Ford Escort

1980s SALES 1,607,999 ON THE ROAD IN 1995 1,935,884 NOW 16,255 SURVIVAL RATE 0.84% The first Escort arrived in 1968, but few are left from that era. The Escort was the best-selling car of the 1980s, and in go-go XR3I form (pictured), it came close to defining the decade, too. The name outlived the 1980s, struggling on with the unloved Mk5 version to 1998, goosing its survival rate. Back in the Escort’s heyday, though, it did much to ensure Ford’s dominance of the British market. It had a 30.7% market share at the start of the decade and still had 25.3% of it by its end, despite the efforts of encroaching new competitors from German and Japanese firms. Last year, Ford’s market share fell to just 7.5%.