How did THIS happen? The Ford Scorpio Story
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- Ford’s styling department in the 1980s and 1990s could be relied upon to produce hit after hit. We liked the third generation Fiesta, we loved the Mondeo and the Ka, and we positively adored the Ford Focus. But in that period there was one car that stuck out like a sore thumb, the 1994 Ford Scorpio.
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Ford Scorpio, should have released this horror on Halloween!
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Just ordered all his Ford books😅
A truly timeless design, in my eyes. Ugly when it was released, and still ugly more than 30 years later
However, the important question is:
Is it uglier now than it was when new?
@Danse_Macabre_125 i think its slightly less ugly, now that i see the new BMW M240i
The Scorpio '95 was technically a pretty good car. I drove it for three years, as a Scorpio Ghia 24V with the BOB Cosworth engine. The car didn't deserve the ugly design. Looking back, it's still incomprehensible how an unsaleable design could be released.
The BMW 7 Series these days is much worse. Makes the Scorpio look not so bad after all, it was just 30 years to early.
maybe they tried something interesting. front end reminds me of the Pinto and late 70's early 80's american cars.
@@pb5x5BS
This is what I’ve always heard from people who owned one back in the day, that said the car was a good car in every way except it had an ugly face.
@@martso9288 It's not interesting, more of a joke.
One thing you missed and the reason for the headlights looking like they did, was because they were the first (or one of the first) to use plastic headlights with a rear reflector over a glass lensed headlamp. This required considerable computer power and software to design but was in its infancy in the late 80's. The result of this was something quite limited in styling options compared to what could be achieved only a few years later.
They could have gone for something similar to the Calibra lights. They use projector lenses too, but with a way more pleasing appearance...
@@allDIYtrains I think projector headights are something different or an additional improvement? As you can get headlights without lenses with halogen, projector and xenon bulbs?
Ford had reflector headlights in 1989 on the Australian Fairlane. BMW used them too.
@@Low760 I believe there are there are a different parts of a headlight that that can improve their efficiency and the direction of the light. An example was my Rover 75 (great car by the way). It originally came with lensed lights, but had later clear reflective ones. Options for projector and xenon hid were also available. The Scorpio had polyelipsoid headlights which is the thing that made them unique (or as said nearly unique for the time).
This is not correct. All Scorpio headlights had glass lenses.
I love that they were constrained by the existing doors, created a terrible design around those, and then ended up doing new doors for the compromised design!
I had a 2.9 Scorpio Estate. Bought it cheap from a friend. It was a great car. Plenty of room, and performance.
During my Army service in the early 80s, I was based in Cologne and became friends with a guy who was a developer at Ford. He took me onsite to have a look at Fords newest design, called the Scorpio. I was blown away by its radical "jelly mould" body shape and remember thinking to myself that, maybe, it was a little too different from the "normal" shaped cars of the time. (Certainly different to my Mk5 Cortina staff car).Eventually, though, it was released, now renamed the Sierra, which, as we know, became a huge success. The Granada got the Scorpio name instead.
A friend of mine enjoyed his and, as he said, “you can’t see how ugly it is when you are driving it”
My grandfather had his for well over 25 years, which is incredibly impressive considering it was always parked outside on the driveway, in Sweden of all places.
In the end it was his left knee that wasn’t too keen on using a clutch and not rust that made him get rid of it. He replaced it with a automatic Focus, a Ford man until the grave.
The Scandinavian cars were much better protected from rust.
@@Markking1678 Cavity wax and undercoating oil are not (that) expensive though (a couple of hundred quid of supplies should be enough to do a car), why don't owners just apply it themselves even if it's not standard?
indeed impressive since any 90's Ford rusts like no tomorrow
@@Markking1678was there a different anti-corrosion spec for Scandi cars? If so, disgraceful of Ford that the UK didnt get the same - maybe UK buyers were easier customer fodder?
@@TassieLorenzo Who would want to save one of these anyway? Hideous, low rent cxxp.
