RE: Ford Escort RS2000: PH Heroes

[Hothatchdad]

Great motor and obviously still popular with thieves to If any spots my friends Red RS2000 it was stolen Friday 20th March from Effingham Road, Sheffield. from its lockup. It's plate is: XEM 636W there is a reward out for it.



Anyone with information on the theft or whereabouts of the car should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

[GTRene]

s m said:

Were those all yours Rene?

No, not those, those I just like and to share

mine were all original, my last RS2000 I've owned back in 1992 and was a orange car from 1979 and my first RS2000 I've owned back in 1983, that was a 1976 car and Yellow
I have some on picture, but none scanned in.

2 orange RS2000 and 3 yellow RS2000 , I'm not such orange fan, but it was what I could lay my hands on at the time and once your in the car you forgot the color (almost ;-))

[LewisR]

Some very fair comments re. my earlier post on Dolly Sprint as an RS2000 competitor. Seems as though BL/Triumph missed yet another trick:

2 door Toledo woth Dolly Sprint engine, Recaro seats, LSD, O/D box (although 5 speed out of SD1 was available mid-ish '70s).

[aeropilot]

LewisR said:

Some very fair comments re. my earlier post on Dolly Sprint as an RS2000 competitor. Seems as though BL/Triumph missed yet another trick:

2 door Toledo woth Dolly Sprint engine, Recaro seats, LSD, O/D box (although 5 speed out of SD1 was available mid-ish '70s).

I don't think you can say BL missed a trick, as back then BL didn't really have much of a works rally program much after 1970, which what your are suggesting would have been better suited. Although it briefly dabbled with trying the Dolly Sprint in rallying, until they dropped the Rover V8 into the TR7, I think they were just happier with their saloon car racing program, which the Sprint as was, was very suitable and quite successful.

Remember back then, road cars such as the Escort RS and Dolly Sprint existed largely as a result of homologation requirements, unlike today.

[MarshPhantom]

LewisR said:

Some very fair comments re. my earlier post on Dolly Sprint as an RS2000 competitor. Seems as though BL/Triumph missed yet another trick:

2 door Toledo woth Dolly Sprint engine, Recaro seats, LSD, O/D box (although 5 speed out of SD1 was available mid-ish '70s).

There used to be a 2 dr Toledo with a mid mounted Rover V8 around Lichfield.

[Roman Moroni]

For those who were around in the late 70's to mid 80's THE place to go in the South East for RS's was Mike Youngs garage in Ilford.

A quick search on goodgle shows an old advert...check out the prices (and they were mega expensive in them days!)

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8423/7693626362_0296...

[STA5H]

Thought id add GMs contribution to the discussion i know its far from standard but looks mean .

[s m]

Roman Moroni said:

For those who were around in the late 70's to mid 80's THE place to go in the South East for RS's was Mike Youngs garage in Ilford.

A quick search on goodgle shows an old advert...check out the prices (and they were mega expensive in them days!)

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8423/7693626362_0296...

Earlier on, that was where I took my friend to get his RS1800 from - it was an expensive place but even back in the mid 80s, RS1800s weren't exactly everywhere.

Just generally, yes there were other similar cars about, some were faster as standard, Lotus Sunbeams, Dolomite Sprints,Lancer Turbos ....better made 924s, 323is, engines that were maybe more sophisticated etc etc - the thing with the Escorts that made them popular were things like, they were cheap for bits, easy to fix,get hold of uprated parts, handled well enough and were pretty quick - basically simple and fun
People harp on about how bad the Pinto was etc etc - hand on heart I can't remember any of ours in an Escort chewing a cam - maybe we changed the oil often enough or just generally looked after them - it wax easy to bung in a new spray bar This was from a buyers guide for the RS in Autosport back in the 80s

.

You only had to bump the poke up to 140-145 bhp ( not difficult or that expensive ) and you had the same PWR as a modern GT86 or a Lotus Sunbeam

Someone earlier on in the thread asked if there was a more up to date equivalent - I think the E36 328s are a similar sort of thing - cheap to buy, popular, easy to fix, reasonably fast, lots of parts to uprate chassis etc

[iva cosworth]

I owned 4 of these between 1983 and 1998 ish.

1st,fast but a bit rubbish...white with BVR

2nd,bought off the first owner,FFSH,base model,rubbish seats and steel wheels....Signal yellow

3rd,tuned up engine,big side draughts,got stolen after about 8 weeks.....beige [nice]

4th,very rubbish,bought as project,scrapped due to not a good panel on it.....red [actually grey primer]

[njtrundle]

A set of Bilstein sport dampers will help sort the handling and make that car pretty much perfect. I had a Mk1 RS2000 back in the day which was a brilliant and entertaining drive.

[blade7]

Roman Moroni said:

For those who were around in the late 70's to mid 80's THE place to go in the South East for RS's was Mike Youngs garage in Ilford.

A quick search on goodgle shows an old advert...check out the prices (and they were mega expensive in them days!)

I sold my first RS2 to Mike Young's garage, it'd had a hard life but they bought it in the dark and missed the battle scars. The advert for it that appeared in Motoring News shortly after described it as one of the best they'd ever had I thought then they were either full of BS or they must have had some real dogs. It hung around for months until I heard they stripped it.

[LewisR]

aeropilot said:

LewisR said:

Some very fair comments re. my earlier post on Dolly Sprint as an RS2000 competitor. Seems as though BL/Triumph missed yet another trick:

2 door Toledo woth Dolly Sprint engine, Recaro seats, LSD, O/D box (although 5 speed out of SD1 was available mid-ish '70s).

