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Group Buy: 1982 Ford Escort bASe. Purchased.


BorniteIdentity

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4 hours ago, Unlucky Alf said:

Amazing work guys!  I’m a long term lurker - but I had to post on this thread.  

My first ever company car was an escort estate, it was a B reg, but not poverty spec, I got a hand me down from the boss  who went for an Astra, I got his 1.4GL estate.   As you can see in the images, it was sign written. Unlike your photocopier mate, I loved this car... well I would wouldn’t I :-)

I sold my T reg 1.6 Escort Mk2, pocketed the cash and started a long series of Ford company cars.  I loved it! Free petrol, I was earning 8k a year and was given a car and a petrol card... awesome!

10B1C19A-33BC-4FF2-AD25-62520ABC2A81.thumb.jpeg.9777317faa29e8ae8ef2de69dd83ff22.jpeg

D3ACE16A-3894-4479-8F45-87BD225A86B9.thumb.jpeg.4ed648f8d297ac058ce42f9ad6020755.jpeg

When this one went back I got an E Reg two door estate 1.4L replacement  -  which was later replaced with a GReg 1.6GL 4 Door (estate again).

C2F6BFAA-B823-469D-B08C-276C23E2C424.thumb.jpeg.441093b5080769b9b4d5500c655b02d5.jpeg

E9A4CFC2-09D3-4637-9BE2-15188B3C0AC6.thumb.jpeg.2ca2adc2f5a647225eb1a385564c35a4.jpeg

Well played, an amazing purchase.   I’m gonna follow this thread with interest!

 

is that a Sigma 4 on the roof??????

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9 hours ago, Unlucky Alf said:

Amazing work guys!  I’m a long term lurker - but I had to post on this thread.  

My first ever company car was an escort estate, it was a B reg, but not poverty spec, I got a hand me down from the boss  who went for an Astra, I got his 1.4GL estate.   As you can see in the images, it was sign written. Unlike your photocopier mate, I loved this car... well I would wouldn’t I :-)

I sold my T reg 1.6 Escort Mk2, pocketed the cash and started a long series of Ford company cars.  I loved it! Free petrol, I was earning 8k a year and was given a car and a petrol card... awesome!

10B1C19A-33BC-4FF2-AD25-62520ABC2A81.thumb.jpeg.9777317faa29e8ae8ef2de69dd83ff22.jpeg

D3ACE16A-3894-4479-8F45-87BD225A86B9.thumb.jpeg.4ed648f8d297ac058ce42f9ad6020755.jpeg

When this one went back I got an E Reg two door estate 1.4L replacement  -  which was later replaced with a GReg 1.6GL 4 Door (estate again).

C2F6BFAA-B823-469D-B08C-276C23E2C424.thumb.jpeg.441093b5080769b9b4d5500c655b02d5.jpeg

E9A4CFC2-09D3-4637-9BE2-15188B3C0AC6.thumb.jpeg.2ca2adc2f5a647225eb1a385564c35a4.jpeg

Well played, an amazing purchase.   I’m gonna follow this thread with interest!

 

You can REALLY tell the trim levels even from those photos at a quick glance! The GL one looks like a mini granada if you close your eyes a bit! 

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1 hour ago, PhilA said:

I am pretty sure that somewhere, I have the perfect accessory for this. I'll have to get my old man to see if he can dig it up.

If nobody else offers, I'll fix the radio if you mail it me (little far, but eh, the offer stands).

 

Phil

Thanks. The radio works, it’s just shit. I’d like to rip it out tbh but we’ve no blanking plate 😞 

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Good to see this being looked after.  We had several of these in the family over time, and my last one was exactly that colour, though maybe not a base model.  They were decent enough cars, comfy and practical and quite nice to drive.  The load area always seemed shorter than the RWD Escort although the two cars were  about the same length but that may have been an illusion.   I don' t recall much trouble with them, except for the evil VV carburettor - if this still has one, a Weber conversion might be worth considering.

 

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10 hours ago, Unlucky Alf said:

Amazing work guys!  I’m a long term lurker - but I had to post on this thread.  

My first ever company car was an escort estate, it was a B reg, but not poverty spec, I got a hand me down from the boss  who went for an Astra, I got his 1.4GL estate.   As you can see in the images, it was sign written. Unlike your photocopier mate, I loved this car... well I would wouldn’t I :-)

I sold my T reg 1.6 Escort Mk2, pocketed the cash and started a long series of Ford company cars.  I loved it! Free petrol, I was earning 8k a year and was given a car and a petrol card... awesome!