I’ve owned 17 Scorpio Cosworth’s and loved every one of them especially my estates. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
17? 17?
What on earth possessed you? I mean, they're perfectly serviceable vehicles. But what made you think, after having purchased 16 Ford Scorpios, to go out and buy another one?
Did you buy each one made?
@@jackroutledge352more likely bought and replaced as they failed mot :(
Cosworth... is?
Cosworth's what?
Are you blind? 🤔
😂😂😂
I feel so lonely. I actually love big hatchbacks. I had a 3rd generation Mondeo, great car, but I had to sell it because the sedan boot was almost useless in daily life with a small child.
Me too. I tried to persuade my dad to buy one, but he was having none of it.
Me too! Saab 9000cs
I mean. Should you be putting your child in the boot daily?
I love the original Scorpio. It had a great back seat, looked good and offered tons of practicality. The replacement model was inferior in those areas.
@@user-ih7gc7dt9l You are a legend. Love to hear this!
Had an old Scorpio estate. Was a great car. Ate up the miles and had an enormous load capacity
The face of a car is the most important feature stylistically. As we have seen since, luxury executive cars have to have an angry face. When they sweep up behind other people and tailgate them, the face has to say “I’m really mean and angry- get out of my way”. The Scorpio looks like it wants to give other cars a big lick.
Fair point well made but the newest bmws and benzes are so utterly hideous from the front it's beyond a joke.
Another bugbear of mine is the tablet/iPad thing that's replaced dials and buttons and looks like cheap aftermarket "upgrades" because it's never designed into the dash or console, it just sorted of sits there, glued on top of everything and blocking air vents. You genuinely wouldn't pay for that as an option so why is it standard now?
@@drt1605 My recollection is that it was Clarkson as well.
The Lincoln LS was an absolute looker. Gorgeous car.
I still own a 2.9 V6 Scorpio. It‘s a 1995 model which I converted to the facelift design. I love it.
There are many great car show channels on RUclips. I have to say not taking anything away from the others but yours just seems a level above. It’s one of the only Chanel’s on the whole of RUclips I tune into watch and feels like a real TV show. Beyond amazing work 🎉
I had to get used to the design back in the day. But the fact it looked so different quickly grew on me. I'd still love to have one
I always liked it. At least it was original
Yup, that's it with such weird designs, whether it be the Scorpio, the AMC Pacer, The Fiat Multipla, the Pontiac Aztek or others: At least you still remember them - unlike so many other bland cars that have long been forgotten.
@@torstenscholz6243 I wouldn't put the Scorpio in the same corner as those. I like quirky, not ugly! I wouldn't want to be found dead in one of the aforementioned cars. Especially not the Fiat! But then again, I love the old Saab 99/90/900 too.
4:57 looks awesome. I remember liking the Scorpio as a kid despite not liking the headlights so much
I honestly loved the new Scorpio when it launched. It was fresh but still had some design clues going back to the Ford Granada from early 1980s...
My former neighbor had 2nd gen Scorpio estate, and I never thought it was ugly. it was bit like a Mondeo mixed with Crown Vic.
I had 2 of these over an 11 year period and loved them. So comfortable to drive. I also had the older Granada Scorpio with the 2.9l V6. That was amazing.
The Dutch queen drove the last Scorpio model in an extended version for many years, thereby she afforded it some cachet - in my eyes at least. It’s not that bad.
that would speak against it in my opinion.
@@DriftJesus Why? Because a queen drives a car it must be bad? That sounds like a witch hunt. Or do you despise the Netherlands that much?
@ I live in NL, do a background search on that family
@@Bowwow30
But, now that you mention it, having a monarch in the modern world is decidedly ridiculous.
I saw one converted to a Hearse & the quirky styling actually suited that!
@jd_the_cat Think you might be right
@jd_the_cat ruclips.net/video/Xa7Bgj0y3eg/видео.htmlsi=Bl86IrqT-UFDt0fM
@jd_the_cat Before that, they turned one into a 1:1 scale RC car.
