RE: Spotted: Ford Escort RS1600i...
Discussion
I think everyone is forgetting it is essentially a new car of which there may be a handful more about in the same condition in collections and museums but they will almost never come up for sale.
For all the kids claiming a 'lack of history is a problem' you really need to use your heads. This has obviously been knoen to the club for many years and is not a daily driver. I should imagine whoever buys this also has a daily driver or two anyway.
Not something I had an interest in when new tbh but its nice to know how different it was to the XR3 and the special parts that went into it. I did see them around and know people who had them generally cherished them.
For all the kids claiming a 'lack of history is a problem' you really need to use your heads. This has obviously been knoen to the club for many years and is not a daily driver. I should imagine whoever buys this also has a daily driver or two anyway.
Not something I had an interest in when new tbh but its nice to know how different it was to the XR3 and the special parts that went into it. I did see them around and know people who had them generally cherished them.
Whiters said:
VidalBaboon said:
andrewjgriff said:
bigblock said:
andrewjgriff said:
£26k!! They were crap new, why would anyone pay that for a 30 year old one??
Why were they crap? I had a white one like this in 1983 and it held its own against the other front wheel drive hot hatches of the time. I liked the fact it was a limited edition homologation special for Group A racing and had a souped up engine and adjustable suspension (unfortunately that also used to be my chat up line which is probably why I did'nt have a girlfriend at the time
). 
what s
te gets spouted on this forum. Go on then, if you can explain how it was inferior i'll offer you an apology.I love the RS1600i (and early 3is) but personally would prefer to pay a lot less for something nice but usable.
They all excel at something or other (when compared back to back) but for me, the RSs are in another league when it comes to desirability as the prices are proving somewhat.
26k for what is possibly a one off opportunity for a collector? I think they'll get it. Could be worse, they could go out and drop £35k on a diesel Golf
Edited by VidalBaboon on Friday 3rd February 12:44
It's nothing but an exceptionally expensive ornament for an idiot with no taste.
As soon as you use it you lose the £26k you ploughed in to it. So it's destined to be sat around gathering dust for a Ford Fanboi to lust over because their daddy told them to never buy anything other than Fords.
If it ends up any where it should be in a Ford museum. As a driver it's slow and rubbish.
Even in it's day it wasnt exactly a world beater.
As soon as you use it you lose the £26k you ploughed in to it. So it's destined to be sat around gathering dust for a Ford Fanboi to lust over because their daddy told them to never buy anything other than Fords.
If it ends up any where it should be in a Ford museum. As a driver it's slow and rubbish.
Even in it's day it wasnt exactly a world beater.
Obviously a VERY clean car, perhaps the nicest 'styling' effort amongst the Mk 3 Escorts and probably deserves a place in some heritage museum simply as a finely-preserved example of an RS Ford.
Had the RS1700T not been axed by Stuart Turner (not without reason in view of the 4WD revolution) or had this RS1600i been a RWD evolution of the old road-going RS1800 (with 1840 cc BDA) then, for sure, we'd be looking at something well worth £26k - but not as it stands, I'm afraid.
Rally provenance? Think if you faithfully promised Malcolm Wilson and Louise Aitken-Walker that their comments would not be aired publicly, they'd probably be quite dismissive of the car and its capabilities. Both were saddled with campaigning the RS1600i in the British Rally Championship in the early '80's and the car brought neither driver much in the way of rewards.
Same story a few years earlier in '79 when Ari Vatanen and Roger Clark were tasked with those early pushrod-engined 1600cc Fiestas. 10th and 13th places respectively on the '79 Monte Carlo Rally was way below what Ford were hoping for and I don't believe the 'project' even lasted a full year.
It was basically the start of the era when the car manufacturing 'suits' decided that the unitary drivetrain (aka FWD!) was the way to reduce production costs and so we car enthusiasts all entered an era where cheap but fun RWD cars virtually disappeared.
Had the RS1700T not been axed by Stuart Turner (not without reason in view of the 4WD revolution) or had this RS1600i been a RWD evolution of the old road-going RS1800 (with 1840 cc BDA) then, for sure, we'd be looking at something well worth £26k - but not as it stands, I'm afraid.
Rally provenance? Think if you faithfully promised Malcolm Wilson and Louise Aitken-Walker that their comments would not be aired publicly, they'd probably be quite dismissive of the car and its capabilities. Both were saddled with campaigning the RS1600i in the British Rally Championship in the early '80's and the car brought neither driver much in the way of rewards.
Same story a few years earlier in '79 when Ari Vatanen and Roger Clark were tasked with those early pushrod-engined 1600cc Fiestas. 10th and 13th places respectively on the '79 Monte Carlo Rally was way below what Ford were hoping for and I don't believe the 'project' even lasted a full year.
It was basically the start of the era when the car manufacturing 'suits' decided that the unitary drivetrain (aka FWD!) was the way to reduce production costs and so we car enthusiasts all entered an era where cheap but fun RWD cars virtually disappeared.
PHMatt said:
It's nothing but an exceptionally expensive ornament for an idiot with no taste.
As soon as you use it you lose the £26k you ploughed in to it. So it's destined to be sat around gathering dust for a Ford Fanboi to lust over because their daddy told them to never buy anything other than Fords.
