Perhaps the most famous car after Model T to come out of Ford's Lake Michigan operations, this car was the undisputed heavy weight champion in the world rallies in the late 70's and the early 80's.The secret behind this is Ford's remarkably simple yet solid design, probably advocated by none other than Lee Iococca himself. This car had front wheel drive with V-6 or V-4s under the bonnet. These new line of Ford engines became very popular both in the rallying scene and in the family saloon business b'coz of its reliability, fuel efficiency and highly customizable nature. This clearly was America's answer to those Jap dustbins. Ford still continues to make them with the latest version coming out last year, but the basic mantra of a family saloon which is easy to drive, reliable, fuel efficient and yet packs in a fair punch is still maintained. Although it did quite well in the rallies in the 90's, the Escort has now being completely replaced by the new Ford Focus to compete with the likes of the Subaru Imprezza and (our very own) Mitsubishi Lancers.

Featured Car : The  Mini Cooper

Born of necessity during the Suez Crisis, it had a revolutionary design for the time - with front wheel drive, the gears mounted in the engine's sump and a transverse engine. The entire engine and transmission unit was contained on sub frames and fitted compactly under the Mini's tiny bonnet. It was also VERY small - just over 10 feet long - which made it all the more incredible that it could take 4 people and (some) of their luggage.
It has been available as saloon, station wagon, pick-up, van, cabriolet, utility vehicle (Moke) and numerous other permutations. Launched on an unprepared public on the 27th of August 1959, the car was not an immediate success, because people thought it was "odd".
Once the Queen had been seen taking a drive in one in the early 60s, the car suddenly became a major fashion item. Every famous person had to be seen in them and the car soon became "classless", and could be seen as easily outside the school as outside the Ritz. In 60s swinging London, nothing else was quite as cool!