@jd_the_cat A regular Scorpio sedan, I mean. Not a hearse.
Perhaps because the perks of being deceased are that you can no longer see it or have the ability to vomit.
i bought a second hand 2.0l petrol and used it as a taxi, i agree that the front had to grow on you over a period of time, but i've got yo say it was one of the nicest cars to drive and be a passenger in, i regularly did 8 to 10 hours shifts basically living in my taxi to make a living, always got out at the end of the night without any aches and pains, passengers were always telling me how comfortable the rear seats were, and you could fit two large suitcases in the boot, wasn't bad on fuel either. sadly mine got wrote off in the end.
Saw Ford Scorpio this summer [ 2024 ] on a car show at British Motor Museum. Beautiful well maintained car in dark red color and black leather interior. I don`t know what people were complaining about back in 1990s` because that car looks great! I would want one. When you play it safe and make sober designs people complaint that cars look boring and same. Then when you make something different they will complaint that it looks weird.
You sound like the type of guy who thinks Crocs are stylish 😂😂😂
No, sorry, I first saw it at the British motor show. It took me a good few minutes to work out that it was not a joke.
I loved my Ford Capri, my Ford Taunus and my Ford Granada.
But the Scorpio was and is ugly af.
I agree, I had one for 3 years and loved it. One of the smoothest driving cars I ever had, and wish I still had it.
17:18 This still looks really good to my eyes, a good 38 years later. I would say this and the Sierra B has some pretty timeless design elements. Being a Ford guy i can still dream of a scorpio Ghia 2,9i with this bodykit. A european luxobarge. Sad they are almost all gone now.
It was 30 odd years too early as a design. Nowadays it'll fit in with those hideous new car models shaped like a squished bar of soap 🧼🫧
if you are dreaming of a Ford, you have really mental problems...
i rather dream about a 1930s Mercedes or NSU silver arrow...1955 SL300 etc....but not a Ford from the 1990s!
@@Arltratlo not for me, I dream of fords from the 80's! Scorpio and a Sierra B 5 door HB in Si trim. Yummy!
@@AlfaGiuliaQV i watched the WRC rallies, never had a 2nd thought about the crashed Fords, but felt sorry for real cars, like Subaru, Audi or Lancia!
Owned a Granada, Loved it. Never had a Scorpio, but wish I had. Especially the 24V Cos. But did have a Mondeo MK3 2.5 24V Ghia X. Loved that as well.
I had one in 2001, a 2.0 ultima, the auto gearbox was wrecked and kept going into limp mode (it was few yrs old and a few owners) but oh the comfort, I loved it those seats were amazing, I didn't care what it looked like I didn't have to look at it lol, but after owning an XR4X4 this car was pure lux, I loved it.
My boss back in the early 2000s had a Scorpio. It was hella UGLY, but he swore by it. Said it was the most comfortable car he'd ever had.
when i was young we had that hatchback in the red shown multiple times in the video. i always liked the car. extremely practical and roomy for a family of 4. the issue was most people buying cars that size want to show off their purchase and are not looking for practically very much ;-)
I had a 1995 Granada Scorpio hatchback and it was wonderful! Also had a 1993 Granada Ghia Saloon. My parents also had a 1988 Granada 1.8L and that's where I fell in love with them.
I LOVE a bit of Big Car on a Saturday morning with a cup of coffee! ❤
....the rear of the 94 Scorpio was a bit Lincoln and not too bad. The frogeye front however is made children cry and scared when you stopped to let them over the road at a zebra crossing
I love the way the mk2 looks, such an oddball design but in just the right way. Especially the rear end.
I friends dad had the estate version of the Scorpio as a company car when I was a kid. It seemed very luxurious compared to the 2 decade old 1977 Volvo 244 we had back then.
Always looked great to me
My favourite Ford sedan/saloon. Always wanted one but by the time I could afford one there were none left for sale.
