By the mid-1970s, Ford-of-Europe was forging ahead with expansion, with modernisation, and with technical breakthroughs tumbling over each other: its ambition was to confirm its position as one of the largest car-makers in the continent. We all know, for sure, that they already had secured market leadership in the UK, that their cars and engines were supremely successful in motorsport, and their image was flourishing.
Even, so, there were practical limits to what could be achieved, and how quickly that could be done. Maybe it was high time that the original breed of rear-drive Escorts should be replaced, but with major new programmes like those concerning Cortinas, Capris, Granadas and — above all — the birth of the Fiesta to be completed, it could not be done in a…
