The entire reason why continent sized 4WD Trucks are popular over ther is cos of your
petrol (gas) prices.

No one else can afford to run big block chev engines - wonder why.

Petrol in Melbourne is around 87.9 per litre (A$3.20 or US$1.70 per gallon. Add 10% if out of metro area. In the centre of Aus, you'd be looking at
$US2.50 per gallon

We got 2 series of Escorts before the mark 2 escort, which we recieved in 1976 (Yay! the RS2000 - the only worth competitor to the datto). Mark 2 came in 1.6 and 2.0 models. Excellent rally
car and 4 cylinder hoon mobile.

Later we got Cortina's to replace Escorts, which were crap - except where Aussie Ford put 200 and 250 cube engines with manual 5 speeds in 'em (3.3 and 4.1 litre motors).

What we called the Mark one (1.3 or 1.6) was effectively here from about 1970 (when the Capri V6 (you might know it as the granada, or as the essex V6 engine)) hit. Prior to that we had a
different body, but same engines, excluding the lotus twin cam engines which were caklled Cortinas anyway (although they had escort sized bodies).

There was even a couple of bathurst special model cortinas, including the GT500 (one of the first bathurst specials). For those overseas who may not know, Bathurst is Australia's most famous
touring car race (around a 6 km mountain track) and had cars designed to meet it's homologation rules, which culminated in such niceties as the GTHO Phase III Ford Falcon 351 (5.8 L), A9X
Torana (Holden/General Motors), (Holden/General Motors) Monaro (327-350) (5.0 - 5.7 L) as well as for datsun fans the "bluebird" coupes (FJ20T's) and the R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R (twin turbo
RB 26 4wd).

Definately the best cars never to win Bathurst were the Chrysler E49 Charger and the Bluebird of George Fury (which held the lap record until the GT-R smashed it). Another e-mail for those
who care.

That is still relatively cheap for gasoline, Alex. A few days after the World Trade Center disaster of 9/11/01, there was a photo came to me inan email of a gas price sign. Regular was
$2.44, medium was an arm and premium was a leg. That was some jerk putting his prices up just because he was a greedy asshole. The world is full of them for sure.
I have a 1989 Chevrolet Silverado pick up truck with the LT1 350 engine, auto w/OD trans and a 38 gallon gas tank. I have driven it 832 miles now since I bought gas for it. I still have
enough gas left in it to go a couple of more days. Not bad for a 4,200 pound vehicle.
Thanks Sterlingmac for the info on George and his short history with the McLaren. I saw an article in AutoWeek magazine in the early 80s about him and a few other top musicians and there
exotic cars. George had said about his older Ferrari, "if it isn't driven, it is of no worth to me."

Mareo

hi mareospeed !!
Here in Panam

Thank you Eddie for the info on gas prices. Gas was up to $1.49 a gallon here at the first of the summer. When I hear people complaining about the price of gasoline, I always tell them
that we have cheap gas here in America compared to the rest of the world. They usually think that I am full of it but they just don't understand what the rest of the world is doing.
Long live cheap gas.
Hey, what are the prices for gasoline in the rest of the world?

Mareo

Hi Mareo,
The MK1 Escort came out at the end of 1967 and the MK2 in January 1975. The Capri was the next model up in the Ford range and was sold in the US as a Mercury Capri. Our market here in the
UK was full of Escort sized cars which I suppose is largely why the Datsun 510 never became popular here like it is over there.
Rest assured your fuel is still cheap At the moment we pay up to 75 pence per litre which is just over $4.00 a US gallon (just over AU$2.00 a litre). It has been as high as US$6.00 a
gallon in the last year. Good reason to own a 1200
Back in May when I was in Washington DC it cost me just over $24 to fill the tank on my Dodge hire car...here it costs nearly

What years did they make the Mark 1 and 2? Is there some USA model like a Capri or something? When I was in Europe in the early 70's, I learned that the imports that we get here are only a
small portion of what is going on in the rest of the world. I met a man in Toulon, France that had a small Renault with a 600 motor. He said that he had to rebuild the motor every two years.
The motors were so overworked that they didn't last very long. I had a hard time understanding all of that way back then. The price of gasoline there, was three times more then that it is
here now. Europe paid over $3.00 US for gasoline then and we paid around $0.35 then here. It is $0.98 at the Phillips 66 food station down the road from me now for 87 octane and $1.10 for 93
octane. How much is gasoline in OZ, NZ, Asia and Europe now? Just curious.

I owned A 1965 Pontiac GTO then and it could get to gallons per mile insted of miles per gallon. That is why I bought my first 1200 in 1972. One topic with the sales person was about having
to rebuild the motor every two years. He assured me that the Datsun would go 100,000 miles without any major work and the guarantee all sounded good. Gas milage and the around $300 cheaper
than a VW beetle is what sold me on the 1200. The fun came as a very pleasant after-surprise. The reliability was equal to the GTO. I have driven a 1200 since 1972 except for a couple of
years about ten years ago and the past 2 1/2 years. A most excellent engineered vehicle.

Hi Mareo,

The Mark 1 and 2 Escort's were the English rear drive versions - completely different to the front drive US model. The rear drives were, and still are, fantastic rally
and race cars.

I lost mt first 1200 in a divorce and was devastated. I hope you do not feel the same way if you get rid of your UTE, but I bet you will. There is no other car that has that race car feel
that is so affordable (and economical to maintain). Maybe in OZ and NZ the 1200s are so plentiful that you can just go buy one but here in the USA, I have not seen one on the streets
since 1990 and they are not so easily replacable. Think about WHY this club about the little unknown car is one of the most used clubs in Yahoo and in the world. I'll bet that if you sell
your URE, you will regret it.

Chris Stam, what year is a Mark 2 Escort? I used the rubber shifter boot from a mid 80s Escort but the park brake boot was too different.

Mareo