The Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet got the magazine spreads, the padded roll-hoop that Germans nicknamed the strawberry basket, and a permanent seat in the 1980s imagination. Its close cousin from the same coachbuilder got none of that. Both were assembled by Karmann, both took a sensible front-wheel-drive hatchback and cut the roof off to make a four-seat convertible, and both aimed at the buyer who wanted sunshine without the running costs of a proper sports car. The 1989 Ford Escort Cabriolet now sitting in Orsa, in the Swedish region of Dalarna, is the one almost nobody pictures first. That is precisely what makes it interesting.
The Escort drop-top carried a certain historical weight when new, the first drop-top Ford Europe had produced since the Corsair of the 1960s. It appeared as a concept at the 1981 Frankfurt Motor Show, with Karmann tasked with building the four-seat cabriolet. By 1986 the whole range had been through the Erika-86 facelift that enthusiasts call the Mk4, bringing a Granada-style dash and softer suspension. This particular car runs the 90 hp 1.6-litre CVH rather than the fuel-injected XR3i tune, which places it firmly on the show side of the ledger rather than the go side. Where the Golf Cabriolet leaned on Wolfsburg poise, the Escort was always the more relaxed proposition.
Softer than the badge suggests
On the move that softness defines it. The CVH is a willing rather than a thrilling engine, happiest in the mid-range, and the Karmann-reinforced shell keeps scuttle shake to a background tremor rather than an embarrassment, though rough surfaces will still find it. The Mk4's raised ride height and gentler damping mean this is a car for open-topped touring on a summer evening, not for chasing a 205 down a mountain road. The five-speed manual shift is light, the steering unhurried. Approached on its own terms, it is a genuinely pleasant thing.
The seller lists 50,000 km, fresh service, and describes a car ready to drive away, which for a 37-year-old Karmann cabriolet is the whole story if it holds up. Both the Mk3 and Mk4 are notorious for a rotten battery tray and surrounding bulkhead, with serious rust also likely in the rear inner arches, rear chassis rails, floorpan and behind the headlights. Nordic salt makes this doubly worth checking, and the rear arches in particular tend to rot from the inside out, so surface bubbling usually signals worse beneath. Underneath, track control arm bushes are commonly perished, the tell-tales being vague steering and a clunk over bumps. Trim is the other headache: sourcing good door cards and seats, whether the Daytona trim of early cars or the Zolda version found post-1989, is hard.
What the low reading really means
At roughly €1,700 this sits at the very bottom of the Escort Cabriolet band, and there is logic to that with a non-XR3i car. What complicates the sum is the mileage. Cabriolets like this were ordinary when new and have stayed cheap, yet an honest 50,000 km example draws the small circle of buyers who want the best survivor rather than the cheapest runner, and for them only clean cars count. The Golf Cabriolet has already made that journey up the values ladder; the Escort trails behind it, as it always did. Whether this one earns the low-mileage premium depends entirely on the metal being as good as the odometer, so verify the service record, put it on a ramp, and have the bulkhead and sills read by someone who knows these cars before any money changes hands.
