RE: PH Heroes: Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
Discussion
Cliffv8 said:
this will make your piss boil http://www.barryboys.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=...
and yes it is a real one
thats a case for VBRJ if i ever saw one and yes it is a real one Cliffv8 said:
this will make your piss boil http://www.barryboys.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=... and yes it is a real one
They clearly have no taste when they thought about modifying it. Since when did a performance classic deserve that? and yes it is a real one 
joz8968 said:
chrisstockwell said:
clonmult said:
What sort of weight are they dragging around? 200bhp in one of those is surely more effective than 200bhp in a lardy scooby?
even though an impreza of a decent standard spec, has more than 200bhp, and the weights between the two arent very different really, you cant really call the scooby lardy can u?I'd still love an RS500 in Glacier(?) White, though
Edited by joz8968 on Wednesday 19th March 17:20
rs500 is a car id love to have sat in pristine condition in my garage!Oh God how I wanted one of those I almost purchased its poor relative the XR4i.
Great cars.
I know someone who had an Escort cosworth and he was very disappointed in it, things like poor switches, squeaking, poor trim, parcel shelf falling down. But I have never known a car to make such rapid progress in the wet - Love to know what the Sierra is like.
BTW: Where are any Sierras nowadays? Have the all rusted into the ground or what?
I almost purchased its poor relative the XR4i. Great cars.
I know someone who had an Escort cosworth and he was very disappointed in it, things like poor switches, squeaking, poor trim, parcel shelf falling down. But I have never known a car to make such rapid progress in the wet - Love to know what the Sierra is like.
BTW: Where are any Sierras nowadays? Have the all rusted into the ground or what?
Edited by Morningside on Wednesday 19th March 19:04
im on 1987, as a very junior trainee on a eurobond trading desk at an American Bank, if I was a good lad I got to take the company moonstone 3 door cossie home for the weekend, with any driver insurance, myself and mates used to cane it to our best ability, the 1st car i saw 1.5 leptons appear on the clock.
A new pair of rear D40's would easily be through to the canvas in 500-1000 miles (depends if it was wet!)
I always have a huge grin on my face whenever I have seen one since
I have been tempted to own one over the years, but somehow the memory is almost good enough as I would never drive my own car that way now
A new pair of rear D40's would easily be through to the canvas in 500-1000 miles (depends if it was wet!)
I always have a huge grin on my face whenever I have seen one since
I have been tempted to own one over the years, but somehow the memory is almost good enough as I would never drive my own car that way now
The 2nd best 80s Road car, UR quattro being 1st. A true icon just like the drivers: Stig Blomqvist, Ari Vatanen, Jimmy McRae, Mark Lovell, Colin McRae, Kenny McKinstry, Gwyndaf Evans, Russell Brookes, Carlos Sainz, Didier Auriol & thats just a few of them. If I could afford one I'd have one in an instant.
Great memories.
I convinced my boss at the time to let me have a rwd Sapphire as a company car! I even persuaded him to let me chip it! With 270 bhp it was a scream.
I got a moonstone 4x4 after that too until it was nicked from Oxford's park & ride! One of the best cars I ever had.
Because they were a Ford people could relate to them positively. I couldn't believe the change in attitude though when I got a 325i coupe afterwards.
I convinced my boss at the time to let me have a rwd Sapphire as a company car! I even persuaded him to let me chip it! With 270 bhp it was a scream.
I got a moonstone 4x4 after that too until it was nicked from Oxford's park & ride! One of the best cars I ever had.
Because they were a Ford people could relate to them positively. I couldn't believe the change in attitude though when I got a 325i coupe afterwards.
Hooli said:
Kurtblythman said:
Escorts FTW.
series 2 RS turbo please
what the girly gutless dull one? without the LSD, special ratios etc etc etc?series 2 RS turbo please
do behave we're talking fast fords here, not dull fords.
Cerbdog said:
Well written article, enjoyed reading it with my lunchtime sandwich! I was more of a saphire fan, prefering the understated looks, but still a true 80's hero!
I also preferred the Sapphire for the same reason. A true sleeper. Of course, neither Cossie version existed here in the States. We got the turbo Pinto powered Sierra badged as a Merkur XR4Ti. I did see a few Cossies in Europe, though. Very cool cars.Miguel
I loved my RWD Cossie, mine had a T34B hybrid with about 370BHP and was a real scream to drive, i used it to do my work travelling and took it upto 99K miles. It's now owned by the RS owners club Yorkshire region chairman and has a pampered life. I used to use it on trackdays in the early 90's when everyone else was in caterhams, elises and golfs, you cant beat RWD turbo fun.
