Mk1 Ford Escorts - share the love

[antony denman]

here 2 escorts 1 owned wished i kept the camper with the lock down,the 4 door i bought after selling a dog rougth 2 door,cant find pics,4 door i bought in scotland did lots mechinal work,

[garbaldy]

42 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Where did you source them from? 

All 7 escorts where found in Germany,  first green more door was back in 2015 I think.   

This was one load..

[Dick Cheeseburger]

5 minutes ago, garbaldy said:

All 7 escorts where found in Germany,  first green more door was back in 2015 I think.   

This was one load..

Fair enough. Sounds like you've had success with it. I guess cheap* import Mk1s are all but gone now though...

[Dick Cheeseburger]

22 minutes ago, antony denman said:

here 2 escorts 1 owned wished i kept the camper with the lock down,the 4 door i bought after selling a dog rougth 2 door,cant find pics,4 door i bought in scotland did lots mechinal work,

That more door is lovely. Got a thread on it anywhere? 

[garbaldy]

17 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Fair enough. Sounds like you've had success with it. I guess cheap* import Mk1s are all but gone now though...

Yup been a good run even with the added journey from Scotland, those two where €1200 each and the exchange rate was around £1.40 at the time,   unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any cheaper escorts around anymore,  the fiestas where €1000 and the mk1 tranny was €2000. I can't remember how much the starion was but even other none ford stuff has risen quite a bit.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

5 minutes ago, garbaldy said:

Yup been a good run even with the added journey from Scotland, those two where €1200 each and the exchange rate was around £1.40 at the time,   unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any cheaper escorts around anymore,  the fiestas where €1000 and the mk1 tranny was €2000. I can't remember how much the starion was but even other none ford stuff has risen quite a bit.

Wow, some money to be made there at the time!!!

[garbaldy]

5 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Wow, some money to be made there at the time!!!

Yeh can't complain although the black weekend run wiped out a fair bit due to that troublesome Merc.

I've found other motors but unfortunatly due to brexit and the China flue it's window shopping only just now, I cant wait though as the journeys the fun part.

[antony denman]

24 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

That more door is lovely. Got a thread on it anywhere? 

did rebuld thread on retro rides do one on here in couple off days what i did put capri struts so has discs servo new webber carb a janspeed exshaust recon gearbox clutch was dearier then gearbox won i won it on ebay for about £40 recon years ago old box slip out off 1st and reverse lol,bought scrap one just for the seats,sold all bits made money unreal free seats.new uprated springs on back,

[Alan_Green]

Facebook South Africa right now.  £5,500

[Austat]

Not really into all these modified MK1's you see nowadays, I'd much prefer to see "unmolested" examples more often like this one I spotted at the Brooklands' New Years Day 2019 event. A proper poverty spec model being an 1100 L, more time-warps like these would be nice to see:

For me, the popular trend of making RS/Mexico replicas using Zetec or 2ltr Pintos for these MK1s and Mk2s have become so mundane that they almost seem annoying to me. It's nothing really special anymore as everyone who can afford one are following the same modification trends as everyone else. That being said, I would be interested in seeing some period correct modifications blended into these Escort builds you see nowadays, as modern tech such as angel-ring led lights and modern multi spoke wheels on these 50 year old cars don't seem right to me. 

I guess most people out there won't give a toss but that's my opinion.

[Dj_efk]

I agree, show me a mint 1300XL or 1300e exactly as they came when new over a RS2000 any day.

[danthecapriman]

Agreed, a standard one is something of a rarity now. But that’s true of most old Ford’s! You see loads of modified ones, loads of RS or S replica’s, lots of good standard low spec shells used to re-shell the top end models etc. One of the reasons I chose to restore my Capri into as close as possible to standard 1.6L spec.

Anyone remember the red/maroon mk1 2 door Escort they dragged out of that old garage on bangers & cash for Mathewsons auctions. That was standard and would have been perfect left that way or restored to factory standard. Sadly though as a 2 door I’d put good money on it being spoiled by getting modified.

[garbaldy]

finished article.

Apart from the 16 x flow and the wider wheels it's pretty standard, wonder if it still is now though.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

13 minutes ago, garbaldy said:

The finished article.

 

 

That's what the Wheeler Dealers mk1 could have looked like. Roman Bronze wins for me. Cornish registration on an import though - how does that work? 

[sierraman]

Did anyone ever make a Mk1 cabriolet?

