MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Cuppa in hand.
Watch this.
Thank Johnny later.
It's about 70k I think.
I paid £70 for my last one.
Good lord, yes.
I'd have a MK2 with the Duratec and a nice interior.
Off to look down the back of the sofa. 🙂
If I had the money i'd have one.
I'd love a MK1 version, with that 200hp engine, but much more 'livable' interior that's got some soundproofing.
I've been waiting years for them to finally release this and I still haven't saved enough to buy one.
They're not the first company to recreate the mk2 shell but they're the first to offer full builds with all the options.
Given the amount of people already rallying with 6 figure Escorts the stages will be full of these things in the future.
they are pricey, but far more practical and useable than a bonkers Seven if you’re after some reliable nostalgia
Was expecting printed hedgerow bongo material, is only slightly disappointed.
Oh crikey. A BDG please. I always liked the square arches on the Mk2 but that Mk1 looks lovely too. Brings back memories of Clipstone, Dalby, Oliver's Mount, Clocaenog, etc. etc.
Where's the like button
I'm going to commit a sin here...
I prefer the MK3 escort over the 1 and 2.
Never driven a mk1 mind. Driven a MK2.
Don't get me wrong, I'd take an RS2000 any day. But then I'd take a series 1 turbo over that. Don't hate me.
I've got the hots for the 80s escort. But then I'm 37 so it's kind of relative to my childhood.
I don't really think of myself as an escort fan but I really love the concept. If I had money to spaff on a hobby car and I'd already scratched the itch in proper hobbies (bikes and boats)'i think I could well choose something like this over an off the shelf 'driver's' like a Cayman.
I prefer the MK3 escort over the 1 and 2.
Don’t hate me.
Have you driven them all? If so then very difficult to understand why anyone would take a FWD (and not a good one) over a RWD (a very good one)
I had a MK2 RS2000 in 1988 and it remains the second most enjoyable car I have owned. Great to drive.
Realise the MST is better than an original MK1 or MK2 but I would just buy a very good MK1 for £25K and drive that everyday if I was after a road car. Will take more upkeep but the £40K difference pays for a lot of upkeep.
A Mk 3 I'm guessing at a damp slidey roundabout understeer horrible, but a rear wheel drive oversteer delightful
I’m going to commit a sin here…
C'mon, we're all friends here. 🙂
I prefer the MK3 escort over the 1 and 2.
Witch! Witch! It's a witch! Burn it, buuuuuurn...
Love JS's vids and love an old Escort, thanks for the heads up.
I haven't watched the video because I'm not a huge Escort fan but did one of the comments above really say it was £70k??!!
Thats bonkers. After reading the other recent classic car thread on here I then read the 27 page thread on Piston heads about the guy who was getting the Alitalia Lancia Stratos replica built for him. He approximated that was going to come in just below £70k and it is a thing of great beauty not an egg box on wheels.
Everyone's different I guess and if you're a big Escort fan then I'm sure this is a dream build.
It just seems an awful lot of money though.
Thanks for sharing that. My first car was a MK2, so it would have to be one of those I think.
I’m going to commit a sin here…
I prefer the MK3 escort over the 1 and 2.
Where is the moderator when a lifetime ban needs handing down? :o)
I haven’t watched the video because I’m not a huge Escort fan but did one of the comments above really say it was £70k??!!
Thats bonkers. After reading the other recent classic car thread on here I then read the 27 page thread on Piston heads about the guy who was getting the Alitalia Lancia Stratos replica built for him. He approximated that was going to come in just below £70k and it is a thing of great beauty not an egg box on wheels.
Everyone’s different I guess and if you’re a big Escort fan then I’m sure this is a dream build.
It just seems an awful lot of money though.
It's not really an Escort though. It's a 100% brand new car the shape of an escort. You are essentially buying a rally car or a customised rally car with added luxury to your spec. It's a thing to drive and enjoy rather than look at and pamper. Also not really a kit car - with a typical dodgy grp body, dubious handling an donor running gear, nut a thought through car built to drive well first priority.
As much as a Stratos was a lovely (is batshit mental) is the replica had it's driving manner it would be beyond my skillset and also as fun as the driving position would be for the first 10 mins the super low position would make driving 'enthusiastically' and back roads open to the public very scary! I'm also not convinced I could actually get in one now!
These guys have been building Mk1's like this for ages. 14k for a rolling chassis. (Note GRP shell on spaceframe) the thing above is all steel.
