steelies.
There is a ’93 Escort GT that is a regular attendee of these events, but there’s not much regular about it. It sports a Mazdaspeed turbo motor that puts down 287 HP at the wheels. Aside from its slightly lower coilover stance, you’d never know to look at it.
A red 96 two door with the sport appearance package just like this one was my first car. Being young and irresponsible as much hooning as possible was done in my early days of ownership. Funnily enough my best friend at the time had it’s cousin the Mazda 323 so we were equally matched in the limited level of degeneracy we could get up to with our respective vehicles.
About a year and a half ago, I found a ’93 Tempo in a junkyard that was legitimately that good except for one panel (which is likely where the yard picked it up and it slid into the face of the forks)
36k on the clock. All original paperwork in the glovebox. Paint was pristine.
Made me sad.
https://i.imgur.com/tuBhT5W.png
https://i.imgur.com/QMSzjat.png
Oh the memories. I spent A LOT of my childhood in the backseat of this exact spec of Escort (the color, the 2 door). Hell, I spend a lot of time in the front seat as well since nobody seemed to really care back then.
Something I think about whenever mouse belts are brought up (which this car has) is how much I loved them as a kid. No adult likes them, but they were novel and awesome to me when I was 8.
My mother had one of these in the 90s. It was a teal wagon body with the automatic. Oddly, I once showed her a picture I took of the car randomly at the time and she has no recollection ever owning it. Truly forgettable.
But me? I’d rock one.
That’s a bit of a flashback, our 95 Escort LX was also Calypso Green but had a grey interior and 4 doors. We got 15 years out of it so I can’t complain too much, although the 1.9 CVH made a better paint shaker than engine. For a,while we also had a Cayman Green Ranger for a Green Ford driveway.
I see Calypso as a light green, Teal needs more blue in it like the color on a 92 Ranger Sport
Oh, look, it’s my college years in car form. Park it between a Jeep Cherokee and a VW Cabrio, and it’s the lot outside one of the sorority houses.
I bought one of these new in 1994. I drove it for years, and it got me to hundreds of gigs all over Northern California without ever leaving me stranded. It was basic transportation, but it did the job. I kept up the maintenance with the water pump and timing belt and never had any problems.
I’ve never understood the clamor over teal. It’s one of the worst shades of green (blue? blue-green?) out there.
My guess is that you mouthbreathers getting all worked up over teal weren’t yet old to drive when peak teal was assaulting the eyeballs of those of us who had to see it from the driver’s seat. Teal sucks, just like so much else from the late ’80s & early ’90s.
I find it improves with age and current rarity. I was driving back then too and yeah, when every other car was teal (seemingly every Geo Metro hatch came in it), it was an ocular assault; but now, it’s a breath of fresh air in a sea of grayscale.
Teal is like Dr. Pepper – something best enjoyed occasionally not all the time.
I used to hate teal as it was freaking everywhere. But I’ve mellowed and it’s kind of nostalgic to see it now.
Dr Pepper, however, is still an absolutely unpotable abomination: the only use for it was in those bulbous Fire & Water drinking beakers when I was young & alcoholic.
Hey, whoa, settle down there. Teal is the ultimate mandatory colour for bathing suits. Fight me.
On cars, I like, but I’m not quite as passionate about it.
Wow, what did teal do to you? Did you have a bad breakup with a duck?
Just not going to mention this has the sport appearance package?? C’mon, those wheels, the spoiler, and the GT-style tail lights all scream “performance!”
Shitty performance is still performance, I guess.
Just like my track pants, polo shirt and ball cap scream performance!
But was it Jackie Stewart approved?
https://youtu.be/F_I0jQHAJC0?si=zQPUFlJsLm_dObzT
My first new car was a beautiful blue 1992 Ford Escort GT with the amazing 1.8L engine from the Mazda Miata and 5-speed manual transmission.
Had it for a couple of months before smoke started pouring through every interior air vent on a drive home from the dealership to fix something else I can’t remember.
Luckily I shut it down in time for whatever was burning to stop.
Unluckily it went back to the dealership for a handful of months as they had to disassemble the whole car and replace the entire wiring harness because it shorted out and melted.
Sold it quickly after that.
#theend
I looked for a Escort GT for my sons. I never found one that wasn’t beat to death. I’m still looking for one for my youngest, in case anyone has one sitting around.
I had this car in blue, with 4 doors. Excellent little runabout, got incredible mileage (like 40 on the highway), and never gave me any trouble except with the power locks.
My only complaint with it was the lack of an “overdrive off” button; it hunted between 3rd and 4th on hills too much, but there was no button to turn off 4th.
I love this and I want it.
This car in the GT trim is amazing. First off, the seats are trimmed in the body color. So this example would have teal piping. The GT also has the 1.8 Mazda engine with 117 horses and best of all is asymmetrical grill. We ran a Escort GT in Lemons and that thing was a beast. I’ve looked for the 91-96 Escort GT, but they seem to have all gone back from whence they came.
I always loved that grill – Ford is usually the best of the big three at doing offbeat/edgy in a fun, non-threatening way. Also, the name plate on these has such a great era-specific look.
I once acquired a ’91 Escort GT to provide a donor engine for my ’91 Festiva autocross build. It was a riot. I chopped Miatas with that thing
At the time, Ford also offered it in a magenta-ish color too, right? Less common, but still of its time.
If I recall correctly they came in Cayman green (or blue), Red, Magenta, white and black. think the white cars had black piping.
Yep, I almost bought a magenta 5 speed one instead of my blue automatic, but I was 25 at the time and couldn’t bring myself to drive a “pink” car.
There is just something so nice about this simple little econobox interior. Simple, refreshing, and not 1800 shades of black.
My dad bought a new ’93 Cayman Green Escort wagon and it was, truthfully, a pretty good vehicle. It had the automatic (a Mazda sourced 4-speed IIRC) and it would happily cruise at 80+. It was decent looking, incredibly reliable, and one of the better automotive decisions he made.
He traded it in on a purple ’95 Grand Am coupe with the Quad 4 and a stick. Faster, but definitely not “better”.
AHHHHHH JUST LOOK AT IT!
It brings back all the memories. Back when Kmart was still the place to go Christmas shopping, every kid in my school had a Tomagotchi, and my biggest worry in life was forgetting my memory card at home when dragging my Playstation to my friends house, you could not drive down a single road in the Ohio valley and not see a Teal Escort at some point.
This car is a rolling nostalgia machine, the colors, lines, the 14″ wheels, it’s a rolling allegory of the happiness and innocence of my life back in the 1990s.
Beautiful car.
Apparently, in a weird bit of ’90s, Sears quietly reopened a couple of stores in the last few months. Nobody knows what to make of it, there’s nothing new and improved about them, but there they are.
It would be like if Ford suddenly started selling the now Chinese market Escort to us out of the blue.
That’s interesting! We had one, for a while it was the only place for at least another 45 minute drive to get any craftsman tools replaced. That was about the only reason I ever visited.
A last-year Escort GT from the first generation, for similar money, might actually draw me out. I drove one for a few months and it was a hoot. A buzzy, crude hoot.
I’ll join you in that sentiment. I have a strange fondness for the original Escorts (and EXP’s).
There must be dozens of us! Dozens!
I’m in! I know the EXPs had horrendous build quality, but how can you say no to a freaking two seater from Ford that wasn’t a beginning or end T-Bird?!
Drive a new EXP for 700 miles straight on I 65 with a vapor lock when shut off, and you can say no easily. Trust me. A total piece of crap.
Stop ruining my childhood fantasies as imagined from the way back of a frumpy wagon!