Ford Escort News

Ford says its future is focussed on high-tech engineering and design work, including development of a range of offshore models as part of the One Ford global production plan. It already employs more than 1000 people at Broadmeadows who are not tied to carmaking, has just re-activated its university hiring program, and this week announces an upgrade to the virtual reality laboratory in Melbourne."Our overall plan is to grow. That's what people don't understand," the spokesman for Ford Australia, Wes Sherwood, tells Carsguide. "We'll have the largest automotive employment after 2017. There will be 1500 jobs, with 1100 of those in design and engineering."Even though it was the first to pull the pin on its local manufacturing operation, or perhaps because of it, Ford is already well advanced with a survival strategy. The company's development team has already created the Ranger ute and Everest SUV for production in Thailand, developed a baby Figo for Ford of India, and is working on a born-again Escort for China.And those are just the projects we know about. "They are working on some of the most advanced products and technologies in the world," Sherwood says of the development team.In the past, Ford Australia has been a closed shop when it comes to comment about its offshore efforts. But Sherwood and company president Bob Graziano know they have to spread the message about the future before the Falcon and Territory become part of the past.And it's not just the people who are already embedded outside the corporate headquarters in Broadmeadows. Ford Australia has just re-started its university hiring progam for an intake in 2015 and is also looking to sponsor promising students. "We will bring in some fresh blood and new ideas. And we've re-started our university research projects. We're already looking at connectivity and lightweighting," says Sherwood.But Ford Australia is not just worrying about its own future. It has just sponsored a 'supplier fair' to help smaller companies build connections to overseas Ford projects and bigger suppliers to the blue oval brand. A total of 40 Australian companies were involved with 17 regional suppliers."Nine of them have earned regional or global business," Sherwood says. "It was a really impressive event. We made all the connections." And he says that there are plenty of opportunities, as suppliers in high-cost countries such as Germany and Japan have proven. "There are advanced mature markets around the globe with similar issues to Australia who have been able to supply and innovate."This reporter is on Twitter: @PaulWardGover

What Ford did in creating the GT 1600 is exactly what Pontiac boss John Z. Delorean did when he and his band of brothers created the legendary GTO. The recipe is well known. What you do is take the biggest motor you have in your engine roster and stuff it into the front smallest car you make, beef up the suspension and the brakes, sell it at a price premium and watch the dollars roll in. Delorean did it with the 1964 Pontiac Tempest and Ford did it with the first series Escort. You see, by late 1966 Ford in the UK knew that their famed Lotus engine Cortina race and road car was about to be upsized. More weight meant less speed. So, while the bean counters were otherwise engaged, the race and rally (R&R) department guys decided to shoehorn the 1.6 litre Lotus twin cam engine into the soon-to-be-released smaller Escort. Said Bill Meade, the R&R chief mechanic "it will go like hell with a twin cam engine in it". And it did! Lucky Tim Clifton has one of these Escort muscle cars. Built in Sydney at Ford's Homebush factory in 1972 it is one of less than 1200 made in Australia. So it is rare and for those who know, very collectible. "I spent 2 years searching for it" says Tim. "In April 2011 I found it in Queensland and trailered it back to Adelaide, " he adds. Tim says that the body of the Escort was in reasonable condition and he has not done much to it. The motor, however, was a different matter .It was in need of serious remediation. A complete rebuild, actually. After the motor had been finished the car was resprayed in its original colour of Pepper Red. Next on the restoration agenda will be the interior. Meanwhile Tim drives the car because "I wanted one to drive around in. I've had a couple of Torana XU1s but I've always liked the shape of the Escort." So if you hanker after one of these pocket rockets from Ford please remember they only made about 1200 of them in Australia, and prices reflect the rarity. David Burrell is the editor of www.retroautos.com.au  