I absolutely love the design of this car. I saw one last weekend. It still looks modern.
Maybe the front looks more acceptable nowadays indeed. But in the Ninitees it was too a mollycoddle.
To my very American eye, it looks a lot like the Hyundai Sonata from the early to mid 2000s. Granted, that was the Sonata that was designed to look like a Jag, so I guess that's why they look similar to me!
Ford Granadas and Ford Scorpios were awesome cars, and I wish I had owned one.
It seems that Ford were so preoccupied with whether or not they _could_ produce the roundest cars, they didn't stop to think if they _should_
Ford Australia came [that] close to being forced to sell the mid 90's Scorpio.
Google what their range was back then.
It was suggested as a replacement for the Falcon!
The Falcon wagon rear looked almost like the Scorpio estate.
Today the swoopy Scorpio actually looks good!
And there it is, my dad's third car and the one I have my first memories of. Had the diesel engine, and my father never quite liked it. I puked way too many times in it 😅
I must be weird, because I like the design of that car quite a bit. It has character, something many cars nowadays are sorely missing.
Jaguar actually was quite an efficient company by 1990. John Egan had got the quality under control and they were making money.
Got into a Scorpio taxi. It was very comfortable and seemed luxurious (in a Ford way) I also liked the Sierra.
14:38 Ford Taiwan used the design as their locally assembled upmarket version of Mondeo called Metrostar in 2003.
Oh yes! Really cool!
Some of this stuff is so weird, cool, interesting etc, i was born in 1988 in the united states so growing up i never saw any of this and just assumed until about 15 we all had the same cars until the internet
Is it just me or do other people think it doesn't look that bad too? The front is a bit generic but those rear tailings looks actually quite good.
I actually kind of like the look of the second gen Scorpio, but the facelift model definitely looks a lot better
As a north american I like the look of the scorpio. Its looks like a babified panther body. Would have made a nice mid-sized lincoln or mercury I think
10:32 - the first time I saw this generation of the Scorpio, my first thought was that the car looked like a Taurus with a Lincoln rear end.
Taurus is so ugly....!!
9:00 😂 it must be camouflage
Big Car ep 26 seconds ago. hell yes.
😎
I was very impressed with the Sierra and the Granada Mk 3.
I´ve never before seen the Scorpio, but it looks like the more upscale korean cars made in the late 90s or the 2000
Another slick professional video, keep them coming.
I love big estates/wagons, I owned a 1992 Granada Estate and was a fantastic load lugger. The "bug-eyed"look was too much for me. I also thought the same of the Taurus from the same era.
its the car that james may drove in ambulance episode
ECNALUBMA 😅
@@monaabbyhamedani917 "Welcome aboard the e neck you lumba!"
I was in love with the 1992-1994 design, and especially the black/red rear lights.
I absolutely love the design of the second generation Ford Scorpio! It's something unique and different, and it still holds up to day.
The spiritual brother of the Lancia Thesis.
I owned a scorpio v6 ghia ..and loved it ..😊👍
i'm probably the only one that likes it,..
the front is kinda weird, but i like the back :)
Thank you for this video. As it goes I love this Scorpio. In Ultima 2.9 spec, a beaut. The ugliness is somehow endearing. I’m very aware of being in a minority of people.
Am I the only one who likes these?
Great episode as always, I love the design of this car definitely very original and different from what the other companies had to offer. Could you please do a video like this on one of my other favourite designs from that era The corsa? Once again thanks for the great video. hugs from Brazil 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷❤.
Danke!
Thanks Stephan!
Great car the Scorpio. I always wanted to own one.
To be fair the whole Ford's lineup was good at the time.
that is a beautiful car
The Scorpio was nicknamed the Sgorbio in Italy. Sgorbio in Italian means scrawl, however it also has another meaning, that of a person who if very ugly or deformed. This second meaning was the one intended for the Scorpio (Sgorbio).
Most have been banger raced now, a rare sight indeed.