If it ends up any where it should be in a Ford museum. As a driver it's slow and rubbish.
Even in it's day it wasnt exactly a world beater.
No taste? It's quite a pretty car in this guise.As soon as you use it you lose the £26k you ploughed in to it. So it's destined to be sat around gathering dust for a Ford Fanboi to lust over because their daddy told them to never buy anything other than Fords.
If it ends up any where it should be in a Ford museum. As a driver it's slow and rubbish.
Even in it's day it wasnt exactly a world beater.
Out of interest, what do you drive?
VidalBaboon said:
what ste gets spouted on this forum. Go on then, if you can explain how it was inferior i'll offer you an apology.How anyone can value one at £26k is beyond me......But the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, so I look forward to seeing what it makes. Its banker bonus time isn't it - maybe one of them will see the potential of this investment!!!
PHMatt said:
for an idiot with no taste.
There's always some idiot out there who considers themself some sort of automotive god, and gives them the right to say that another man's choice makes them an idiot! 
PHMatt said:
Even in it's day it wasnt exactly a world beater.
And your statement is based on what?? Against what?? It was a small Hatchback FFS, who says it was trying to be a worldbeater or compete with Mercs etc of the day!!Leigh996tt said:
Here's a few snaps of one I helped restore. Four months of hard graft, around 800 man hours between us resulted in what you see. Soon to be appearing in the PH classified section 
Looks like a lovely job!!! Not that it matters all that much, but would be even nicer with it original RS alloys imho (since you went to the bother of doing such a nice job on the rest of it!) 
Leigh996tt said:
Here's a few snaps of one I helped restore. Four months of hard graft, around 800 man hours between us resulted in what you see. Soon to be appearing in the PH classified section
Lovely but quite how you value it is beyond me???As to the car in the article & all the madness comments, here's an idea:
Buy a brand new megane r260 trophy or whatever they're called these days.
26k new
Run it for 5 years adding 40k miles,
Value circa 7-8 grand yeah?
Buy this rs1600i for 26k
Run it for 5 years adding 40k miles
Value circa 10 grand, maybe more if prices creep up?
See, that's man maths for you, an rs1600i at 26 grand makes perfect financial sense!!
(let's just not mention 3 year manufactures warranties & finance ok?!)
You know, I think the pricing on this might not neccesarily be as crazy as would first appear, I mean I can't imagine any circumstances under which I'd value it at £26K as an idividual car, but what happens when you consider it as part of a collection?
There are obsessive completists out there and I can't help thinking that if someone somewhere has an almost complete set of really good clean original Ford RS cars (or even just the Escort based ones) and a really good RS1600i is one of the things he or she needs to complete the set then considering what they'll have paid for the others they're probably not going to think twice about £26K for this one. Heck, as part of a complete collection like that it might even be worth it!
There are obsessive completists out there and I can't help thinking that if someone somewhere has an almost complete set of really good clean original Ford RS cars (or even just the Escort based ones) and a really good RS1600i is one of the things he or she needs to complete the set then considering what they'll have paid for the others they're probably not going to think twice about £26K for this one. Heck, as part of a complete collection like that it might even be worth it!
Nors said:
Looks like a lovely job!!! Not that it matters all that much, but would be even nicer with it original RS alloys imho (since you went to the bother of doing such a nice job on the rest of it!)
Original wheels will be an option, buyers preference an' all that It does look so much nicer with the 16's on though in our opinion but for originality, the purists will always want stock. Cheers for the compliments.
cragswinter said:
Lovely but quite how you value it is beyond me???
Difficult one isn't it Craig. He's probably going to pitch it somewhere around the 9-10k mark and see what interest is generated.To be honest he doesn't want to sell, and I don't want him to either as it's a real hoot. But it's a matter of needing the space for another project, pork based
I recall the Autocar road test at the time (late '82 iirc where they tested the then new XR3i and the RS1600i back to back). The XR3i was actually slightly faster - due to it's lower first to forth gearing. As the write-up says, it's really a collector's 'show' car, not for driving - which is somewhat of a shame. I loved the look of the RS at the time (and pretty much all Fords then) but now have what I reckon to be a superior equivilent and for a lot less money: 309GTI
Gixer_fan said:
I recall the Autocar road test at the time (late '82 iirc where they tested the then new XR3i and the RS1600i back to back). The XR3i was actually slightly faster - due to it's lower first to forth gearing. I loved the look of the RS at the time (and pretty much all Fords then) but now have what I reckon to be a superior equivilent and for a lot less money: 309GTI
Now you are talking. I had a mint 309 1.9 GTi and it was Epic, in every way.But it was a few years later than the XR3 so can't campare really. The 309 was early 90s, XR3s were early 80s, no?
M666 EVO said:
Gixer_fan said:
I recall the Autocar road test at the time (late '82 iirc where they tested the then new XR3i and the RS1600i back to back). The XR3i was actually slightly faster - due to it's lower first to forth gearing. I loved the look of the RS at the time (and pretty much all Fords then) but now have what I reckon to be a superior equivilent and for a lot less money: 309GTI
Now you are talking. I had a mint 309 1.9 GTi and it was Epic, in every way.But it was a few years later than the XR3 so can't campare really. The 309 was early 90s, XR3s were early 80s, no?
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