I was also part of one of the leading BTRDA rally teams, and we ran Saphire and Escort cosworths in GroupA trim. Testing in the forests was always brilliant fun in particular, with a pucka DOME GroupA engine and 9" diffs, mag arms etc it was quite a tool.
When i sold the Cossie i was pretty gutted, it was a great car. I got an Impreza Sport as a company car at the time and soon fancied some more cossie power, so bought a Westfield ZEi220, one of the rare type aproved westfields with an Escort Cosworth engine and RWD cossie gearbox (which is one of the best RWD boxes out there). That had a stock 220BHP engine when i bought it, a phone call later to Ahmed Bajoo left it trying to put 330BHP down, the cossie sounds and smells in a rollerscate, proper fun that was.
I now play a lot in my RA Impreza, nice and light with 370BHP and a proper transmition, 33/66 RWD biased, none of this 50/50 understeer b
ks. It's still hard to beat a RWD cossie for sheer tail out fun, they arnt very sophisticated, which is part of the apeal.
I was also part of one of the leading BTRDA rally teams, and we ran Saphire and Escort cosworths in GroupA trim. Testing in the forests was always brilliant fun in particular, with a pucka DOME GroupA engine and 9" diffs, mag arms etc it was quite a tool.
When i sold the Cossie i was pretty gutted, it was a great car. I got an Impreza Sport as a company car at the time and soon fancied some more cossie power, so bought a Westfield ZEi220, one of the rare type aproved westfields with an Escort Cosworth engine and RWD cossie gearbox (which is one of the best RWD boxes out there). That had a stock 220BHP engine when i bought it, a phone call later to Ahmed Bajoo left it trying to put 330BHP down, the cossie sounds and smells in a rollerscate, proper fun that was.
I now play a lot in my RA Impreza, nice and light with 370BHP and a proper transmition, 33/66 RWD biased, none of this 50/50 understeer b
ks. It's still hard to beat a RWD cossie for sheer tail out fun, they arnt very sophisticated, which is part of the apeal.Cliffv8 said:
this will make your piss boil http://www.barryboys.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=... and yes it is a real one
I don't see the problem, its a 12 owner minter is that. and yes it is a real one Kurtblythman said:
Hooli said:
Kurtblythman said:
Escorts FTW.
series 2 RS turbo please
what the girly gutless dull one? without the LSD, special ratios etc etc etc?series 2 RS turbo please
do behave we're talking fast fords here, not dull fords.
There was a kit-car company (in Sarf'end, I think?) who did replicas of 'em, in the early 90's. They were called KaRa, but unfortunately are no longer. At the time, from memory, £11K got all the bits to add to a doner Sierra, to create the KaRa 430. Yep, that was 430bhp (they did a 'paltry' 340bhp version too) complete with massive 'truck engine' Garret T04 (or T4?) turbocharger. The thing looked awesome with the rear clamshell lifted and that twin coilover setup! Oh how I wanted one of those bad boys... In white, of course!
Edited by joz8968 on Wednesday 19th March 22:09
Kurtblythman said:
Hooli said:
Kurtblythman said:
Escorts FTW.
series 2 RS turbo please
what the girly gutless dull one? without the LSD, special ratios etc etc etc?series 2 RS turbo please
do behave we're talking fast fords here, not dull fords.
Yep very nice.
Who would have thought the ol' jellymould could look sooooo badass! If only we could get back to the 80's example of flagship models really offering extreme style and performance, and aloofly distancing itself from the model below... A real standalone model of the range that commands knowing acknowledgement and respect - just like the 3-door Coss'ehh does. Damn and curses to this PC-blighted era!
Ford certainly were the masters of this exercise - and they actually produced THE CARS that backed up their fabulous marketing campaigns! Hell, I even remember REEEALLY hankering after the original XR3 when it broke cover (in that slightly orange Sunburst Red, or Black...)
Who would have thought the ol' jellymould could look sooooo badass! If only we could get back to the 80's example of flagship models really offering extreme style and performance, and aloofly distancing itself from the model below... A real standalone model of the range that commands knowing acknowledgement and respect - just like the 3-door Coss'ehh does. Damn and curses to this PC-blighted era!
Ford certainly were the masters of this exercise - and they actually produced THE CARS that backed up their fabulous marketing campaigns! Hell, I even remember REEEALLY hankering after the original XR3 when it broke cover (in that slightly orange Sunburst Red, or Black...)
Edited by joz8968 on Wednesday 19th March 22:43
I owned an original Moonstone Blue 3-door Sierra Cosworth between 1986 and 1989. It was standard and cost around £17,000 as delivered.
My car was a typical '80s purchase. Red braces were in vogue and money was for spending... Our motto was "Spend Something - Support Capitalism".
My business partner and I bought a 'pair' of cars that looked identical and had very similar number plates.