I was always surprised Ford didn’t bring this platform to NA with a DOHC V8
Not after both Merkurs did not sell well. People did not buy them because even though they were RWD and offered great handling, they looked too much like the Taurus/Sable to stand out as being worth the money.
The second generation Scorpion would have failed just like the 1995-1999 “catfish” Ford Taurus because its styling would been too radical for most customers. The fact that the same designers involved with the ‘95 Taurus were involved with the 1994 Scorpio would explain their fate; both were great cars whose designs were too radical. Ford tried to tone them down in later releases, but by then it was too late.
The Lincoln LS on the Jaguar S-Type platform eventually delivered such a car I guess. Much more expensive to build than the old school Windsor pushrod V8 powered Ford Falcon in Australia (still with live axle on many trim levels)!
In Australia, the designers responsible for the radical AU Falcon were not fired, they were just given a MUCH more restrictive brief as they set about "fixing" the Falcon (essentially involving raising the front and rear to make it look less droopy). Indeed, they started work on the next model before the AU was even released as Ford had realised reaction had turned to overwhelmingly negative but by then it was locked in and too late to change it, lol.
@@survivingworldsteam Bringing European midsize limousines (aside from German and Swedish luxury brands like Mercedes, BMW and Volvo) to the US was almost always guaranteed to become a flop. Opel also failed spectacularly when they tried to bring the Omega to the US as the Cadillac Catera.
I always liked the Scorpio. I feel it's another of those cars that most people think is ugly because a couple of influential people told them it was. Yes, it looked very different to rivals, but I don't think it was all that dissimilar from other European, North American and, indeed, Australian Fords of the same time period.
The sales numbers says something completely different
I love it's design. A few quirks in this boring modern world. I also think it ages well. Sad that they never properly updated the estate tho
Most of the people who commented love Scorpio.
This is one of those moments where I think RUclips doesn't reflect reality.
Or maybe all the other people didn't even take a quick look at the video. And that's understandable, considering the car it's about.
I drove a very rare 2.5TD which was really nice to drive.
Man, watching this really reminded me how much I love your work - you go into so much detail on all the little daily-drivers that other channels might overlook!
And personally; even though I'm young, I quite like the look of the Scorpio - though I'll admit the name doesn't quite fit the design...he looks so friendly, a little *too* friendly I suppose given the intended market!
Ahhh usa designers had a hand it, always felt like this looked USA spec even the door handles look to be the same as the aero 1992 crown Victoria
Never understood the bashing of Mk2 Scorpio, i think it was very good looking car.
I was sierra mad when i was little untill i got bitten by the jag bug back in the early 90's. I've been Jaguar mad ever since
At the time, I loved the look of the Scorpio. Very American!
If you look at the design now, it looks less ugly compared to most of the new cars on the market today. Ford also had another car at this time that got the same "oh god its ugly treatment" was the built down under Ford Falcon Fairmont.
Also some of the other luxury European brands of this era also failed in the looks department. Lancia's of this era looked a bit bad as well.
Kappa looks fine (as long as it's sedan), but Alfa Romeo 166 could use better front end design.
I had a second gen Ultima Estate with the Cosworth 2.9 V6 and all the options from new. It was a fast, comfortable and refined car and the estate rear end looked very good. It was massive inside with the rear seats down and meant that almost anything could be brought back home from a trip to Ikea. Of course, the front was grotesque but, as you say, you couldn't see that when you were driving it.
I did have a problem with the autobox, if I remember rightly, which was fixed under warranty, but apart from that it ran perfectly.
In 1989, I bought an 88 Scorpio that was fully loaded here in the U.S. It had been a Ford executives car for a year, only had 8,000 miles on it. Paid $14K for it, which was only $2K more than a same year Taurus. It was a dream on trips, luxurious, and got good fuel economy. I loved that car, eventually getting rid of it when it had 268K miles on it, and had a hard time finding parts for it.
