Wanted
We are looking for additional information on the Escort XR3 Peranas.
Do you know anyone who owns one of these cars?
Have you seen any magazine articles about this car?
If you can help in any way big or small please email us at info@perana.org
We will of course give full credit to all those who provide information that we use.
This page will continue to be updated as we get more information.
Escort XR3 Perana
The Escort XR3 Perana is, sadly, not well remembered despite being very competitive on the track.
This car was unlike the earlier Peranas because the engine was not changed. Instead the conversion consisted of two twin-choke Weber 36 DCD carburettors with Basil Green developed air cleaner, inlet and exhaust manifolds.
Despite the apparent simplicity of this conversion, the performance of the Escort XR3 was transformed, knocking 1.6 seconds off the 0-100 km/h (62mph) time and adding 16 km/h (10 mph) to the top speed.
The Car magazine road test of January 1993 put this into perspective by comparing the XR3 Perana to the 3 litre Ford Cortina XR6 and the standard XR3:
| Cortina XR6 | XR3 Perana | Standard XR3 | |
| 0-60 km/h | 4.1 sec | 4.3 sec | 4.7 sec |
| 0-80 km/h | 6.3 sec | 6.4 sec | 7.3 sec |
| 0-100 km/h | 9.5 sec | 9.6 sec | 11.2 sec |
| 1km sprint | 31.3 sec | 31.3 sec | 33.1 sec |
| Top speed | 182.0 km/h | 183.1 km/h | 167.3 km/h |
Later a five speed version was also produced.