Two Rare Escorts: SS and Diesel – Your Choice Of 69 HP Or 68 MPG

(First published December 29, 2011)  Now it shouldn’t come as any surprise that the 1981 Escort SS very quickly became the Escort GT in late 1982. And not just because it didn’t sell well, but perhaps because there was a bit of, um, complaining from another certain party that rather thought of that set of letters as its own? Never mind that the first year SS was nothing but an appearance package, still sporting the 69 hp CVH 1.6. And good luck trying to find any pictures of one: I gave poor google the dry heaves trying. This is it. On to the the diesel:

Just as the second energy crisis was well wound down, in 1984, Ford offered the Escort with a Mazda 2.0 L normally-aspirated diesel, whose horsepower output is turning out to be difficult to find this morning (68 or 69?). Check out those lofty old-school EPA numbers: 46/68 Highway! (adjusted, those are now 35 city/47highway). Despite the mileage, like so many other diesels during The Great Diesel Epoch, it didn’t last; 1987 was the last year. And like many of the Japanese diesels stuffed into American cars, it still has its fans.

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