I have to admit growing up as a young 11 year old Ford Fan, that the Scorpio was Gawping.... The rear end looked spot but that front. Now I don't think it's a bad car, it's aged well, I think the facelift just moving the Ford Badge into the middle of the grille and smoked front lights make the car look spot on as for the rest lights its like seeing a modern car with a lightbar at the rear.
Still way better than the current BMW 7 series ...
Never really knew about the Scorpio until now as I don’t think we got it here in Australia.
It would be interesting to see a story on Ford Australia as they made exclusive vehicles to the Australian market
I loved the car at first sight and still find it beautiful 30 years on
The was indeed a shocker! Not seen any for the past 20 years.
I bought a 1996 Scorpio Ultima 2lt in 2011, and had it for 3 years and loved it especially for it "Amercan" look. Always thought the tail lights should have extended across the back, much like many new cars today.
I always loved these! People calling this ugly are probably the same who drive those heinous Ignis nowadays 🙄
It is hideously ugly
To me, It doesn’t look nearly as bad as the 3rd gen Taurus (oval-ize everything!) though the front fascia is unfortunate. The ersatz wood on the dash was something of it’s time yet still it’s not a terrible interior.
TBF, to me personally only the hatcback version of the first Scorpio looks like a proper design, which seemed really cool when I grew up; sedan was obvisouly an afterthought.
The previous model Scorpio was superb - I borrowed a 2.9i model once, and it was absolutely superb. So, the new Scorpio had a great base - but, oh, that styling………😢
Does the Mk1 front end bolt straight on to the Mk2? In theory you could make a hybrid with a Mk1 Scorpio front and Mk2 Scorpio rear!
Had one. 2.0 DOHC was very economical for its size. It was ugly from the front. Back/side was actually OK looking. It was also very comfortable, very spacious from the inside, seats and dashboard layout and controls were extremely ergonomic. I could drive it for hours without getting tired. It was also quite reliable. It was also very cheap when I bought it used. Could carry passengers in the back, and the boot was huge too. I LOVED that car...
It's SO weird to see one twenty plus years later - they look positively just like a '90s car now. And I was one of the "dunno if like or hate" crowd. The mid-2K BMW boot fiasco also aged better than expected, mind you.
I worked for Ford at Dunton at that time. Renault was cleaning up the sub-B segment in Europe with the Twingo, so I was working on project BE146 which became the Ka. The teams working on different projects were given their own area in the large open plan office. The Scorpio was known as DE1 and their project team was very bullish - they’d printed out posters hanging above their desks saying “if it’s not DE1 it’s not important”. Needless to say they piped down a lot after the Scorpion was launched a few months later to howls of derision from the press !
Entertaining as always - my dad worked for Ford and occasionally used to get pre-release cars to drive around in, one day he picked me up from uni in one of these and we just didn't know what to make of it. Interior was very luxurious (I seem to remember there was even some kind of hand-pump for plumping up the driver's seat?), but we were just baffled by the exterior - had Ford gone completely mad?
Anyway, one comment you made, which I've seen others say as well, is that the old Granada didn't fare well against BMWs and Mercs, but I don't actually think the Granada was intended to complete with those cars - no Merc driver was ever going to change to a Ford by choice. The real competition were the likes of the Vauxhall Senator/Omega, Renault 25, Peugeot 605 etc - and I think it stood up well against those cars.
Cheers and looking forward to the next vid!
Ford's were being compared to Audis, Mercs, BMWs, Citroens & Rovers in the 70s - at least by my dad who looked at all of them. It's a value for money thing I suppose for him. He deemed the Granada "too noisy at high speed" to my recollection and went with the Audi which in the 70s was competitively priced because people hadn't woken up to its quality just yet.
@@BigCar2 Would that be the Mark 2/3 he was referring to? They were a little before my time :D. Anyway thanks for the reply, FYI I bought my dad Steve's book for Christmas, thanks for the discount code!
Oh yeah! Kick off the weekend with another Big Car video