RR of the Day: Escort abroad
Since it seems like most of the mainstream automotive news will be dominated with comment and analysis of Ford's WF 2.0 plan today, we thought we'd dig up something with a blue oval on it for today's RR of the Day. This car is a Brazilian 1991 Ford Escort XR3 Formula. It represents some of the Escort's higher pedigree that could be found abroad but was never delivered to the U.S. The XR3 joined the RS2000 Escort in 1991, but lacked the latter's larger 2.0-liter turbo engine in favor of a 1.8-liter Zetec. The owner of this example, who goes by the Flickr handle Tabajara-Labs, waited 10 years for this very rare XR3 Formula of which he claims only 750 were built. The Escort here reminds us of the greatest Escort of all time and a car after which I hopelessly pined as a young spud: the Escort RS Cosworth. Yum.
If you'd like to see your own ride featured here, simply upload photos of your ride into our Flickr group. We select one image to highlight each week day, and on the weekend let you vote for a RR of the Week. Detailed instructions can be found after the jump.
Instructions for submitting to Autoblog's RR of the Day:
Create a Flickr account if you don't already have one. Search for and join the group called 'Autoblog RR of the Day'. Upload up to three photos of your ride to your own account at a size no larger than 450 pixels wide if possible and include as much information about it and yourself as possible. Click on each photo and just above the picture it will say "Send to group". Click that and select the Autoblog group. You're done, that's it!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Marc 11:00AM (9/15/2006)
I remember seeing Escorts during visits to Scotland in the early 80's and wondered why the US couldn't get the more appealing, racier designs offered in other parts of the world. Before the SUV scurge that hit the US at the end of the decade, I thought Ford would have sold huge amounts of European-platform Escorts, as long as they didn't build them like the Merkur.
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Norskar 11:32AM (9/15/2006)
The good news is it's kind of racy and not really that bad looking. The bad news: It's still an Escort.
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rwdmtparkingonly 11:57AM (9/15/2006)
The Brit MKI and MKII Escorts were really competent cars, especially the lotus versions, but then Ford messed it up with fwd. This is a cool car though, no disrespect to the RROTD.
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Tabajara Labs 12:06PM (9/15/2006)
Just a little clarification: My car doesn't have a 1.8 zetec motor. It is an AP 1800S motor, made by Wolksvagen(!). During some years in Brazil, the "autolatina" joint venture between ford and wolksvagen mixed cars and motors at will. My car has the 1.8 golf MK3 (or MK4?) drivetrain (motor, gearbox and connected components, right?), but the rest is exactely the same of the Escort RS Turbo you can find in UK. The Zetec Escorts were made only after 1994 in Brazil.
Also, this is really an exclusive car. The "Formula" version was only made in 1991, with just 750 cars. Almost all of them are blue, the red being the rarest. The blue version is the same blue used on the 1991 XR3, but the red one has an exclusive red tone, made only for the red Formula.
The exclusiveness of this car goes to the active suspension, which was the first time it was used in Brazil (long before the Chevrolet vectra and the Omega). It adapted the stiffness of the suspension according with the speed and inclination of the car. It was SO EXPENSIVE that Ford wasn't inclined for another formula batch. In 1992 the active suspension was offered as an optional, but the cars didn't have the "formula" badge, which can be found even in the identification plaque.
This is one of the most beautiful Brazilian cars I've ever seen. I had some sport cars before, but since 1991 I always dreamed of having a XR3 Formula. Here you can see my dream, I don't believe I'll sell it someday, even if I get a BMW :)
Hope you all liked the car, and kudos to Autoblog!
(more info, service manual, more photos, can be found on my site!)
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Hamud 12:16PM (9/15/2006)
Great car, im brazilian too and i gotta say that this car is just amazing. Keep it till the day you die cause this is a very special car.
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Riker 1:20PM (9/15/2006)
Thank god it doesn't have the shopping cart handlebar spoiler of the RS Cosworth. Nice ride, Tabajara Labs!
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Eber 5:50PM (9/16/2006)
i am brazilian and just want to know what this Escort is doing in the "RR of the day".... thats front wheel drive.. and by the way, the Escort Formula is not sports car at all, i prefer much more my Chevrolet Kadett GSI 2.0.....
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nat 12:23PM (9/17/2006)
Very nice! The USA only had the Escort name on a horrible cost cutting nightmare. The 1980's models had engines that hardly lasted any time at all.I wish we had gotten the same Escort everyone else in the world got.
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Pfft 12:26PM (9/17/2006)
RR stands for Readers Ride does it not? FWD and RWD has nothing to do with it.
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Nelson 1:18PM (9/17/2006)
Very nice car. Only those who didn´t have chance for a long time to have access to imported cars in Brazil can value the Escort family. However, purists like me consider Escorts to be Ford, and although the VW engine is really a nice engine, Ford Escorts must be Ford. But I must add your Formula is a mint piece of work
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