Ultra rare mk 1 Escort at upcoming auction

[wal 45]

aeropilot said:

The last RS1600 was built Nov 74, but Mex's and RS2's continued being made until end of Jan 75.

It amazing how many were P reg, much to the annoyance of the dealers who were desperate to get rid of the cars they had sold in June/July but the new owners wanted the new reg. By the time that these cars were registered on 1st Aug there was no cars left, all the dealer stock had gone.

A friend of mine had a mint P reg vista orange Mk 1 Mexico back in the mid 80's, he was only the second owner and concurred it had sat in Hendy's showroom for quite a while after the Mk 2's had come out before it finally sold.

This thread continues to deliver big time with the Escort memories and info, great stuff.

[aeropilot]

wal 45 said:

aeropilot said:

The last RS1600 was built Nov 74, but Mex's and RS2's continued being made until end of Jan 75.

It amazing how many were P reg, much to the annoyance of the dealers who were desperate to get rid of the cars they had sold in June/July but the new owners wanted the new reg. By the time that these cars were registered on 1st Aug there was no cars left, all the dealer stock had gone.

A friend of mine had a mint P reg vista orange Mk 1 Mexico back in the mid 80's, he was only the second owner and concurred it had sat in Hendy's showroom for quite a while after the Mk 2's had come out before it finally sold.

This thread continues to deliver big time with the Escort memories and info, great stuff.

There was a guy that used to be a regular at the AVO OC Dartford meet in the early 80's that had a lovely P reg Vista Orange Mexico, I think he was only the second owner, was a Custom Pack car with wood dash, vinyl roof, RS recliners & head rests etc., RS alloys. Can't remember his name though, big guy with a thick moustache.....

[wal 45]

aeropilot said:

There was a guy that used to be a regular at the AVO OC Dartford meet in the early 80's that had a lovely P reg Vista Orange Mexico, I think he was only the second owner, was a Custom Pack car with wood dash, vinyl roof, RS recliners & head rests etc., RS alloys. Can't remember his name though, big guy with a thick moustache.....

That wasn't him as we were all too young to grow meaningful facial hair back then!!! The car sounds absolutely identical though including the vinyl roof (white), we used to go the Southampton meets.

[Mark A S]

aeropilot said:

There was a guy that used to be a regular at the AVO OC Dartford meet in the early 80's that had a lovely P reg Vista Orange Mexico, I think he was only the second owner, was a Custom Pack car with wood dash, vinyl roof, RS recliners & head rests etc., RS alloys. Can't remember his name though, big guy with a thick moustache.....

[aeropilot]

wal 45 said:

aeropilot said:

There was a guy that used to be a regular at the AVO OC Dartford meet in the early 80's that had a lovely P reg Vista Orange Mexico, I think he was only the second owner, was a Custom Pack car with wood dash, vinyl roof, RS recliners & head rests etc., RS alloys. Can't remember his name though, big guy with a thick moustache.....

That wasn't him as we were all too young to grow meaningful facial hair back then!!! The car sounds absolutely identical though including the vinyl roof (white), we used to go the Southampton meets.

Aah OK, different cars then. The guy that used to own the one I'm thinking of had bought it around 77-78 when it was only a couple of years old, so was easily in his mid 30's in the early 80's.
And it had a factory black vinyl roof not a white one.....
I can't imagine how awful a white vinyl roof would have looked on a Mexico...!!!!!!!!

[s m]

aeropilot said:

There was a guy that used to be a regular at the AVO OC Dartford meet in the early 80's that had a lovely P reg Vista Orange Mexico, I think he was only the second owner, was a Custom Pack car with wood dash, vinyl roof, RS recliners & head rests etc., RS alloys. Can't remember his name though, big guy with a thick moustache.....

?

[wal 45]

aeropilot said:

And it had a factory black vinyl roof not a white one.....
I can't imagine how awful a white vinyl roof would have looked on a Mexico...!!!!!!!!

I know what you mean as I was never a fan of VR' either, surprisingly it looked OK as he had white stripes on it and Mk 1's had much smaller VR's than the Mk 2.

[aeropilot]

s m said:

aeropilot said:

There was a guy that used to be a regular at the AVO OC Dartford meet in the early 80's that had a lovely P reg Vista Orange Mexico, I think he was only the second owner, was a Custom Pack car with wood dash, vinyl roof, RS recliners & head rests etc., RS alloys. Can't remember his name though, big guy with a thick moustache.....