10B1C19A-33BC-4FF2-AD25-62520ABC2A81.thumb.jpeg.9777317faa29e8ae8ef2de69dd83ff22.jpeg

D3ACE16A-3894-4479-8F45-87BD225A86B9.thumb.jpeg.4ed648f8d297ac058ce42f9ad6020755.jpeg

When this one went back I got an E Reg two door estate 1.4L replacement  -  which was later replaced with a GReg 1.6GL 4 Door (estate again).

C2F6BFAA-B823-469D-B08C-276C23E2C424.thumb.jpeg.441093b5080769b9b4d5500c655b02d5.jpeg

E9A4CFC2-09D3-4637-9BE2-15188B3C0AC6.thumb.jpeg.2ca2adc2f5a647225eb1a385564c35a4.jpeg

Well played, an amazing purchase.   I’m gonna follow this thread with interest!

 

Now Ladies and Gentleman, THAT is how you make an introduction! oooofff

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1 hour ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Thanks. The radio works, it’s just shit. I’d like to rip it out tbh but we’ve no blanking plate 😞 

If you're tight enough to buy a completely base car, but your missus is moaning about hearing you moan all the time and wants a radio to muffle it, you'll be buying the cheapest one you can find. Hence a second hand unit that is older than the car. Alternatively you took the radio out of the car you've just scrapped, as the scrap man wouldn't give you anymore for the rotten wreck that has been driven to destruction. 

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6 hours ago, bezzabsa said:

is that a Sigma 4 on the roof??????

Well spotted!   I noticed I said it was a 1.4, slight typo, it was the mighty 1.3GL. 

9ft  quarter wave steel whip on a roof bar anyone?  Pmsl.

74B96BCC-D3FE-40B6-980E-9BA28CCEE723.thumb.jpeg.46861798724509486f5e62582ae01526.jpeg

Watch the tailgate mechanism, they changed the design of the button push I believe because it was prone to getting crud stuck inside it, and they changed the keys from the flat type, to the round Ford type ones,  they sported a different ‘handle’ design (slimmer).

In case your wondering, I was a field service engineer at the time. The boot was usually full of commodore PET,  Apricot, Sirius, IBM and various printer spares in boxes, covered by a loose blanket as of course there is no cover on these.   The rear load space is fantastic, as long as the tailgate shuts properly.  I remember booting it in true company car rev’s level out of our offices up the road, when the tailgate opened by itself and my toolbox flew out the back along with loads of bits, into the road.  Arse!

The bonnets on these are surprisingly robust.....   I was delivering a computer to a customer once, as I walked along the pavement I slipped on ice and the machine I was carrying  went into the air and bounced off the car bonnet onto the road.  I did as expected ,  looked round, picked the machine up and bunged it back in the boot quick as I could and sped back to base to check it over and re-delivered it later that day.  Bonnet didn’t have a mark on it!


Couple of images (promise the last, this thread isn’t about my old cars) but this shows the differences between the 4door and 2 door.  I think the 2 door was much cleaner in looks.  Pain in the neck, the seatbelt mounting position, mind, as you can see, they hang down and get in the way:

A5EC204F-B3BE-405E-A843-E9D4D80F7023.thumb.jpeg.5767fbe80b5448dc332954c449f1d6ff.jpeg

1C363D69-E585-475F-9D9F-AF1BA647FAFD.thumb.jpeg.c81ff69dbdb5261ad490796875970497.jpeg
 

can’t wait to hear more about the new purchase!

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21 minutes ago, Unlucky Alf said:

Well spotted!   I noticed I said it was a 1.4, slight typo, it was the mighty 1.3GL. 

9ft  quarter wave steel whip on a roof bar anyone?  Pmsl.

74B96BCC-D3FE-40B6-980E-9BA28CCEE723.thumb.jpeg.46861798724509486f5e62582ae01526.jpeg

Watch the tailgate mechanism, they changed the design of the button push I believe because it was prone to getting crud stuck inside it, and they changed the keys from the flat type, to the round Ford type ones,  they sported a different ‘handle’ design (slimmer).

In case your wondering, I was a field service engineer at the time. The boot was usually full of commodore PET,  Apricot, Sirius, IBM and various printer spares in boxes, covered by a loose blanket as of course there is no cover on these.   The rear load space is fantastic, as long as the tailgate shuts properly.  I remember booting it in true company car rev’s level out of our offices up the road, when the tailgate opened by itself and my toolbox flew out the back along with loads of bits, into the road.  Arse!