I think a full build is about 30k
I haven’t watched the video because I’m not a huge Escort fan but did one of the comments above really say it was £70k??!!
That's what it costs to make bespoke cars in the UK. The cheapest Morgan Plus 4 is almost £70K.
Those RSR things^^ are awesome track cars but it's not really the same thing at all. It's a stock car style silhouette racer. Tubular chassis with 20 something fibreglass panels. They're deafeningly loud inside and those panels flap around quite a lot. I seem to remember the top of the door frame being peeled open by the wind at high speeds. I know someone is trying to IVA one but it would be horrible on the road.
I haven’t watched the video because I’m not a huge Escort fan but did one of the comments above really say it was £70k??!!
Thats bonkers
Escort's have been a permanent fixture in rallying since they were brand new and they're still the most numerous car out there. They were getting very difficult to maintain and most cars became just a collection of panels and carefully rejigged bodyshells. There's now so many people making reproduction parts that this type of completely new car was only a matter of time.
70k is a conservative figure for a modern spec race car. Given the amount of people running Millington engines some are clearly spending well over 100k.
Those people are thrilled that they can buy a full new shell for a fraction of the price of a custom build from a rally prep company who has been hoarding a stash of rusty old Escorts for decades while the price goes ever upwards.
Mk1 RS turbo was an awful drive. I turned one down.
As classic cars, all escorts are rubbish lol. Especially at a show parked next to a Rover P5 coupe.
I'd have the Flat front RS Mexico Mk2 or a Harrier 🙂
I drove a class winning 2l MK 1 which was crude, hairy and really needed a farmer's arms to drive it well (the owner was a farmer). A proper G4 MK 2 with over 220bhp which once everything was warmed up and it was up to speed was a delight.
And a couple of cooking MK3s: an RS 1600i which despite having a fortune spent on it felt plain slow and an RS Turbo. The Turbo I rate as one of the worst cars I've ever driven and the only one I've had to back off on a dead straight dry tarmac road to keep it on said road.
Now I'd walk around them, smile and walk away. If you spend a lot of time behind the wheel on closed road you can start to enjoy them. That's no longer my case and I'd be too cautious to enjoy the experience, they start to make sense at speeds that don't make sense.
I’m going to commit a sin here…
I prefer the MK3 escort over the 1 and 2
Just spat my tea out over my keyboard!! Have you ever driven a MK3? My first car was a MK3 Escort and, though it was my first car and will always hold special memories for me (spontaneous road trip with mates, getting upto no good with my first girlfriend and other fun things 17 year old with a car in the world get upto) it was by far the worst car compared to all my mates cars...there were MK2 XR2, Audi 80, Audi coupe, MK2 Escort, lightly breathed over mini, Renault 5 GT turbo, some Astra MK1 and MK2's and a few others. I always lusted after my mates cars over my pretty crappy MK3 escort. In fact I had a MK2 Astra straight after and that was a better car...the Vauxhall/GM 1.3ltr engine was better than the Ford 1.3 CVH engine. Always pulled stronger and was faster.
Would love a MK1/2 escort like this though. Never really thought much of them..my mum used to have a MK1 escort estate and I think a MK1 2 door too and just thought of them as normal drab cars, but then a work colleague who built up a MK1 rally car took me out for a spin in it and it was a brilliant thing. Think it would have to be stripped out though. It wasn't particularly quick but the noise, vibration and the way it went about things was brilliant. If you dial that rawness out then unless you have a bonkers engine in there it will just become a boring run on of the mill drab car.
Forgot to say - I think I'd go minimum noise and vibration dampening. Anything to make it feel fast and raw as slow as possible. And just accept it was never going to be a family run to the shops or motorway journey car.
Anyone know where that was filmed, looks lovely there.
I agree what he says about there being a market for things like this in a future of self driving cars. Lovely project.
You see I understand the mark 3 love. I grew up on XR3 and 1600i, all the mark 2s were rusting away and old people’s cars. (I’ll not mention the mk3 battery tray which rusted in the blink of an eye.)
I even like the CVH, it’s kind like rooting for the underdog in sports.
My heart will forever belong to a white RS1600i, yes it has so many flaws but we can’t all be married to supermodels.
[strong]TheDTs[/strong] wrote:
Anyone know where that was filmed, looks lovely there.
