Escort Mk2 1600 sport - not classic but raced by F1 drivers

[rallycross]

Anyone ever have a Mk2 1600 sport? Here's a full grid of them being raced by ex F1 drivers round a street circuit (Macau) - Moss, Brabam, Stewart, Ickx, Hailwood etc

It was never considered a special model as only 85 bhp 4 speed and had basic seats etc.

The Rs2000 was a lot more desirable and quicker (110 bhp!) and the Rs1800 was the rare one that you'd never see on the road as so few were made.

I was surprised to find this old video of a full grid of Escort 1600 sport's being raced by ex F1 drivers round Macau, a high speed street circuit and the cars being driven beyond their limit - good to see if a little fuzzy (1979 VHS quality).

https://youtu.be/NExJa9k6_i4

I dont remember my 1600 sport ever going this quickly!

Edited by rallycross on Thursday 19th November 16:12

[phil1967]

I had one until last year, great little car that needed a lot of revs to fly.

[Mark A S]

Excellent, thanks for posting that Nice to see JYS is human after all

Believe it or not, this was a 1600 sport when new, so yes, i did [sort of] own one.

[V40TC]

superb thanks
Had two
the last was GLD 124T IIRC
spent plenty on mods
ran 16secs dead at RWYB at santa pod
sold to have heating added to our home back in 88

[Caddyshack]

Had one as my first car but leant it to my step brother before I was 17, he lost the back end and rolled it backwards off a bank....that was the end of that.

I did get to drive it off road before and it felt pretty quick back then.

[andyb28]

Were these also called Harrier?

[phil1967]

Not quite, the Harrier was the ‘run out’ model with some minor changes to the 1600 Sport

[Mikebentley]

My old RS and one of brothers 2 Harriers. He still got his after 30 yrs.

[Caddyshack]

Mikebentley said:

My old RS and one of brothers 2 Harriers. He still got his after 30 yrs.

Nice!

There was a fit blonde near where I lived with a Harrier, I loved the fishnet Recaro headrests. Not sure if it was the hottie in it that made me like the car so much?

[Turbobanana]

Caddyshack said:

Nice!

There was a fit blonde near where I lived with a Harrier, I loved the fishnet Recaro headrests. Not sure if it was the hottie in it that made me like the car so much?

Gotta love a hottie with fishnets

[chippy348]

My 1st car was a MK2 1300 Sport back in 1987 and then got a project 1600 sport in 1990 UVR 22S built it as a rally car with a 2 Ltr Pinto, used that on the road for a few months then sold it to start my business, the guy who brought it entered it into a rally and wrote it off.

I ended up buying another 1600 Sport at the end of 2016, it was a south African import. I wanted to modify it like i would have done back in 1987 if i had the money, so buying a RS2000 (what i really wanted) was out of the question as the value in those cars is keeping them std, The SA sport has some of the chassis reinforcement's that the RS2000 had so was a good platform to start from.

It's had massive project creep since then, i have gone done the rout of fitting a YB Cosworth engine which means to do the job right and safely a lot of work, at the moment i have too many projects on so it has taken a back seat, but i hope to get back on it in the new year.

[s m]

Mikebentley said:

My old RS and one of brothers 2 Harriers. He still got his after 30 yrs.

Great pic
Had a few Escorts back in the 80s, as did most of my friends, but moved onto newer stuff since
However, one of my friends had a bit of a windfall and got a decent red Mk2 RS2000 for a fun weekend car - 15k a few years ago - so I’ve relived past fun vicariously
For all the improvements in modern stuff, it’s still brilliant fun. Has an aftermarket manifold and exhaust, Kenlowe and electronic ignition so nearly standard
Still got plenty of straightline oomph, his son’s Swift Sport certainly wasn’t opening a gap when we followed him to drop it off somewhere and cornering made us both laugh out loud

Never had a 1600 Sport but did have a boggo 1.3 that did a few bits to and eventually ended up with a 1700 x/f in.
Seriously want another - so simple to work on and for a fun car you just can’t buy anything new like them IMO

[1602Mark]

My first proper Escort was a 1600 sport. It had X pack arches, cage etc and a 1660 crossflow. I remember out dragging a chap in an RS2000 on the A229 near Maidstone and the look on his face as I started pulling ahead. It's funny how some things just stay with you. Unfortunately I exited the bottom of Bluebell Hill a bit too quickly and oversteered into a sign post putting a big V into the offside sill. I sold it to a chap I knew who had a porta-power and more time that I, but it was never the same after that. I bought an RS2000 after that I think? Funnily enough I did view another 1600 sport but he wanted £450 and I only had 400. Who knew how much they'd fetch today?

[s m]

1602Mark said:

My first proper Escort was a 1600 sport. It had X pack arches, cage etc and a 1660 crossflow. I remember out dragging a chap in an RS2000 on the A229 near Maidstone and the look on his face as I started pulling ahead. It's funny how some things just stay with you. Unfortunately I exited the bottom of Bluebell Hill a bit too quickly and oversteered into a sign post putting a big V into the offside sill. I sold it to a chap I knew who had a porta-power and more time that I, but it was never the same after that. I bought an RS2000 after that I think? Funnily enough I did view another 1600 sport but he wanted £450 and I only had 400. Who knew how much they'd fetch today?

Chance to see how much this will fetch Mark



https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/auctions/1979-mk2-...

[200Plus Club]

Interesting to look at the various weights there in the tables. Circa 850kg for the escort and most. Cars certainly got lardy in the interim.

[Mikebentley]

Some more old Escort pictures. Sorry for the scanned photos (remember them) 1.6 Goldcrest was the fastest standard 1.6 Mk 2 I ever owned. It was about 1994 and had 20,000 miles on the clock. It had belonged to and old dear from new and her grandson worked at Aldon in Brierley Hill and it had one of their trick distributors on it. It also had a quick shift and it was so fast. Sold for what I paid for it £800.00 after 3 yrs.

RS 2000 viewed in Nov 1996 in a lock up in Lower Gornal. It was a guys pride and joy. He had spent all his redundancy money on it. Every nut and bolt replaced with OEM parts. He had purchased a microfiche machine and the Ford parts list so he could get the parts from all over Europe. Fully lightened and balanced with twin 45’s and everything braided ( I will post more pictures). After viewing he said it wasn’t for sale so I said I would call him a month later. I called two days before Christmas, his wife asked how much I was offering, I said £1800.00. There was a heated conversation between them and he said if you come now you can have it. Within 3 hrs it was at my home. About 5 months later I sold it at RS owners show (see pic with bonnet up) for £4K. Nobody had sold one for more than that before so I only put the price on it to stop being pestered.

The V8 was a really lovely conversion. The friend who owned it took it to a multiplex in Slough/Windsor area the night before a European SEOC trip. It wasn’t there after the film ended and was never seen again AFAIK.

[Mikebentley]

[Mikebentley]

[Mikebentley]

[Mikebentley]

Brothers second Harrier with his friends that had the running plate.