Ford Australia has played a leading role in designing what could become the best-selling car in China, but Ford’s global bosses won’t give Australians the credit for doing the work. A skilled team of Australian stylists based at Broadmeadows designed the sleek new version of the Ford Escort, which is intended to be built in China and sold alongside the Ford Focus -- the best-selling car in the world’s biggest car market. But Ford Australia has inexplicably been robbed of sharing the good news -- against the backdrop of an uncertain future for its manufacturing operations -- about its close ties with the world’s automotive superpower. While the future of Ford Australia’s manufacturing operations remains in doubt beyond 2016 -- following record-low sales and no application for government funding beyond that deadline -- the company has gradually restructured its business to supply designers and engineers to the rest of the Ford world. But when Ford executives were asked about Australia’s involvement in the car unveiled at the Shanghai motor show overnight, senior management of the company claimed it was a “global effort” with “some Australian input”. Jim Farley, Ford’s global head of sales and marketing declined to nominate where the car was designed, as did the former boss of Ford Australia (and Geelong resident) Marin Burela, who is now based in China. The Asia-Pacific boss of Ford, David Schoch, and the new design chief for Ford in the Asia Pacific region region, Joel Piaskowski, also downplayed or refused to confirm Australia’s involvement. Ford does not have a design studio in China; Australia is the nearest -- and one of only five fully-fledged design centres in the Ford world. Australia’s design and engineering workforce has grown from a staff of 350 in the early 2000s to more than 1100 today, as the company takes on more work for the rest of the region. Ford Australia has also sent up to 50 designers and engineers to China on assignment to help establish a new development centre there. Kumar Kalhotra, Ford’s Asia Pacific product development chief, told News Limited: “Ford Australia isn’t designing products just for Australia, they’re designing products for the globe.” But he stopped short of revealing Australia’s involvement in the new Ford Escort. When asked if Ford Australia wasn’t given more credit for the work on such an important car because other international divisions might take offence, Kalhotra said: “I don’t think it’s about offending anybody, it really is a total team effort.” This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling

There are no clear clues when you look at the all-time top sellers, which include everything from a hulking Yank pick-up to sedate German sedan - and the century-old Ford Model-T.

When Brenton Hill took his 1964 XM Falcon coupe to a car show in 2004, little did he know he would meet his future wife, Katrina, owner of a 1965 XP Falcon coupe."They were very similar vehicles, just different colours," the 31-year-old electrician says. "I just got to talking to her and asked her about her car. It was lower than mine and I wanted to know how she managed to do that. A week later we were seeing each other and we were married in 2006."They now have a happy family of seven cars including 2006 Ford F250 and 1984 Ford F100 pick-ups which are their daily drivers and three-year-old daughter Prudence's vintage toy car. There are also a couple of future projects in the garage."We've got a 1950 Pontiac Silver Streak sedan which is a long way off getting on the road and a 1970 Mk I Escort drag car which my father-in-law last raced at Surfers Paradise in 1976," he says. "I bought it off my brother-in-law as he couldn't afford to keep it and I couldn't stand to see it leave the family."He plans to restore it to its original racing livery and enter it in nostalgia drag competitions "if Katrina will allow me". "It's a pretty dangerous motorsport," he says. "But first I'd have to spend quite a bit of money upgrading it to modern competition safety standards."Katrina is not surprised Brenton wants to go drag racing. "That's the household I was brought up in, so I spent my whole life in that so it doesn't surprise me at all," she says. "He's a sparkie so everything he does is dangerous, anyway."They also have a restored 1957 Cadillac of which they are very proud."My wife's had her XP for 21 years. It was her first car, but she was getting bored with it and I wouldn't let her sell it. It's a cool car," Brenton says."She always liked Caddys and big American cars so we hunted one down for $20,000 from Victoria a couple of years ago. We called it a 30-footer as it looks good from 30 feet away, but when you get close it has some imperfections. However, we haven't spent a lot on it. We drive it. It's not really a show car. We just lowered it, cleaned it up a little bit, a bit of TLC for the engine and that's pretty much it. If it ever wins an award I'll be shocked."Brenton bought his XM about eight years ago for $6000 and spent another $6000 rebuilding the engine, replacing the differential, fixing the front end and steering, lowering the suspension, fitting a new exhaust, adding some custom features and replacing the trim."The trim is not cheap nor easy to find," he says. "Ford only ever produced about 3500 and they only made about 5500 XPs, so finding parts is difficult."Katrina's car required a more comprehensive rebuild."That thing's been pulled apart and restored from scratch," she says. "It had a four-speed gearbox and 1985 XF Falcon 4.1 crossflow motor in it, so we pulled that out and put in the original 170 cubic inch six cylinder and three on the tree. It was also repainted, lowered and had pretty much everything done."Katrina bought it for $3000 from a Redcliffe surfer who carried his surfboards on the car. "It was a terrible pile of rubbish.There was plenty of rust through it," she says. "It's disappointing what some people do to cars. They don't respect what they've got."The couple will show their Caddy and XM at the annual GreazeFest Kustom Kulture Festival at the Rocklea Showground on August 1. Visit: www.greazefest.com.

The freedom of a racetrack taught him respect for getting into, and out of, potentially hazardous situations and also saw him become an advanced and defensive driving instructor for a brief period.With more than 12 years at the coalface of the motoring industry, both reporting and road testing, he's now looking to find a car that provides the same thrills as his original RS2000 Escort.