North coast of Snowdonia somewhere. I think it might be on the Llynn Peninsular. I will check and come back to you
Edit. Yep, exactly where I thought. On the private road down to the Welsh Language Centre
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Llithfaen,+Pwllheli/ @52.9742983,-4.456158,812m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x4865bdffd8f4a295:0x3f6317be709a9a97!8m2!3d52.9605041!4d-4.447881
@theDTs it was filmed around nant gwrtheyrn by the look of it, very pretty
Lost cause but was hoping to keep that secret in the hope they’d have to sell off cheap..
A two door restored shell sold locally two years ago for 10k. I remember my RS2000 and whilst good, I’m not sure I’d call it great, though a blast in one now, would be great compared to the current batch of ‘domestic appliances’.
Looked like the drop down to the Welsh Language Centre at Nant Gwrtheyrn.
Ah, great minds etc.....🙂
Anyone know where that was filmed, looks lovely there.
Llithfaen and Nant Gwrtheyrn.
You could book a welsh learners course when picking up your car at Nant G.
There used to be a great DH track there.
Those RSR things^^ are awesome track cars but it’s not really the same thing at all. It’s a stock car style silhouette racer. Tubular chassis with 20 something fibreglass panels. They’re deafeningly loud inside and those panels flap around quite a lot. I seem to remember the top of the door frame being peeled open by the wind at high speeds. I know someone is trying to IVA one but it would be horrible on the road.
Yeah, appreciated. its a race car end of. There is an irish guy that races one, he is very rapid.
There used to be a great DH track there.
Spent far too long exploring the old granite quarry at Trefor and bivvied at the old hill fort a few times.
The Llyn is wonderful.
Cheaper MK2 for you here:
https://www.wonderlandmodels.com/products/tamiya-rc-ford-escort-mkii-rally-pb-mf-01x/
I've ordered the catalogue. I can't in a million years afford to order a turn key car but it'll make some nice bedtime reading for a while!
My long term plan for building one involves starting with an NC MX5 with a 2 litre engine (which is pretty much a Ford Duratec) and 6 speed box. Fit throttle bodies and a standalone ECU and you've got the correct oily bits in place while you save up for the rolling shell.
That buys me enough time for a lottery win or some miracle job opportunity.
I'm going to have it in red with a roll cage but probably carpets, head lining and door cards to hide all the Dynamat. Should make a fun road trip and track day car. It'll still cost a fortune but it would be the last car I ever bought.
Thanks for the location info everyone. 👍
My first car was a RWD Mk2 Escort too - and I'd love one of these. With aircon, must be said 🙂
No mk2 escort thread is complete without a Frank Kelly video
Right - I am the most very casual of really very casual rally fans, but that video is utterly fantastic. Love hearing him laugh and his co-drivers are awesome! 🙂
Hmm can’t decide. £90k gets you some very nice weekend cars.
It would have to have a cave for me, but one welded in, not bolted.
I was across that way before Xmas between lock downs, some bits of the area are stunning, some bleak.
I did warn people I was commiting a sin. Lol.
As said I haven't driven a mk1 and I have no desire to do so. Don't float my boat.
Did a rally day experience in a MK2. Great fun. I get it. I really do. I love going to the local rallys and seeing them fly through the woods.
Also know the MK3 and 4 aren't anything special I've driven enough and sat in enough.
I toyed with the idea of a RS2000 in the early 2000s. You could pick one up in great condition for £4-5k. If only I knew.
Then again I also love the Mk5 RS2000 in 1991 pre smiley grill form. I obviously lack taste!
But it's aesthetics as well for me and nostalgia. A mk3 turbo is a fine looking car and was what I aspired to own.
db
Full Member
You see I understand the mark 3 love. I grew up on XR3 and 1600i, all the mark 2s were rusting away and old people’s cars. (I’ll not mention the mk3 battery tray which rusted in the blink of an eye.)
I even like the CVH, it’s kind like rooting for the underdog in sports.My heart will forever belong to a white RS1600i, yes it has so many flaws but we can’t all be married to supermodels
Agreed. Admittedly I prefer the fiesta. I even love the XR2i and would pick one over a 205 GTi (sinner!) handle like a boat but I can reel off facts and figures about that and the MK2 xr2 all day long. Love the CVH. Was rough as hell above 4k revs, needed a cambelt every 36k and was ready for scrap at 100k having ate it's cam profiles and stem seals. Fun times.
