South African Escorts

[Baron von Teuchter]

Importing these seems to be on the up but the prices vary wildly. I've seen some nice ones barely make 6k and some ropey looking ones go for over £10k.

What gives?

I believe the 1600 sports had an RS-type strengthened shell. Seems like the good basis for a project.

[iphonedyou]

Expected something else entirely on opening this thread.

[cobra kid]

Depends if they want a passport and want to love with you I guess?

[Baron von Teuchter]

iphonedyou said:

Expected something else entirely on opening this thread.

[Baron von Teuchter]

Buggles said:

I've looked at these too, there's a place in Aylesbury I think, that imports them. I guess the condition varies depending on where about's in SA they've spent their life.

MSC?

Indeed. Though, as I say, there seem to be good ones not selling and ropey ones selling ok.

They all seem to be 1600 sports, are they the only ones that were made in SA?

[unsprung]

iphonedyou said:

Expected something else entirely on opening this thread.

https://youtu.be/6zXDo4dL7SU

[TonyRPH]

I left SA in '96

I suspect the biggest issues you're likely to face are finding one that is rust free and not full of bodges / accident damage.

Inland cars were always sought after (any make) due to the lack of rust, but I would have thought there can't be that many Escorts left that have spent their entire life cycle inland.

SA doesn't have an annual MOT (or at least they never used to) so the only time a car was subject to a 'roadworthy' was when it changed hands (and even then only by dealer IIRC!).

So a restoration project could be quite ropey, especially anything from the coastal regions, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth being particularly humid areas.

ETA: SA never had the 1300 Sport, but there were basic two door and four door cars (both with 1.3 and 1.6 engines). They all used the Kent engine.

[Coolbanana]

I'm sure that there are some very nice, totally clean SA Escorts with a proven provenance and reliability but do still check what Aids you might be getting first.

[J4CKO]

Cant you buys a new shell from China now ?

Or just look for something different, Escorts are great but every bloke of a certain age seems to plonk a picture of an Escort Mexico on Facebook and sall the others say its "Porn" or "Mint", it was an 88 bhp 1600cc Escort, and they pay 20 grand, buy an R32 GTR, 944 Turbo or something instead ?

Ok if its something modded with 200 plus bhp but I just cant get that excited about even an RS 2000.

[anonymous-user]

South Africa had a "fast" version of the Ford Sierra which was not available in other markets - Sierra XR8, with a 5.0 litre Mustang engine.

A limited number of 250 were built for homologation as Sierra was the main Ford used in Group A racing. The XR8 was fitted with a 5.0 litre engine from the US Ford Mustang, and Borg Warner T5 heavy duty transmission. Front brakes were by AP Racing.

XR8 is easily recognized by four cooling slats between the headlights. Other versions had the usual smooth front.

https://www.classiccarauctions.co.uk/1985-ford-sie...

[Zetec-S]

J4CKO said:

Cant you buys a new shell from China now ?

Or just look for something different, Escorts are great but every bloke of a certain age seems to plonk a picture of an Escort Mexico on Facebook and sall the others say its "Porn" or "Mint", it was an 88 bhp 1600cc Escort, and they pay 20 grand, buy an R32 GTR, 944 Turbo or something instead ?

Ok if its something modded with 200 plus bhp but I just cant get that excited about even an RS 2000.

To be honest, it's probably not a bad business idea. Set up your own factory and start producing "barn find" shells at £10k a pop...

[Baron von Teuchter]

J4CKO said:

Cant you buys a new shell from China now ?

Or just look for something different, Escorts are great but every bloke of a certain age seems to plonk a picture of an Escort Mexico on Facebook and sall the others say its "Porn" or "Mint", it was an 88 bhp 1600cc Escort, and they pay 20 grand, buy an R32 GTR, 944 Turbo or something instead ?

Ok if its something modded with 200 plus bhp but I just cant get that excited about even an RS 2000.

https://www.motorsport-tools.com/brand-new-manufactured-complete-escort-mk2-bodyshell-standard-rs-spec-body-shell.html



£7k, no idea what quality they are though

[anonymous-user]

iphonedyou said:

Expected something else entirely on opening this thread.

Even if I say "you'll still get rot" it still doesn't narrow down which one we're talking about.

[Baron von Teuchter]

Kierkegaard said:

iphonedyou said:

Expected something else entirely on opening this thread.

Even if I say "you'll still get rot" it still doesn't narrow down which one we're talking about.

Cheap and dirty
Not show quality
Couple of small holes
Dodgy history
Basket Case
Unregistered
Couple of leaks
etc etc

it doesn't get better

[J4CKO]

Baron von Teuchter said:

J4CKO said:

Cant you buys a new shell from China now ?

Or just look for something different, Escorts are great but every bloke of a certain age seems to plonk a picture of an Escort Mexico on Facebook and sall the others say its "Porn" or "Mint", it was an 88 bhp 1600cc Escort, and they pay 20 grand, buy an R32 GTR, 944 Turbo or something instead ?

Ok if its something modded with 200 plus bhp but I just cant get that excited about even an RS 2000.

https://www.motorsport-tools.com/brand-new-manufactured-complete-escort-mk2-bodyshell-standard-rs-spec-body-shell.html



£7k, no idea what quality they are though

Cant imagine they are that much worse than buying a 40 year old one from SA ?

[Baron von Teuchter]

Aye.

[TooMany2cvs]

Kierkegaard said:

iphonedyou said:

Expected something else entirely on opening this thread.

Even if I say "you'll still get rot" it still doesn't narrow down which one we're talking about.

...and...

TonyRPH said:

I suspect the biggest issues you're likely to face are finding one that is rust free and not full of bodges / accident damage.

[s m]

Friend bought a useable Mk2 RS2000 on EBay for 15k a few months back - MOT etc
He's got a nice 170bhp engine ready to go in after a suspension refresh and brake upgrade
He's very happy with it for a fun weekend car

Plans for a YBT in it soon
He could have got something newer I guess.....but then most of the threads in this forum would be pointless if we had to compare and validate against what newer thing we could have bought

[Baron von Teuchter]

Quite.

Small, light, rwd, huge parts and tuning market, easy to work on, great resale market.

[shakotan]

Baron von Teuchter said:

J4CKO said:

Cant you buys a new shell from China now ?

Or just look for something different, Escorts are great but every bloke of a certain age seems to plonk a picture of an Escort Mexico on Facebook and sall the others say its "Porn" or "Mint", it was an 88 bhp 1600cc Escort, and they pay 20 grand, buy an R32 GTR, 944 Turbo or something instead ?

Ok if its something modded with 200 plus bhp but I just cant get that excited about even an RS 2000.

https://www.motorsport-tools.com/brand-new-manufactured-complete-escort-mk2-bodyshell-standard-rs-spec-body-shell.html



£7k, no idea what quality they are though

Those China shells are amazingly good. I've seen people bolting original Ford panels straight to them with a perfect fit.