RE: My First Car: Mk2 Ford Escort 1.3
Discussion
The year is 1987 my first car a 1978 Ford Escort MK II 4 door in Stratos Silver. It cost me £115.00 to insure it TPF&T. Happy happy memories. By the time I reached 18 with loads of extra work and overtime I managed to buy myself a 1976 MK II RS2000 in Venetian Red. I also remember what I had to pay for the insurance. A whoping £527.00!! That's probably the same as about 4k now. I only paid £1500.00 for the car so I guess somethings haven't changed all that much. The insurance cost was a third of the value of the car. Still have a massive soft spot for the old skool Fords. I want another MK II RS2000.....
evom3 said:
The year is 1987 my first car a 1978 Ford Escort MK II 4 door in Stratos Silver. It cost me £115.00 to insure it TPF&T. Happy happy memories. By the time I reached 18 with loads of extra work and overtime I managed to buy myself a 1976 MK II RS2000 in Venetian Red. I also remember what I had to pay for the insurance. A whoping £527.00!! That's probably the same as about 4k now. I only paid £1500.00 for the car so I guess somethings haven't changed all that much. The insurance cost was a third of the value of the car. Still have a massive soft spot for the old skool Fords. I want another MK II RS2000.....
I had a couple of the Mk2 RS2s 
Great fun cars - esp with 145bhp
rallycross said:
there's quite a few in the classifieds this one caught my attention (well the price did)
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1843010.htm
I had quite a few escorts thinking about it had 1.1, 1.3L , 1.3 GL (aah the luxury of that one), a blue 1.6 L 4 door that was happy to be driven sideways everywhere, a 1.3 L 2 door that was like new even though it was 10 years old, bright yellow, then an Rs2000 custom in faded terracota red that we decided to respray venetian red.
The purity of driving a good example of one of these mk2 escorts is lost to todays youth!
definatly not lost on todays youth, lol had to get one so much fun to drive puts a smile on ya face every time ya get it out the garage for a drive, to so much fun trying to get rid of the dreded tin wormhttp://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1843010.htm
I had quite a few escorts thinking about it had 1.1, 1.3L , 1.3 GL (aah the luxury of that one), a blue 1.6 L 4 door that was happy to be driven sideways everywhere, a 1.3 L 2 door that was like new even though it was 10 years old, bright yellow, then an Rs2000 custom in faded terracota red that we decided to respray venetian red.
The purity of driving a good example of one of these mk2 escorts is lost to todays youth!
I've had my mkII RS Custom for 11 years... Replaced most of the metal and still to finish her....
When I started money was the problem but a decade on the issue is time.... Only a week or two would see her finished but she's back at the parent's house so I need to take time off work to get the job done, evenings and weeeknds just arent't enough... I'm considering getting her to a specialist to iron out the wrinkles and get the engine set up so I can damn well get her on the road - as much as the 350Z is fun and refined I miss feeling connected to the machine.
When I started money was the problem but a decade on the issue is time.... Only a week or two would see her finished but she's back at the parent's house so I need to take time off work to get the job done, evenings and weeeknds just arent't enough... I'm considering getting her to a specialist to iron out the wrinkles and get the engine set up so I can damn well get her on the road - as much as the 350Z is fun and refined I miss feeling connected to the machine.
I had a mk2 escort 1.3 Ghia (well it had a ghia interior taken from another car). It was two tone pain, brown on top and beige on the bottom (it was called the chocolate biscuit by my friends). My first car at 17 (24 years ago). Crashed it three times, had to replace all the suspension (more than the car was worth), rust everywhere except for the accident repair panels. Stank of curry after I spilt a takeaway on the brown velour seats. Was so much fun especially around roundabouts and I remember one time the backend stepped out at 70mph on a country road but controlled it as it was a dream to drive
leon9191 said:
Scraped for £25, I wonder how much it would be worth today if it had been stored in that condition?
Probably about £5. 
You could see the road through the boot floor under the spare wheel and fuel tank, the rear pillars were rusted through and the engine was utterly f
ked, not to mention the myriad other things that were wrong with it.It got a flat rear tyre one day and when I tried to jack it up the jack went straight through the jacking point.
My dad had a red MK2. Until a dozy, stupid, drunk American mormon woman t-boned me at a roundabout one bright sunny saturday afternoon.
She told the traffic officer who attended the accident that she hadnt seen the roundabout or me & she had assumed that she was driving on a straight piece of road!!
Twice the legal limit when breath-tested, she was bailed by the local plod & she promptly buggered off back the USA before she appeared in Court.
The insurance claim was never paid out by her insurers because she subsequently denied all knowledge of the accident.
Now, if only i could afford to buy the Harrier jump jet featured elsewhere on here tonight.....
She told the traffic officer who attended the accident that she hadnt seen the roundabout or me & she had assumed that she was driving on a straight piece of road!!
Twice the legal limit when breath-tested, she was bailed by the local plod & she promptly buggered off back the USA before she appeared in Court.
The insurance claim was never paid out by her insurers because she subsequently denied all knowledge of the accident.
Now, if only i could afford to buy the Harrier jump jet featured elsewhere on here tonight.....
great story, like many others my motoring started with a mk 2 escort, 1.1 L in beige, check trim...horrendous but it didn't matter back then... the year would have been 1982, it was a v reg, i spent loads on it, but best mods were a janspeed exhaust and recaro's from a capri with fishnets. sold it after about 18 months and got a sunburst red xr3, wow what power after the 1.1 !
But my biggest regret is selling a mint black rs2000 that i had as a second car, bought it in 1999, sold it in about 2002, why o why, o why, (well to buy a 3 dr sierra cosworth)
But my biggest regret is selling a mint black rs2000 that i had as a second car, bought it in 1999, sold it in about 2002, why o why, o why, (well to buy a 3 dr sierra cosworth)
Me too. Bought a scabby white 1.3 Popular Plus before I'd passed my test, mum drove it to the MOT for me and brought it back saying it had failed as the engine was smoking. By that time I'd booked my test but my instructor was getting a new car and it wouldn't have the dual controls fitted in time, so either the Escort was fixed, or test postponed. So I fixed the Escort.
Went with a mate (in his Viva HC!) to the scrappy and bought the only X/flow he had for £25 and swapped the engine over (actually, wasn't that simple, but Mr Haynes helped with the removal and as we all know putting the new one in is was just the reverse).
As matey wasn't insured, I asked mum to drive it down the road to make sure it worked. She reversed it off the drive and nearly hit a tree. Seems the X/flow was a twin carb mexico jobbie which coupled with a 1.3 gearbox made it move rather smartly. I also learned what insurance premium meant.
Passed my test in it three days later and never looked back (except when using a mirror before pulling out). Had it for two years then sold it for a Chevette as the fuel bills were killing me.
Went with a mate (in his Viva HC!) to the scrappy and bought the only X/flow he had for £25 and swapped the engine over (actually, wasn't that simple, but Mr Haynes helped with the removal and as we all know putting the new one in is was just the reverse
).As matey wasn't insured, I asked mum to drive it down the road to make sure it worked. She reversed it off the drive and nearly hit a tree. Seems the X/flow was a twin carb mexico jobbie which coupled with a 1.3 gearbox made it move rather smartly. I also learned what insurance premium meant.
Passed my test in it three days later and never looked back (except when using a mirror before pulling out). Had it for two years then sold it for a Chevette as the fuel bills were killing me.
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