I don't think you can say BL missed a trick, as back then BL didn't really have much of a works rally program much after 1970, which what your are suggesting would have been better suited. Although it briefly dabbled with trying the Dolly Sprint in rallying, until they dropped the Rover V8 into the TR7, I think they were just happier with their saloon car racing program, which the Sprint as was, was very suitable and quite successful.

Remember back then, road cars such as the Escort RS and Dolly Sprint existed largely as a result of homologation requirements, unlike today.

but there was this in BTCC:

[s m]

LewisR said:

aeropilot said:

LewisR said:

Some very fair comments re. my earlier post on Dolly Sprint as an RS2000 competitor. Seems as though BL/Triumph missed yet another trick:

2 door Toledo woth Dolly Sprint engine, Recaro seats, LSD, O/D box (although 5 speed out of SD1 was available mid-ish '70s).

I don't think you can say BL missed a trick, as back then BL didn't really have much of a works rally program much after 1970, which what your are suggesting would have been better suited. Although it briefly dabbled with trying the Dolly Sprint in rallying, until they dropped the Rover V8 into the TR7, I think they were just happier with their saloon car racing program, which the Sprint as was, was very suitable and quite successful.

Remember back then, road cars such as the Escort RS and Dolly Sprint existed largely as a result of homologation requirements, unlike today.

but there was this in BTCC:

I'm sure one of those would have been fantastic - trouble is, for us at the time, they were about as far removed from a bunch of 20 year olds as Ari Vatanen's Group 4 Escort

Did you have a Dolly Sprint Lewis? They were nice cars inside with the.
Trim and wood dash. Plus the overdrive

Edited by s m on Thursday 26th March 07:55

[aeropilot]

blade7 said:

Roman Moroni said:

For those who were around in the late 70's to mid 80's THE place to go in the South East for RS's was Mike Youngs garage in Ilford.

A quick search on goodgle shows an old advert...check out the prices (and they were mega expensive in them days!)

I sold my first RS2 to Mike Young's garage, it'd had a hard life but they bought it in the dark and missed the battle scars. The advert for it that appeared in Motoring News shortly after described it as one of the best they'd ever had I thought then they were either full of BS or they must have had some real dogs. It hung around for months until I heard they stripped it.

Unlike a previous poster that said Mike Youngs was the place to go back in the 80's, for anyone in the owners clubs who shall we say, knew better, we always told prospective new owners that it was the place to avoid

When one of my cousins was looking for a Mk2 I hementioned MY's to me as I was still involved in the owners clubs then, and I said, don't even bother.
He didn't listen, and paid top dollar for what turned out to be a real munter.
MY did buy in some excellent cars of people that had restored them, but he also sold some right piles of ste that were made out to be the best thing since sliced bread.....but, typical car salesman really.

[aeropilot]

LewisR said:

aeropilot said:

LewisR said:

Some very fair comments re. my earlier post on Dolly Sprint as an RS2000 competitor. Seems as though BL/Triumph missed yet another trick:

2 door Toledo woth Dolly Sprint engine, Recaro seats, LSD, O/D box (although 5 speed out of SD1 was available mid-ish '70s).

I don't think you can say BL missed a trick, as back then BL didn't really have much of a works rally program much after 1970, which what your are suggesting would have been better suited. Although it briefly dabbled with trying the Dolly Sprint in rallying, until they dropped the Rover V8 into the TR7, I think they were just happier with their saloon car racing program, which the Sprint as was, was very suitable and quite successful.

Remember back then, road cars such as the Escort RS and Dolly Sprint existed largely as a result of homologation requirements, unlike today.

but there was this in BTCC:

Did you actually read my post you quoted......

[LewisR]

aeropilot said:

Did you actually read my post you quoted......

Well, yes & know. I thought you meant they just rallied the Sprint... but my point was that they could have sold something a bit more sporty.

[LewisR]

s m said:

LewisR said:

aeropilot said:

LewisR said:

Some very fair comments re. my earlier post on Dolly Sprint as an RS2000 competitor. Seems as though BL/Triumph missed yet another trick:

2 door Toledo woth Dolly Sprint engine, Recaro seats, LSD, O/D box (although 5 speed out of SD1 was available mid-ish '70s).

I don't think you can say BL missed a trick, as back then BL didn't really have much of a works rally program much after 1970, which what your are suggesting would have been better suited. Although it briefly dabbled with trying the Dolly Sprint in rallying, until they dropped the Rover V8 into the TR7, I think they were just happier with their saloon car racing program, which the Sprint as was, was very suitable and quite successful.

Remember back then, road cars such as the Escort RS and Dolly Sprint existed largely as a result of homologation requirements, unlike today.

but there was this in BTCC:

I'm sure one of those would have been fantastic - trouble is, for us at the time, they were about as far removed from a bunch of 20 year olds as Ari Vatanen's Group 4 Escort

Did you have a Dolly Sprint Lewis? They were nice cars inside with the.
Trim and wood dash. Plus the overdrive

Edited by s m on Thursday 26th March 07:55

Not a Sprint but I've had a beast of a 1500HL, a Toledo, a 2500 PI and now have a Stag.

[BigMon]

Have always loved these. I did a paper round in the mid-80s and on two people had RS2000s.

One had a black one and the other bloke had a yellow one.

If it was a toss up between this and Dolly Sprint I'll take both please!

[GTRene]

in the time that I had a yellow RS2000 and my friend a nice red RS2000 and his friend a white RS2000 with black roof, the other friend of theirs had a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus, good times

just came across this...some nice RS2000 for sale>

http://mscimporters.co.uk/

[iva cosworth]

Here's the best of the 4 I owned.





Note the base model spec steel wheels.