1979 Ford Escort

[Fuggletim]

Getting back to the original subject of the 1979 Escort, here is a really good example still on the road the same colour as the one I had except this is a 1980 registered car which must had an upgrade by then as it has check cloth seats while our ones (the company fleet) had PVC seats (maybe that was an option)
https://www.kgfclassiccars.co.uk/vehicles/2363/ (Check the video out)

Talking of company cars,in the early 90's BBC 2 had one of their weird but brilliant documentaries on company cars and the people who drove them and there was this unintentionally hilarious piece where a bloke was telling the "tragic" story of his company car. "I was so excited I was getting a new car,but it ended up absolutely gutting me. It was a BL Maestro.The company must have hated me. I was so disgusted and ashamed I parked it three blocks away and it was a while before I could break the news to the wife. She was so angry,that it was another week before I could bear to tell her it was a Diesel as well." Then he went on moaning about how lorries and "A Skoda Estelle" overtook him on the M1 even though he had his foot on the floor.
It was just hilarious-you really couldn't have scripted anything better. ( it wasn't you was it Richard? If it was-my full sympathy. A BL DIESEL Maestro,a real shocker ! And I drove a few Skoda Estelles in my time-it might have been your Maestro in my rear view mirror!))

Back in the late 1980s we had a fleet of Maestro’s as “Area”s cars to supplement the van fleet we had. They were all a distinctive blue colour, but if given the choice from the motor pool I got a Sherpa van! Often I just had to take what was available!

However, a good friend of mine bought a Maestro Mayfair in 1991. To be honest, it drove well and the interior trim did give it quite a sense of ambience. In a long story, I had to drive from Hampshire to Merseyside overnight and then back to Potters Bar (before collecting it again at Gatwick Airport later that day) and it was a good drive and coped with myself and the 4 x passengers well.

The Maestro, Montego (and indeed much of the 1970/80s BL/Austin Rover era output) survive now and perhaps shows how inherently bad they were. One of the oddly coloured blue Maestro’s was parked partially under a tarpaulin at a garage in Chale Green on the Isle of Wight until about 2022, but it’s nowhere to be seen now.

I had a Skoda Estelle as a cheap stop gap car once. It was a 1987 “Top” of the range model……..; yes such a thing existed!

The build quality was not as bad as might have been thought (not great though) but mechanically they were simple and quite robust. I recall one night the engine severely overheating and finally coming to a stop with a bang about 200 x yards from home. I let it cool down and managed to drive it firing on 3 x cylinders the last 200 x yards home where it sat for 2 x months before I decided to scrap it. The battery had gone flat, but once charged and put back on, I could not believe that after that time, and on 3 x cylinders, it started first time! Got £50 for it I think!

My late Uncle, who I had bought it from, bought a Skoda Rapide as a replacement which he always swore was like driving a rear engined Porsche Carrera in the context that although slower and not as prestigious, the rear mounted engine made it handle like one. Never having driven a Carrera, I couldn’t comment!

[hepcat]

I had that lengthy period of only being able to afford wrecks with no brakes which saw me buy Skoda's-for 4 or 500 I could get a 6 year old Skoda that would last me a year or two or (for the same money) a disaster of a Ford that would last three months. The most dangerous thing about them was the throttle cable which ran from the excellerator pedal,under the car to the engine. I had a couple disconnect-whenever on the M-Way I always stayed in the nearside lane no matter what just in case it went and I needed a quick swing onto the hard shoulder.A really-potentially-lethal fault. Once -on a Rapid(I still think the "R" needed to be swapped for a "V") the idle was low,so I got me a screwdriver and opened up the idle screw on the carb. Nothing. I took the screw out. No difference. I screwed it in jam tight. Not a jot of difference to the idling speed! So I just went to a junk yard,got a carb out of a defunct Skoda,plonked it in- problem solved!!! Once I thought my battery was flat so I got a jump off a mate and it simply drained the hell out of his battery. The earth strap (I kid you not) had come adrift-the worse thing was that it was earthing through the throttle cable(wisps of smoke!)!Thank God it wasn't the petrol tank!! They were certainly "character" cars-I actually liked them. The true affect they had on me was when I-much later-bought a VW Skoda that had a stop/start eco engine. When the engine cut out at the trafic lights my heart sunk and I thought "Now I've got to humiliate myself again and push it out of the way" which happened on a few occassions with the Estelles and Rapid!! I was that conditioned ! I also had a rust riddled Mini-it had a radio aeriel on the wing. I picked my mate up-drove less than a quarter of a mile to the pub and there was a hole in the wing and no aeriel !!! Needless to say I have absolutely zero car snobbery and am delighted I can afford cars that work fine!