I navigated for fifteen years back in the day, many different cars including top-end stuff: ex-works Sapphire Cosworth (ex Francois Delecour); ex-works Subaru Legacy (ex Alister McRae); ex-works Daihatsu Charade GTti**
plus an ex-works Group-4 Escort mkII, reg OLD421P which is a fairly famous/infamous “Trigger’s broom” car given a fairly monumental accident it had. Anyway apart from this mkII being incredibly quick, it handled like nothing else, just so so responsive, agile, flickable, however you wanted to describe it. Stunning.
The owner was offered “name your price” blank cheques on a number of occasions...he did eventually succumb but has since regretted it.
**That GTti was nuts. Running in gpN spec, we had one management unit which gave 140hp and a second that offered 180hp but we were advised to use the latter sparingly. Bearing in mind this was ~30 years ago from a 993cc three cylinder twin-cam. It sounded like a Porsche and destroyed 2.0l Astra GTEs !
You can’t really bring XR3i and XR2s in to a thread about mkII rally cars though. Can you? Really?
And an XR2 over a 205gti, where is the ban-hammer when you need it?
Where is the moderator when a lifetime ban needs handing down? :o)
I'm an ex-moderator who had a Mk3 so if you're hoping to appeal to me then you're one off I'm afraid.
You see I understand the mark 3 love.
...
I even like the CVH
I had a 1.6 CVH, essentially the same block as the XR3 without all the silliness. I hold to this day that I had a truly shit example of an otherwise great car. It was a hoot to drive, the vari-carb was genius, I just happened to buy a Friday Night Special.
As Escorts go, I'd have a Mk3 / Mk4 again over the Mk2. Hell, I'd take a Mk1 Mexico over a Mk2. Several friends went through several Mk2 Escorts in various flavours over the years and they were all universally shit.
I loved my little electric 72 blue Mk1 1300 sport. It was the first car I'd owned bought it from a work colleague for £450 in 85. He went on to buy a lime green Mk2 RS2000.
Like all fords of that age they were so easy to steal, mine was taken from the company carpark ragged around the local pits and then eventually set fire to. I'd only had it for a year but it took me all over the UK to gigs and holidays.
Finding a replacement Mk1 escort let alone another sport was hopeless.
Want😍 just about £70k short😞
My car reg is MKII FAN, so I’m halfway there, really. Been lucky enough to co- drive a few rallies in them over the past few years.
Like all fords of that age they were so easy to steal...
Pretty sure someone told a great story on here about theirs, which had a problem with the gear lever coming off, being taken from outside a pub. Reduced to walking home, they came across the car three hundred yards down the road, engine still running and gear lever on the back seat. 🙂
You see I understand the mark 3 love. I grew up on XR3 and 1600i, all the mark 2s were rusting away and old people’s cars.
Same here, those were the days that you could watch a car disintegrate over the course of a year. I hardly remember any Mk2s.
On a similar vein, how about a supercharged dual fuel V6 hybrid Mk1 Capri?
When I were a lad in the 80's the older kid down the road bought a mk1 BDA rally car,it was probably a well worn version as I vaguely remember more time spent trying to repair it than driving 🙂
bet he didn't pay £60 for it thou,what are they £60K now 🙂
"I’m going to commit a sin here"
I want a Mk1 body, and basic running gear for an imaginary EV daily driver project
While electric power is great for many reasons it is the last thing I would want in a fast Escort. The changing gear, the rev build up, the noise etc,. are all integral parts of what would make the car fun.
.
While electric power is great for many reasons it is the last thing I would want in a fast Escort.
To be fair, at least an EV Escort wouldn't be a danger to unwary pedestrians- the sound of bits falling off would let everyone know it was about. 🙂
They have gone and done it again but this time even more beautiful!
Shame he didn’t really Rev the nuts off it they sound brilliant flat out
Oh God. That's what I want for Christmas. Great registration too - BDG.
I saw that car at the Manchester Late Brake Show Live and it is a proper work of art in the flesh. Really does have a lot of presence about it. I'm not a Ford fan but I can see the attraction of one of these if you can afford one!
Proper squeaky bum moment when the rear wheels let go!
I’d love a MK1 version, with that 200hp engine, but much more ‘livable’ interior that’s got some soundproofing.
This. Although, TBH, if the same sort of thing was available for Datsun 1600s, I'd go for one of those.
Your bum would be constantly squeaking as that was the reason rear wheel drive are so much fun, opposite lock was learned at such an early age
That Mk 1 very close to my Sebring Red coloured Red Mexico , I had a shit brown one too great car but that Ford colour was used mostly on Cortinas