The Early 70s When The Present Was Orange

Maybe it was a reaction to the short-skirted, psychedelic sixties but suddenly in the early seventies everything turned to orange, brown and beige earth colours. Hems dropped and fashion went homespun floaty. MrQ and I had vile brown and orange carpets, brown and orange wallpaper, brown and orange blinds, brown and orange crockery.

However orange can be punchy. I shot this Mark 1 Ford Escort in bright sunshine this afternoon. I think it is a Mexico. The Mark I Escorts became successful as a rally car, and they eventually went on to become one of the most successful rally cars of all time. The Escort's greatest victory was in the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally, co-driven by Finnish legend Hannu Mikkola and Swedish co-driver Gunnar Palm. This gave rise to the Escort Mexico (1598cc "crossflow"-engined) special edition road versions in honour of the rally car. Introduced in November 1970, 10,352 Mexico Mark I's were built.