The Sporting Fords Volume 2: Escorts - Graham Robson

The 1960s saw Ford's global image transformed by the use of high performance as a major marketing tool, and in Europe this change of emphasis was spearheaded by the development of higher-specification and higher-powered versions of the company's two most important model ranges, first the Cortinas, and later the Escorts.

Their impact, on the competition-minded enthusiast and on the fast-rising young executive, was dramatic, and as these highly developed cars scored success after success in races and rallies so did the market for upmarket derivates of both ranges prosper.

In this and his companion first volume of The Sporting

Fords, featuring the high-performance

Cortinas, author Graham Robson concentrates his attention on the models which generated and have since sustained the greatest following amongst discerning enthusiasts.

Some of these cars are still earning their laurels on the race track or on the rally special stages, while others have deservedly been given an easier life and are being collected, restored and preserved with the intention of scoring further successes on the concours circuit, or simply to provide a special brand of owner satisfaction in everyday use. It is only right that the better examples should be cossetted for they broke new ground in proving that a high-volume manufacturer could' transform a family or representative's car into a classic.