[Fuggletim]

The Mini thing holds true! My first car was a 1964 Mini Minor. I remember reversing out one night and thought that the lights seemed dimmer than usual on both dipped and main beam, BUT on the Driver’s side the ground seemed very brightly lit. When I got out to look, I found the headlight had fallen out of the heavily rusted wing and was shining down to the ground and only held by its cable!

[Richard Petty]

I know its an overseas advert but How about this listing as an example of what sort of money some of these old classics go for now
https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1779553

[shots1965]

I had a yellow mini once

Me too,late 70s

I recently brought a Mini Cooper
2008 only 107 Thousand miles
Manuel... ( or stick as they say here )seems very strange
Been driving Auto for 22 years

[hepcat]

I know its an overseas advert but How about this listing as an example of what sort of money some of these old classics go for now
https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1779553

I have heard that even the old Skodas fetch 4 figures these days! Another car I drove back in the day was the Citroen 2CV !! They USED to be dirt cheap and you could guarantee it would go for a year no matter what state it was in,though the MOT's were usually pigs as the king pins always needed replacing-used to be £40 a pair but would cost an extra £140 to get a garage to fit them (I tried it once myself-believe me £140 was a sum well worth paying!) But then- late 80's -they started fetching huge sums-even junk ones. I expect they still do today. Only "tools" I ever needed for it was a can of WD40 though the electrics could be iffy. Had to sound the horn to get the lights working when they inexplicably dimmed-which proved very embarrassing more than once. It was this that forced me to get Skodas. In my defence I can say I have NEVER driven or owned a Lada.

[Old Bob]

I know its an overseas advert but How about this listing as an example of what sort of money some of these old classics go for now
https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1779553

I have heard that even the old Skodas fetch 4 figures these days! Another car I drove back in the day was the Citroen 2CV !! They USED to be dirt cheap and you could guarantee it would go for a year no matter what state it was in,though the MOT's were usually pigs as the king pins always needed replacing-used to be £40 a pair but would cost an extra £140 to get a garage to fit them (I tried it once myself-believe me £140 was a sum well worth paying!) But then- late 80's -they started fetching huge sums-even junk ones. I expect they still do today. Only "tools" I ever needed for it was a can of WD40 though the electrics could be iffy. Had to sound the horn to get the lights working when they inexplicably dimmed-which proved very embarrassing more than once. It was this that forced me to get Skodas. In my defence I can say I have NEVER driven or owned a Lada.

My first car was a 1970 Fiat 500. It was a doxy. I bought it for two reasons. First and foremost, it was cheap. (Very cheap.) Also it was easy to park and I wasn't very good at parking, just having passed my test.

[Fuggletim]

A Skoda Estelle always fetched 4 x figures, but usually there was a decimal point in there somewhere….

Not sure how long you have been watching the Shots Hepcat, but if for a while back to the old club, Lada were the club sponsors for a while. Think there was a report in the Aldershot News after one game that we were as dismal as the cars of our sponsor, or words to that effect!

Never drove a Lada, but drove (never owned) a few of the old FIAT models they were derived from and they were, well let’s say, cars of their era!

