1980 Ford Escort L review from Australia and New Zealand

When I got the car the two speed heater fan sometimes made a nasty noise like fingernails down a blackboard.

After a cold season that meant the heater fan was used quite a bit, it made the noise more often, and finally the fan failed completely. The heater works, but without the fan won't really demist the windows unless I drive really fast.

Lots of things don't work - temperature gauge, oil warning light, clock.

Front seat came off the floor, but another seat was easy to come by.

After a while a spring popped up from the front passenger seat and stabbed my friend in the bottom.

For a car that's done nearly 300000km this is pretty impressive. The engine is reconditioned, but still leaks oil so fast there's a massive patch of oil on the road outside my house.

This was a driving school car for its first ten years, so it won't have been treated all that well. But some things still work - two bars of the rear window de-mister still work.

It's economical and reliable.

The paint is fading very baldly, but it has done a lot of kms.

Since the heater fan doesn't work, and we get cold icy winters, I've got a more modern car that can demist. It's just about at the end of its life, but it's been a long life. There's no rust and it still goes, so someone will want it. A good car after all it's been through.