80's hot hatches are getting seriously hot.

Being an Ex-Pat Brit I was coming of age in the heyday of the Hot-Hatch, the 80's. ford were always a big part of the hot hatch scene starting with the Escort XR3, the Fiesta XR2. The Escort grew from the XR3 to the XR3i, then came the more hard core RS1600i then the RS Turbo. For it's time it was a astonking machine sporting a massive 130hp turbo 1.6L CVH engine, it even had a viscous LSD which was big news for the time. This came around the same time as the original Sierra Cosworth. Prices have been going up over the last few years, but this is nuts. This particular one just sold for £60,000 GB Pounds. That's around $90K USD!!!!

Great pictures! I remember when Ford sold the Fiesta in the states. It was a great handling car that needed guts. So a buddy of mine who loved to play with turbos, put a turbo on one. Great acceleration if you could keep it going in a straight line, but man with no LSD it ate the drive tire up! Fun to play with though!

Wow. That crazy. Likely a pristine, low mileage example but price seems at least triple what it reasonable.

Rupert wrote: Great pictures! I remember when Ford sold the Fiesta in the states. It was a great handling car that needed guts. So a buddy of mine who loved to play with turbos, put a turbo on one. Great acceleration if you could keep it going in a straight line, but man with no LSD it ate the drive tire up! Fun to play with though!

I raced a Fiesta over here in ITC. I bought a viscous LSD from an Escort RS Turbo like the one above and fitted it, made a big difference. I also fitted higher comp pistons that someone had previously petitioned the SCCA to allow which helped as well. All US Fiesta's were 1.6L Kent engines where the only Mk I Fiesta to get the 'big block' 1.6L engine in the UK was the XR2. My car also had a shorter final drive ratio, and it was still slow!

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:He had plenty of power with the turbo. We just couldn't hook it up. Or turn when accelerating. We were so busy trying to keep the steering wheel from jumping out of our hands as the tire caught and lost traction, we never considering steering! Broken wrists anyone??!!

People want what they couldn't afford while in high school, right?

David S. Wallens wrote: People want what they couldn't afford while in high school, right?

Exactly, but for that much folding I'd be getting a high school sweetheart and a modern mistress.

Beautiful car there but wowsers on the price. There are so many fantastic hatches from the 80's & 90's it's nice to see them getting their due finally. As a VW guy I've always wanted to bring in a Rallye Golf with the G60.

I've been saying it for years. In the not too distant future, Civic/CRX Si's, Integra Type R's (ok, they never really dropped in price), early GTi's, etc. will start climbing up in value. Plus, because they came at the beginning of a more disposable society, finding good examples will be much more difficult. I've said it multiple times before. When was the last time you saw an '86 Civic Si for sale?

-Rob

I'm always on the look out for early 80's Escort GT.

LOVE to find one, I'd even pick up the GT body parts/pieces in case I stumble onto a base Escort that I can modify.

Just LOVE 'em ! !

TeamEvil wrote: I'm always on the look out for early 80's Escort GT. LOVE to find one, I'd even pick up the GT body parts/pieces in case I stumble onto a base Escort that I can modify. Just LOVE 'em ! !

Most US spec Escort GT's had returned to ferrous oxide by the time I moved here in 94 although I kind of remember them.

Just went googlymoogeling for images and found they did an Escort GT Turbo here as well.

Looks OK from the back side.

But holy mother of the flying spaghetti monster, WTF at the front, really?!?!?!?! That was a bad halloween or April Fools joke right?

I thought they looked better than that so carried on and found what I remembered which is much better, but still not a patch on what we got in Europe. How similar are the basic bodyshells on the MkIII Escorts between the US and Europe, could you build up a local one and import body parts or would it still be a massive PIA?

Over here they all came with the 1.9L CVH didn't they? 1.6 was the largest in Europe.

A quick look on Ebay UK yielded up just a few parts and pieces, this advert:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/06/junkyard-find-1988-ford-escort-gt/

IS an old one, but I guess (hope !) that the cars are still out there someplace.

I really like red mid-eighties Escort GTs 'cause they sort of remind me (in a way) of the Audi Quatro that was in Ashes to Ashes, except that I can easily work on Escorts NOT on Audi Quatros . . .

Yup, I see it too, but that 88 Escort GT was one of the worst cars I ever drove. I would so make room in the garage for an 85 CR-X Si.

In reply to Tim Suddard:

Yup I'd love a nice CRX too, but that was the Era when the US was given the crappy seconds, not just with the Escort but the CRX too in the UK we just got the 140hp 1.6 not the US poverty spec 1.5L making about 2hp.

What does a nice 1st Gen CRX Si go for these days?

I remember seeing a lot of Escorts when I was in Europe in the 80s and I know that Ford advertised it as their "World Car" when it came out. I don't know if I was just fooled by the smaller bumpers, but I always thought that the European versions were just slightly scaled down. To my eye, the silhouette was similar but it looked like they had a longer, flatter trunk lid over there.

Wiki states they were suppose to be the same but they didn't end up that way. Just the general shape, some of the engines and the transaxles.

A friend on FB recently posted he was restoring his Mk1 USDM Escort GT. He said the work on the Lambo was up after that.

This reminds me that I really should get my GTI roadworthy in the spring.The late 80s hatches can be a lot of fun without all the modern electronic geegaws.

In reply to Tim Suddard: Yes my '85 CRX SI was one of the best cars I've ever owned!! Won many an autocross over much more expensive cars with that one!!

I can think of an awful lot of things I would rather spend $90k on.

The Escort GT that was sold in N.A. was a piece of rubbish. The hatch back I had from that era and wish I never sold was my Dodge Shelby GLHS

Guess I can forget about ever owning a MkI/II/III Astra GT/E Gsi then. Or a Nova GT/E Gsi. Manta GT/E hatch and coupe too. I'm sure Germany has plenty of Calibras still left?

nutherjrfan wrote: Guess I can forget about ever owning a MkI/II/III Astra GT/E Gsi then. Or a Nova GT/E Gsi. Manta GT/E hatch and coupe too. I'm sure Germany has plenty of Calibras still left?

I doubt it, many of them are still really affordable. Anything with an RS badge on has an almost religious following in the UK. Manta Coupes are awesome. It's the car I regret selling the most of any I've owned even if it was a bit of a shed. Front bumper was after loosing an argument with a tree.

This was at Harewood hillclimb in 94 a few months before I swapped continents and moved here.

nutherjrfan wrote: Guess I can forget about ever owning a MkI/II/III Astra GT/E Gsi then. Or a Nova GT/E Gsi. Manta GT/E hatch and coupe too. I'm sure Germany has plenty of Calibras still left?

Actually a lot of older cars went to Russia etc in the early to mid-2000s. While I was living in the UK it was easier to find an interesting sporty car in the UK (because nobody outside the UK wanted RHD) than in continental Europe.

In reply to BoxheadTim:

I agree. But I will also note I saw a ton of old British cars in Japan. However since Japan is in such a slump right now they're probably not as big a player as they were.