Continuing the story of the Ford Escort Mk1.

The UK press launch for the new Escort in January 1968 took place in the exotic location of Morocco, a world away from the dreary British midwinter. Ford chartered a BAC One-Eleven jet to fly a coterie of journalists from the UK press and specialist automotive publications, putting them up in the newly completed Hilton hotel just outside Rabat. A fleet of more than thirty cars had been shipped over for the event.
Despite Ford’s largesse and the congenial surroundings, the assembled hacks were not wholly impressed by the new car, many examples of which displayed a number of faults such as excessive wind noise and driveline vibration. In one case, a gear lever spontaneously detached itself from the gearbox, while another car lost half its exhaust system on a test drive.
Writing about the launch in the Car Magazine’s March 1968 issue, journalist Doug Blain was inclined to Continue reading “Making a Virtue of Adequacy (Part Two)”