Subject: 1984 Escort piece of junk
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 23:41:04 -0700

I forever swore off post 1969 Fords because of the lousy design of
this car. Who was the idiot engineer/designer that decided the oil
filter goes on the towards the rear of the car above the rack &
pinion where you can't get to the damn thing?

Who was the idiot engineer/designer that decided you need a $55 specialty
tool to remove & reinstall the CV half-shafts from the hub?
On a front wheel drive Chrysler product, you can push out and re-insert
the half-shaft with into the hub with your THUMB! Ford has forever
lost ANY business they may have ever received from me because of
the idiotic design of ONE CAR! When I had to replace a CV boot on
this pile of junk, it took me 3 days, what with delays and phone
calls  finding out who in this area sold the specialty tool. What
saved me on this  one is that my  neighbor across the street is a
professional mechanic for the power company, and I knew the power
company had bought alot of these miserable cars. Had it been a Chrysler
product, I could have got the job done in about 4 hours (maybe less
with fewer smoke breaks). Plus I had to replace 2 boots on this poor
excuse for a car. I have had a 1984 Plymouth Duster (not the greatest
car in world either) since it was new and I NEVER have had to replace
a single boot due to wear. The one I did have to replace was because
of my own stupidity with a screw driver that put a small hole in
the boot. Same with the '89 Dodge Daytona. Boots are still good.
So, why did the the 2 Ford boots go bad in the first place? Shoddy
parts in my opinion. Except for the 4x4 pickup (it's a Chevy), we
have all Chrysler products around here. They're not perfect, but
ALOT better than Fords.

I figure a car company with the guts to take risks like re-designing
their entire pickup truck line and put out the Viper and the Prowler
has got to have something going for it. Ford has lost the potential
purchase of automobiles, parts, services, etc. because of ONE lousy
car.