Escort favourite Ford amongst Irish writers

11 February 2002: A survey conducted last month among Irish motoring journalists has revealed the Escort as the favourite model to bear the famous blue oval. Of 22 writers who cast their votes, 6 plumped for the legendary family classic, but in many different guises. These ranged from the fiery Cosworth - ‘a demon machine that went like the hammers of hell’ - to the ‘coke-bottle shaped’ RS 1600 and Mark 1 Mexico model (‘my first car, a great car’).

Nominations stretched from the 1949 Prefect (‘happy memories of family picnics’) to the 1962 Ford Consul (‘the first car I drove - I waited for the longest week of my life to buy the £1 driving licence’) to modern day icons like the Ford Puma (‘the best-value complete driver’s car I have ever driven’).

An earlier coupe classic, the Capri, was praised as ‘a sports car for the common man – you could make even the 1.3 litre look top of the range with add-on features!’

Ireland’s current best-seller, the Ford Focus, collected a number of first preferences (‘not just the best Ford, but the best small family car I’ve ever driven’), but the sentimental vote saw the Anglia, Cortina and Prefect all share second spot. The much-loved Anglia had a special place in one journalist’s heart: ‘The car my wife drove. When I first saw her in that car I knew she was the woman for me,’ while another was taken by its rear window: ‘No other car has succeeded in having a dry rear window - it sloped the wrong way to allow wider boot opening!’

The Lotus Cortina was an easy choice for one (female) journalist, as the only person to have driven it over the Kyber Pass …in reverse!! An anonymous voter for the Ford Corsaire spoke of its trademark front bench seat and column-mounted gear stick as ‘liberating elements for young couples embracing the new-found freedom of the 60s!’

The poll is part of a Ford world-wide survey in advance of the company’s centenary celebrations next year. The models selected by media from around the globe will feature in a coffee-table book to be published this autumn.

February 2002