It’s as if someone, somewhere, had noticed that the MotorMartin Flag fluttering above the iconic MotorMartin Towers had recently been flying at half mast and decided to find some motoring news that would raise the spirits up here in the Towers. Now friends of MotorMartin are well aware of the high regard that Ford are held in around here and classic Fords especially so. It doesn’t seem that long ago when a much younger MotorMartin looked on in awe as a brand new Ford Escort Mk2 in a glistening navy blue was driven onto the drive by MotorMartin senior. A memorable moment in any young car fan’s life. And so a quick glance over at the news desk brought about an air of excitement that the Towers hasn’t experienced for a few days, where an announcement that the iconic Ford Escort has been named the favourite Ford of all time by fans of the UK’s best-selling car brand had appeared. Fantastic and timely news.
As most of you classic Ford fans will know, launched in 1968, the Escort was sold in six generations and enjoyed an impressive 32-year production run, with the final hatchback model rolling off the production line at Halewood, Liverpool, in July 2000, although the Escort van remained on sale until 2002.
In total, Ford have shared with MotorMartin that over three million Escorts were sold in Britain, making it one of the country’s best selling cars of all-time. It spawned several performance models, including the RS1600, the Mexico, the RS2000, The XR3, RS Turbo and RS Cosworth, all of which enjoyed astonishing motorsport success and are still held in high regard by dedicated fans today.
The Escort scored 36 per cent of the vote in a survey organised by The Classic Ford Show, beating the Capri to a close second in terms of legendary status, indeed the MotorMartin 2.0 Laser Capri is still much missed. Both of the icons, along with other fine names from Ford’s past, such as the Anglia, Cortina, Mustang and Granada, and more modern icons such as the Fiesta and Focus, were present in abundance at The Classic Car Show, which took place at Santa Pod, Beds, on Sunday June 5.
The Classic Ford Show, in association with Admiral, played host to thousands of the best Fords in Britain, from both club exhibitors and individual entrants and was an excellent day out for all involved.
The Classic Car Show have confirmed to MotorMartin that there was a wide variety of standard, tuned and modified cars on display at the show, which was ably supported by Classic Ford, checkout http://classicfordmagazine.tumblr.com/, the UK’s leading publication for fans of the Blue Oval’s most iconic models. And that the show featured an exclusive Ford-only Run What Ya Brung on the drag strip, which was open to show visitors and their cars. The quarter-mile contest gave guests the chance to pit their own Fords against each other, and drivers received a full performance print out showing reaction time, terminal speed and the time it took to complete the sprint, certainly handy when discussing the merits of individual cars afterwards.
Another major highlight of the show was a series of Ford Drag Car demos, featuring some of Santa Pod’s most famous Ford-based dragsters, which are always a huge hit at any show. The hotted-up Capris, Sierras, Anglias, Fiestas and more were available to view in the pit area, where showgoers had a unique opportunity to get up close to the cars and their owners.
In addition, MotorMartin has been informed, there were dramatic live stunt displays, drift trikes and the opportunity for showgoers to win a Ford Focus ST, which is currently being transformed by Classic Ford’s sister title, Fast Ford. This year, the show was backed by Admiral, which has introduced a range of classic car insurance products including policies aimed at owners of multiple vehicles.
Further pictures and information about the show can be viewed at www.classicfordshow.co.uk and MotorMartin certainly urges you to do so.