Car-O-Scope (minimal Audi)

[Fringe Ryder <fringe@fringeweb.com>]

The Exp was a profit model for Ford.  It cost very little extra to produce,
and got a large premium.   At that time, the Escort was actually a pretty
decent car - the base model (Pony) had a 1.9L central fuel-injected engine
and weighed very little.  The higher models (including Exp) had multiport
fuel injection, better suspension and wheels, etc., but still weighed very
little.   With a stickshift, these were fun, peppy, flingable cars.  With
an automatic, they conjure images of wet sand.

Ford has brought some euro-cars over; the Mercury Capri in the '70s, and
the Merkur Xr4ti and Scorpio in the 80s.  The problems are:

1) They wind up costing more than people would pay for a Ford
2) The bulk of the car-buying market with the money to buy new cars is not
young adults.  Older car buyers are more risk-averse, less likely to buy
something new and unknown.

I still like the Xr4ti and the Capri 6 though!

>From: Art4@aol.com
>
>the ford EXP was a car similar to the escourt(3 dr though) in the mid 80's
if 
>I remember the years right.  I guess you could call it a sportier version of 
>the escourt.  Like the the pinto and other Ford creations, it went the way
of 
>the dinosaurs. Why doesn't ford release some of there cars they produce 
>accross the seas?  For a company its size, this should not be that hard.  I 
>
>still would never buy one, but it would be nice to see some some American 
>creations with a flair and class.
>