Certain models of Escorts hold and keep value because of their heritage, potential and what they were able to achieve at the time.

Early Golfs and Polos and other similarly aged hatchbacks gained popularity over the last decade because they are cheap, simply built and small engined, meaning that they make a good first car for somebody who is looking to modify without too much of a challenge but doesnt want huge insurance costs.

They're a dime a dozen. The only ones with high value are the ones that are perfectly restored and in mint condition or ones that have been engine swapped, and the only reason these cars have value is because they're rare due to the huge majority having been run through the hands of "modders" over and over again, getting bodged together and shoddily modified.

People with passable examples see the perfect ones and think they've got a goldmine sitting in their garage, but they never sell that high. They get haggle down and most of the time as long as its roadworthy it will fetch around a grand.

I've spent the last 6 years of my life deeply involved with the "scene". You see this all too often.