What a purchase - they got SOO-MUCH ATTENTION!! But what a load of pain keeping them running properly - when the Birmingham Ford Dealer seemed to have 'not a clue' about how to work on them - they even managed to slow mine down dramatically by reconnecting the turbo-blower the wrong way round. Fortunately we soon discovered Brooklyn Garages of Redditch - now those guys did know what they were doing and soon persuaded us to have the wastegates tightened-down and new 'chips' fitted to release more power... 204BHP soon became around 260BHP
A wonderful car when the sun was out, the roads were dry and traffic not too heavy. But on a wet November night when you had to do the return leg of a business trip from Stockton-on-Tees to Birmingham - the Cossie was not a particularly relaxing or cosseting car. Frankly under those conditions it was a basta*d!
Like most 'Cossies' mine was stolen - twice - from my own drive. The first time it turned up on Castle Vale housing estate near Birmingham - the police could not wait until I picked it up, but they did suggest I brought a couple of BIG MATES carrying crowbars or similar (yes! that's exactly what they said...) The second time (May 1989) was the death knell for my Cossie. It disappeared overnight and did not turn up for about 4 weeks. Police raided a suspected car thief's premises and found guess what? My car - stripped down - and minus lots of parts. My briefcase (quite unmolested) was still in the boot however, complete with some credit cards and even my driving licence - times change Huh!.
I was shown the car (minus all identifying serial numbers) but complete with my broken 'Vanity Plates' on the roof of the local cop-shop. The cops asked me to make a personal damages claim against the villains through the court. Amazingly I saw no reason (back in the '80s) not to do this. Perhaps in these days of revenge attacks and political correctness that results in householders rather than burglars ending up in the 'dock' - I would think twice before saying yes! The end of story? - The thieves paid £1,000 each into court over a twelve month period. Insurance paid me the assumed value of the car (£14,500 at almost 3-years old) plus the £2,000 from the bad-lads meant I had lost only £500 over three years considering the initial purchase price of £17,000.
As a footnote, my business partner kept his car for another year after mine had gone. Prices collapsed in the interim due to the insurance difficulties with Cossies... He sold it for £8,500 total.
If anyone's interested I'll tell the rather different tale of my 1984 Sierra XR4i - now that was really interesting... Ford really did produce some fantastic cars in the '80s!
My car was a typical '80s purchase. Red braces were in vogue and money was for spending... Our motto was "Spend Something - Support Capitalism".
My business partner and I bought a 'pair' of cars that looked identical and had very similar number plates.
What a purchase - they got SOO-MUCH ATTENTION!! But what a load of pain keeping them running properly - when the Birmingham Ford Dealer seemed to have 'not a clue' about how to work on them - they even managed to slow mine down dramatically by reconnecting the turbo-blower the wrong way round. Fortunately we soon discovered Brooklyn Garages of Redditch - now those guys did know what they were doing and soon persuaded us to have the wastegates tightened-down and new 'chips' fitted to release more power... 204BHP soon became around 260BHP
A wonderful car when the sun was out, the roads were dry and traffic not too heavy. But on a wet November night when you had to do the return leg of a business trip from Stockton-on-Tees to Birmingham - the Cossie was not a particularly relaxing or cosseting car. Frankly under those conditions it was a basta*d!
Like most 'Cossies' mine was stolen - twice - from my own drive. The first time it turned up on Castle Vale housing estate near Birmingham - the police could not wait until I picked it up, but they did suggest I brought a couple of BIG MATES carrying crowbars or similar (yes! that's exactly what they said...) The second time (May 1989) was the death knell for my Cossie. It disappeared overnight and did not turn up for about 4 weeks. Police raided a suspected car thief's premises and found guess what? My car - stripped down - and minus lots of parts. My briefcase (quite unmolested) was still in the boot however, complete with some credit cards and even my driving licence - times change Huh!.
I was shown the car (minus all identifying serial numbers) but complete with my broken 'Vanity Plates' on the roof of the local cop-shop. The cops asked me to make a personal damages claim against the villains through the court. Amazingly I saw no reason (back in the '80s) not to do this. Perhaps in these days of revenge attacks and political correctness that results in householders rather than burglars ending up in the 'dock' - I would think twice before saying yes! The end of story? - The thieves paid £1,000 each into court over a twelve month period. Insurance paid me the assumed value of the car (£14,500 at almost 3-years old) plus the £2,000 from the bad-lads meant I had lost only £500 over three years considering the initial purchase price of £17,000.
As a footnote, my business partner kept his car for another year after mine had gone. Prices collapsed in the interim due to the insurance difficulties with Cossies... He sold it for £8,500 total.
If anyone's interested I'll tell the rather different tale of my 1984 Sierra XR4i - now that was really interesting... Ford really did produce some fantastic cars in the '80s!
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