The bonnets on these are surprisingly robust.....   I was delivering a computer to a customer once, as I walked along the pavement I slipped on ice and the machine I was carrying  went into the air and bounced off the car bonnet onto the road.  I did as expected ,  looked round, picked the machine up and bunged it back in the boot quick as I could and sped back to base to check it over and re-delivered it later that day.  Bonnet didn’t have a mark on it!


Couple of images (promise the last, this thread isn’t about my old cars) but this shows the differences between the 4door and 2 door.  I think the 2 door was much cleaner in looks.  Pain in the neck, the seatbelt mounting position, mind, as you can see, they hang down and get in the way:

A5EC204F-B3BE-405E-A843-E9D4D80F7023.thumb.jpeg.5767fbe80b5448dc332954c449f1d6ff.jpeg

1C363D69-E585-475F-9D9F-AF1BA647FAFD.thumb.jpeg.c81ff69dbdb5261ad490796875970497.jpeg
 

can’t wait to hear more about the new purchase!

who robbed the neighbors fence?????

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Car love stories are always welcome in my world, @Unlucky Alf. This is where I think most Youtubers and Journalists go wrong; for millions of us - these cars aren’t about the move away from pushrod engines or the leap to FWD. They’re about first jobs, lost nights, lost underwear, road trips, gigs, camping, working, smooching and all sorts. 

My folks bought me home from hospital, 2 weeks before Christmas 1982, in a MK3 Escort. My father was only 24, and I reckon he was as proud of his first born as he was his first company car. 

9ECC1A68-212F-41FA-A478-6DA5DB0DBAB7.thumb.jpeg.a6bbf3ac5abdfbc29106273f002fd2aa.jpeg

That’s my Uncle’s Fiesta beyond on the day of my Christening. He kept it so long that I remember it at the age of 17.

Thanks for all the positivity, and keep the stories coming. Gives us all something to read whilst I start collating bits for the Estate!

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On 2/27/2021 at 6:24 PM, greengartside said:

I’m just waiting for Midnite to come back on here protesting about how he doesn’t get it...

A bit of internet sleuthing has revealed this photo, which I believe is the Escort bASe...

Passey & Porter Ford, Weston-Super-Mare

 

I cleaned the glass up today and you can make out the outline of this sticker clear as day. A shame it’s gone. Could always get a replica, but you can’t replicate nearly 40 years of decay. 

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59 minutes ago, SiC said:

If you're tight enough to buy a completely base car, but your missus is moaning about hearing you moan all the time and wants a radio to muffle it, you'll be buying the cheapest one you can find. Hence a second hand unit that is older than the car. Alternatively you took the radio out of the car you've just scrapped, as the scrap man wouldn't give you anymore for the rotten wreck that has been driven to destruction. 

Car radios were expensive back then.  I have the original bill of sale for my 1981 2CV, and the basic Blaupunkt Hamburg LW/MW radio (which it still has) was £61 plus £9 for the aerial, plus the VAT.

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14 minutes ago, BorniteIdentity said:

I cleaned the glass up today and you can make out the outline of this sticker clear as day. A shame it’s gone. Could always get a replica, but you can’t replicate nearly 40 years of decay. 

That’s the guy who you bought it off who removed the sticker - it’s still on there in the advert pictures. Why do something like that?

Yes, DMB graphics do a replica, although replacing the patina would be a trifle more difficult. Heat lamp for a few hours? 

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On 2/27/2021 at 8:28 PM, Dick Longbridge said:

Seeing the dash has brought back a very distant memory of the choke on these- does it glow a warming orange when you pull it out? 

Certainly did on mk2 Fiesta. The only mk3 Escort I ever owned was a 1.6 auto with an automatic choke on the VV carb, which amazingly was still functioning after 21 years, so I had a nice blank where the knob would have been. 

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My dad had a 1984 Escort 1.3 GL estate in a lovely shit brown colour. I think it was his first company car and he loved it... mainly because the petrol and the car was free. He remarks that the engine was "wheezy", but that's his only negative thought on it. He says he has pictures of it in a album somewhere, which would definitely be interesting to see!

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Love this!

 

Slightly cheaper blanking plate from Belgium here: 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Escort-MK2-console-radio-blanking-plate/254797181176?hash=item3b531870f8:g:fOEAAOSwx8pfyL9M

Still £35 inc postage though. 

Part numbers: 

Blank - 75AB-T04587-AAW

Fancy one with a logo - 75AB-T04587-AAFA

 

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