Letters
Your chance to tell us what’s happening in your own classic world.
I was pleased to see a review of the Ford Escort MKI in the January issue as it brought back some good memories. When I joined the police in December 1974, it was the panda car of choice. I had to laugh though at the suggestion that a prospective buyer ‘lift the carpets’ to check for corrosion. Carpets? What carpets! Most policespec Escorts just had rubber mats that, in fairness, were probably a sensible choice, given the habits of some of the ‘customers’ we had to – erm – escort. The Escort was a revelation to my 21-year-old self though, as my own car at the time was a Triumph
Herald. The Escort didn’t rattle, could be made to drift round the Peacock Island with a touch of oversteer and, best of all, the rear wheels didn’t want to fold inwards when you went round a corner. Back in the day police officers had to check school premises in the evenings and at weekends. The usual trick was to drive onto the playing field and swing round to show up any miscreants in the headlights. On one ignominious occasion, unbeknown to me, the grass had been re-seeded and I got comprehensively stuck. This disaster was compounded by my trip to the local drive-through car wash when my attempt to wash off the evidence resulted in unforeseen demolition of the blue light!