?

Nice try, but I know who that is
That is Alan Wilkinson, who was not some random male model employed by some ad agency, he actually worked for Ford and was actually part of the AVO management team at Aveley.

[Mark A S]

Wasn't Alan responsible mostly, for the Monte Escorts ? They were VERY tricks bits of kit

[s m]

aeropilot said:

s m said:

aeropilot said:

There was a guy that used to be a regular at the AVO OC Dartford meet in the early 80's that had a lovely P reg Vista Orange Mexico, I think he was only the second owner, was a Custom Pack car with wood dash, vinyl roof, RS recliners & head rests etc., RS alloys. Can't remember his name though, big guy with a thick moustache.....

?

Nice try, but I know who that is
That is Alan Wilkinson, who was not some random male model employed by some ad agency, he actually worked for Ford and was actually part of the AVO management team at Aveley.

Nicely done and correct

They recreated the ad some years later with Alan

[aeropilot]

Mark A S said:

Wasn't Alan responsible mostly, for the Monte Escorts ? They were VERY tricks bits of kit

That rings a bell, did he go to Boreham from Aveley then?

Or as he at Boreham when they did that studio shot?

Memory cells are dimming now, as to where he was working at the time.

Those wide arch '79 Monte 'ice racers' were very special Escorts weren't they.....

Edited by aeropilot on Friday 9th October 14:21

[aeropilot]

s m said:

Nicely done and correct

They recreated the ad some years later with Alan

Brilliant -
Never seen that before

[wal 45]

aeropilot said:

Brilliant -
Never seen that before

Me neither, very good

[Mark A S]

aeropilot said:

That rings a bell, did he go to Boreham from Aveley then?

Or as he at Boreham when they did that studio shot?

Memory cells are dimming now, as to where he was working at the time.

Those wide arch '79 Monte 'ice racers' were very special Escorts weren't they.....

Edited by aeropilot on Friday 9th October 14:21

Yes, they were, this site explains them well: http://montescort.com/history/

I would say Alan went to Boreham after Aveley, clearly a clever chap. For those that don't know, these Mk 2 's were VERY advanced and quick on Tarmac, Waldegard was leading by 6.30 mins into the last night, when "mysteriously" French rocks, placed by Frenchies on a French road caused him the stop for around 7 mins to clear the stage, so a French driver albeit in a Italian Stratos won the event.

It was a great shame, as the Monte is the only WRC event the Escorts never won.

Some footage here [ theres probably better out there ] of the 79 monte, you can see how agile and quick the "monte" Escorts were. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A5iaUo2hFk

[aeropilot]

Mark A S said:

For those that don't know, these Mk 2 's were VERY advanced and quick on Tarmac, Waldegard was leading by 6.30 mins into the last night, when "mysteriously" French rocks, placed by Frenchies on a French road caused him the stop for around 7 mins to clear the stage, so a French driver albeit in a Italian Stratos won the event.

Well, the cheating Frenchies could hardly resort to the 'wrong lights' tactic again, even they probably worked out they wouldn't get away with that farce again......so they had to resort to other methods

[Legacywr]

Vista orange with a white vinyl roof?

[aeropilot]

Legacywr said:

Vista orange with a white vinyl roof?

And with white stripes......

[Legacywr]

aeropilot said:

Legacywr said:

Vista orange with a white vinyl roof?

And with white stripes......

[wal 45]

Legacywr said:

aeropilot said:

Legacywr said:

Vista orange with a white vinyl roof?

And with white stripes......

I wish I had some photos it looked OK honestly

Although maybe there was a reason it sat in Hendy's showroom unsold for a while....hmmm

[aeropilot]

wal 45 said:

Legacywr said:

aeropilot said:

Legacywr said:

Vista orange with a white vinyl roof?

And with white stripes......

I wish I had some photos it looked OK honestly

Although maybe there was a reason it sat in Hendy's showroom unsold for a while....hmmm

I doubt it was sitting in the showroom like that, as a Vista Orange Mexico would have left the factory with black stripes and white vinyl roof wasn't an option at all, and if you ticked the vinyl roof option they didn't fit the stripes, and the car came with the triple pinstripes.
More like the car was a base pinstripe car the first owner added the white roof and white pinstripes to it?