The tuning and engine company Cosworth was founded in 1958 and very soon forged a close association with Ford, but it was not until 1986 that the first Cosworth-badged Ford road car went on sale. This car, an Escort, was the first in a long and famous line of high-performance Cosworth and RS Fords that graced the garages of keen drivers and the bedroom walls of teenagers across Europe for over ten years.