None of these badboys look like the owners would be crying out for a quickshift conversion

Must be the reason why they had a dozen spare

http://www.answers.com/topic/ford-escort-north-america

I knew there was an American Escort, but wouldnt have thought it shared anything with its European counterpart except the badge and name...
I think thats what Micky was getting at, the fact that Escorts as we know them were not sold in the States?