The fabulous Ford Escort Mexico

You might think a Ford Escort is simply a fine example of everyday ordinariness.

But that’s far from the truth. Our 1972 Ford Escort Mexico is one of the most talked about cars on display.

And that is because it combines the delights of racing, rallying, football and Ford’s ability to turn the everyday into the aspirational.

The all-new Ford Escort was released in 1968 – two years after England’s glorious World Cup summer of ’66. Mexico was hosting the 1970 competition, so a 16,000-mile-long rally was arranged from one city to the next.

At that time the Ford works rally team was practically unbeatable and the Escort performed so well in the London to Mexico World Cup Rally – winning the event and filling 6 out of the top 10 places – that a new model bearing the name Mexico was released to celebrate.

Our Escort Mexico special edition is a 4-cylinder 1598cc crossflow-engined model built in honour of rally car success. The Escort Mexico was first introduced in November 1970. 10,352 Mexico Mark 1s were built. Their bodyshells had additional strengthening panels in high stress areas making them more suitable for competition.

As well as the Mexico, The RS1600 was also developed, and both were built at Ford’s Advanced Vehicle Operations (AVO) facility located at the Aveley Plant in South Essex.

You can find our Ford Escort Mexico on our ground floor exhibition hall, and get up close to this popular car - it certainly turns heads and gets people talking

Take the drivers seat!

Use your mouse to look around the cabin of our Ford Escort Mexico.

Further Reading

• Ford Escort Wikipedia Entry
• Ford Escort Mexico feature in Classic & Sports Car website

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