[HMC]

6 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Did anyone ever make a Mk1 cabriolet?

Mother Nature has had a good crack at it

 

[HMC]

^ And that’s Still worth more than all

my cars combined 🤣

[sierraman]

Just now, HMC said:

^ And that’s Still worth more than all

my cars combined. 

‘Can you just post us the V5 and the VIN, not bothered about the shell m8’

[Austat]

31 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Did anyone ever make a Mk1 cabriolet?

This was on Leboncoin a few months ago, I like the use of a second front bonnet as a boot lid:

Interesting conversion, the back lights propose the idea that this was originally an estate but it could of originally been a saloon.

[Austat]

Here's a picture of a friend of my dad's M reg MK1 in the early 80's, I believe it might be some sought of GT variant but I could be wrong. My dad recalls there was a hole in the passenger footwell where you could see the road going past as you went along, surprising as it would of only been 7 or 8 years old at that time!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

56 minutes ago, Austat said:

This was on Leboncoin a few months ago, I like the use of a second bonnet as a boot lid:

Interesting conversion, the back lights propose the idea that this was originally an estate but it could of originally been a saloon.

That's almost Corsair-esque.

[Joey spud]

I owned three back to back in the mid 80's.

TBY88M a Daytona yellow 1100 estate equiped with drum brakes all round and no servo,this was my first car after i had passed my test in a Y reg Starlet and smelt of cats pee inside but that didn't matter as it soon died when a poo coloured Triumph Aclaim took the side out of it down a narrow lane not wide enough for two.

FKL717L was a black and silver 1300 two door with 13" Cortina steel wheels and a Mexico six clock dash pod fitted,this one had already been in an accident before i bought it and the badly stoved in n/s rear quarter was crudely repaired with filler and rattle cans.

Of the three this one drove quite well but needed a lot of welding so got scrapped when the mot was up.

NLA390K a dark blue 1300 estate (discs now but no servo) was bought off my dads mate and was quite solid underneath but the engine was very tired and with low compresion so was underpowered and an utter pig to start on a cold morning.

I swapped the engine for one from a local Breakers yard that was claimed to be ''a peach'' but in fact was just as shagged as mine.

One lunch time i was cruising around Strood when i spied an odd looking N reg Datsun 120a coupe on the front of Paton car sales and stopped to investigate,it was up for £425 and after a quick test drive i left the Escort and £45 with them and became the proud owner of my first Japanesse chariot.

Even looking back with the rose tinted specs on Escorts were just ok,they were nothing special at all just cheap transport my mate had a Toledo with a carpet clad gear lever gaiter and that was a much nicer car to drive and be in.

Would i spend silly money on one now ?,not a chance in hell.

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Cornish registration on an import though - how does that work? 

its simply an Age related plate given to the vehicle when it was registered on import

back when local VRO's where a thing still, I think you would get a number plate from wherever the VRO was, but these days its just pot luck what location marker you get from the DVLA on an age related plate when registering an import

 

Although I do believe when you rob an existing vehicle of its plate, the replacement age related one you get is issued according to where the vehicle was robbed of its plate, (but im still waiting to verify that one, it might just pot luck now with that as well)

 

 

as for escorts, I agree I much prefer the stock ones with steel wheels and tyres that have actual side wall and Suspension that does not look like its collapsed and broken! and in stock guise I do think they are pretty good looking cars

but they really dont do anything for me In modified form

(and I dread to think how many lovely old early retroreflective number plates have been binned of off Escorts for some wanky £20 wrong skinny font silver on black pressed plate)

 

 

I also have my own much more personal vendetta against escorts 

Ill post this one and see if anyone can figure out why!

[garbaldy]

/\ Because it was once lhd ?

[Dj_efk]

Because it’s badly parked?

[garbaldy]

Because colour ?

[bunglebus]

Various attempts have been made at chopping the roof off MK1s

[bunglebus]

Random pics I've saved over the years

 

[bunglebus]

That van, and the cabrios reminded me that many people have chopped the back off of vans to create pickups...

 

Although to my mind the estate makes a better candidate

[sierraman]

That VW ad made me chuckle. ‘We don’t change the shape of our vehicles every year so they don’t look old fashioned’

I’d forgot they were still churning out old rubbish like the Beetle in 1967, they’d forgot to mention they were in the dire financial straights until they came up with the Golf.