Are Fords American?

Janesy B said:
No they weren't, the american escort was totally different and the mondeo over there was a mercury something or the other but that also looked different
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No it wasnt:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Escort_(North_America)

Was intended to be, the 1980 ford escort pictured is near enough a MK3 escort:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Escort_(Europe)

They even had the same CVH engines.

Later models departed from the european car.

The mondeo is exactly the same car as the ford Contour.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Contour
 
Kappa said:
I'm just not a fan of sweeping generalisations (as you can tell :p), you know yourself not all americans are like that.
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No there are some nice ones, i've been to america and had some good laughs with people i've randomly met in bars there. That doesn't mean there arent a lot of numpties.

The way I see it america will never be able to make track cars, I've always wondered why the majority of american cars are automatic too?
 
pitchfork said:
The way I see it america will never be able to make track cars, I've always wondered why the majority of american cars are automatic too?
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Just like oweneades says - Because they're driving conditions are much more suited to automatics - very long distance cruising, or lots of in-town driving and heavy traffic :)

You have to remember that America is a much larger place, with longer journeys required from point to point.

America's able to make track cars - if they want to. Regardless of what we think, Corvettes et al have always ruled the autocross out there, even against European competitors - with tweaked C4s ('85 to '87 in particular - better than the C5s in autocrossing due to shorter wheelbase) commonly returning times faster than F430s, RX7 TTs and so on around tight, twisty, competitive circuits.

Don't forget the likes of period 60s Mustangs, Galaxies and so on that ruled the touring car series for years......Of course, not forgetting the GT40 as well....or the C5-Rs that have won their class in Lemans against various European exotica with 1-2 finishes several times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqsrGcQFQq0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnUqqwgTPMU

The new ZR1 (which I'm sure you've read about, by now, seeing as it's come up umpteen times here) drives that point home somewhat after beating everything on the 'ring :p

Their needs, expectations and requirements differ, tis all - and consequently breed a different style and class of car :)

A lot of their stuff, also, is extremely capable when tuned and tweaked outside of the manufacturers specification. Gibbo's got a good example of that :p
 
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atpbx said:
No it wasnt:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Escort_(North_America)

Was intended to be, the 1980 ford escort pictured is near enough a MK3 escort:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Escort_(Europe)

They even had the same CVH engines.
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From the very article, it seems the CVH engine is about the only thing apart frmo minor bits that the US and European Escorts DID have in common:

"Although the basic silhouette was the same, it was almost completely different from the European version, apart from the Ford CVH engine. "

So basically completely different cars.

Do they sell the mk2 Focus in the US?
 
I see good Fords as European and bad Fords as Aussie or American ;)

IIRC The Aussies have a tariff on European cars as they were out selling the awful #### boats that were Aussie cars.
European cars also got banned from Aussie Touring car racing to help revive their own brands. So they ended up with the plastic and very samey 'V8 super car' formula.
 
SC04 said:
I see good Fords as European and bad Fords as Aussie or American ;)

IIRC The Aussies have a tariff on European cars as they were out selling the awful #### boats that were Aussie cars.
European cars also got banned from Aussie Touring car racing to help revive their own brands. So they ended up with the plastic and very samey 'V8 super car' formula.
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I remember an interview on TV with a guy that had moved from ford to holden and they asked for the difference in the cars, he said something like "the only difference is the badge on the steering wheel"
 
atpbx said:
No it wasnt:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Escort_(North_America)

Was intended to be, the 1980 ford escort pictured is near enough a MK3 escort:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Escort_(Europe)

They even had the same CVH engines.

Later models departed from the european car.

The mondeo is exactly the same car as the ford Contour.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Contour
Click to expand...

None of those escorts are similar except mechanically, that contour is the one i was trying to think of, its like a mondeo but uglier
 
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