[Fuggletim]

Just seen OB’s post. The Fiat 500 was, of course, re-born in recent years, but the original was designed before the Min in which it was later in direct competition with.

Did your parking get any better OB?

Worst 2 x cars I ever had to park were a Rover 600 as rear visibility was nil, and a Mercedes A Class (current style) as its high window sill and the position of the driving seat (which seems slightly more to the left than it should be) cause visibility problems. It’s strange, quite a few other A Class drivers have said the same thing!

Ironically the easiest car to park was a large 1999 Jaguar XJ8. Such was the design, you could see each corner perfectly. I often used to get out, look and think “How the hell did I get in there?”

It’s strange though, that whenever I have driven outside the UK (and that has been quite a lot) it takes me a day or soto get used to reversing a LHD vehicle. Getting over the urge to change gear with the window winder doesn’t take quite as long……..

[Stenhouse]

My first car was in 1980 when I first passed my test. It was a second hand Mk 1 Ford Escort, brown colour, and I think the registration was HLW 350K. Only problems were a solenoid malfunction, and a big hole of rust on the drivers front wing. Comments on sherpa vans are interesting. I served with the UDR in Londonderry 84 - 86, and there was a large fleet of M.O.D. sherpa vans for use by the Forces. After an RMP Sergeant was sadly blown up in a Sherpa van on the Ballykelly - Londonderry road, it transpired that 98% of all sherpas in Ulster belonged to the M.O.D. They were quickly transferred to within barracks use only.

[RedanRoadshot]

I can remember shorty after passing my driving test going to a used car dealer and test driving an escort. It kEpt on veering to the right. I meNtioned this to the salesman, he avoided the comment and said it had a large boot. We parted company.

[Old Bob]

Just seen OB’s post. The Fiat 500 was, of course, re-born in recent years, but the original was designed before the Min in which it was later in direct competition with.

Did your parking get any better OB?

Worst 2 x cars I ever had to park were a Rover 600 as rear visibility was nil, and a Mercedes A Class (current style) as its high window sill and the position of the driving seat (which seems slightly more to the left than it should be) cause visibility problems. It’s strange, quite a few other A Class drivers have said the same thing!

Ironically the easiest car to park was a large 1999 Jaguar XJ8. Such was the design, you could see each corner perfectly. I often used to get out, look and think “How the hell did I get in there?”

It’s strange though, that whenever I have driven outside the UK (and that has been quite a lot) it takes me a day or soto get used to reversing a LHD vehicle. Getting over the urge to change gear with the window winder doesn’t take quite as long……..

My parking is top notch now, Tim

I remember on my advanced test, driving my Vauxhall Vectra Estate SRi, the examiner pointed to a tiny gap between cars and said "Would you park in there please". Bloody hell, I thought, I'll never get in there. But guess what? Straight in, first time, perfect, beautifully aligned with the pavement about 3 inches away.

He asked: Is your parking always that good? Yeah, I lied, pretty much.

I had no parking aids in that Vauxhall. For the advanced test, you have to switch any parking aids off anyway. (Or you did then.)

[Fuggletim]

Good stuff OB.

I can’t comment on the “Advanced” test, but certainly “Parking” aids can be used and use of a “Sat Nav” is made. It might have been useful when I failed a second test in Aldershot in 1981, as twice we came to a road junction, where the Examiner said nothing and I had to ask him where he wanted me to go! The second time he got quite “huffy” and asked what I was waiting for, before I pointed out to him that he hadn’t given me directions where to go again! I guess it was no surprise I failed that day, but hey exactly one month later in Chichester I passed!

[lowerbourneshot]

I had a yellow mini once

Not a 3 wheeler?

But you haven't got a driving licence Derek

[Peter macdonald]

I had a yellow mini once

Not a 3 wheeler?

But you haven't got a driving licence Derek

But we definitely had a yellow mini once, Ian