Ford 100E Escort Estate

Click Here for Full Screen Image - Click Here to Download Image

Launched in 1955, the Ford Escort Estate was based on the contemporary Prefect/Anglia 100E saloon and shared the same monocoque construction, coil independent front suspension and Girling hydraulic brakes. 

It was powered by the same 36bhp 1,172cc side-valve engine mated to a three-speed gearbox which gave it a top speed of 70mph with 33mpg economy. The interior trim was also largely similar to the saloon versions.

The two-door estate bodywork had much shorter doors than the saloon to optimise interior space for a panel van version that was marketed as the Thames 300E. The rear door was in two pieces split horizontally and the rear seats could be folded flat to maximise the load area.

A more upmarket version, the Squire, was also available from 1955 to 1959 with slightly more luxurious interior trim and wood trim fixed to the sides for a ‘shooting brake’ look. By the time production came to an end in 1961, some 33,100 examples of the Escort Estate had been sold although survivors are few and far between today.

First registered in Berkshire in May 1961, this Escort Estate has had just five owners from new, the fourth being a Dudley resident who acquired it in 1987 and was to keep it for the next 26 years.

Finished in cream with a red interior, it is said to run and drive well with an MOT until April 2015 and tax until March 2015. Perfectly usable as it is, it is quite scruffy cosmetically, both inside and out, and would be an ideal candidate for a rolling restoration. It still retains its original Berkshire number plate which is transferable.

Never a very common sight on the roads, the Escort Estate is now very rare, the vendor informing us that he believes there are no more than a dozen examples still road registered which makes it all the more important that this one should be saved for future generations to enjoy.