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Let’s kick in an open door: the fleet of cars on the street is changing. Older models are being replaced by newer ones, but the type of cars is also changing. The rise of SUV(-like) models is the main trend in this. That also means that certain body shapes are disappearing. For example, hardly any manufacturers still supply three-door models, even though they were once quite popular. Even in the middle class and higher segments.

One body style that has already completely disappeared is that of the three-door station wagon. Once popular with people who carried a lot of luggage more often than passengers. By now it has been a really long time since we encountered a three-door station wagon in regular traffic, but on the outskirts of Houten we saw one once again.

The spotted specimen

The three-door station wagon in question is this Ford Escort 1300 L Estate. The car is original Dutch from 1982, making it a fairly early one of this third model generation. Although these wheels are not original, the car otherwise makes a nice and completely original impression. In short, an Escort as you don’t often see them anymore. If you come across an Escort of this model nowadays, it is often a sporty or luxury version.

The third generation Ford Escort

This third-generation Ford Escort entered the market in 1980 and marked a break from the previous model in several ways. The second generation embroidered heavily on the first model in terms of both body shapes and powertrain. The third Escort was completely new in just about every respect. In terms of design alone: the traditional proportions gave way to a more modern silhouette, with shorter overhangs.

The range of body styles also changed dramatically: instead of a two- and four-door sedan and a three-door station wagon, the Ford Escort was henceforth a three- or five-door liftback (elongated hatchback). The three-door Estate remained, but soon a new, modern five-door version accounted for most sales. The three-door station wagon has since been sold primarily as a commercial vehicle, with or without sealed side windows. There was also a larger van version with slightly different bodywork. A convertible version was also added to the range at some point. For the traditional buyer, there was also another four-door sedan, but it was positioned as Ford Orion as a separate model.

The next break in trend was the powertrain: the engine was now positioned transversely in front and drove the front wheels, instead of the rear wheels. In short, for its time, the new Ford Escort was quite a modern and almost “high-tech” car, able to compete excellently with, for example, the Volkswagen Golf. The Escort was also named European Car of the Year 1981.

Engines Ford Escort

Also new were the engines, with modern overhead camshafts, with the exception of the 1.1-liter base engine. The remaining engine range consisted of 1.3- and 1.6-liter four-cylinder gasoline engines, later supplemented by a 1.6-liter four-cylinder diesel. Depending on the year, engine choice and trim, shifting went with a four- or five-speed manual transmission or a three-speed automatic transmission

Sporty Ford Escort models

What did remain the same from the previous model is that the sporty driver was well served. The Ford Escort was even available in several sports versions. For example, there was the XR3 as a counterpart to the Golf GTI. After the introduction of direct fuel injection, that model was renamed the XR3i. Based on it, the more track-oriented (and limited production) RS 1600i also appeared. Later, the RS Turbo, with turbo thus, also appeared as a homologation model for rallying. The remaining offerings were diverse, from the even for that time very bare entry model to the luxurious Ghia version.

‘New’ model generation

The third-generation Ford Escort never had a facelift. Although… The fourth model generation introduced in 1986 was really just a thoroughly facelifted version of the existing model. Ford actually considers the new model to be a facelift version as well, but as was common with major facelifts on Ford models at the time, the heavily redesigned version is seen by many as a new generation.