RE: All-new Mk2 Ford Escort in development

[aeropilot]

marcosgt said:

If you want a great handling RWD car with a six speed Mazda box, save yourself a bundle, buy an RX8 and factor in a rebuild every 5 years!

Yeah, they are such a great forest/stage rally car........

[dhutch]

jason61c said:

GBS? Same as the old robin hood sports cars? Or one of the worse kit car makers in the country still?

autofocus said:

Hi there,

Having spent a couple of years building my GBS Zero and working alongside the factory to get it through the IVA process, I can assure you Richard and the team there certainly know what they are doing.

The engineering side of their business is superb and I believe the plan with this project is for the cars to be built with all new parts and registered on new plates. The Duratec engines they are using are great and they can work to tune them to give some great performance figures.

Regards

Tim

Yes. Not had any direct dealings, but everything I have seen online points to GBS being a totally difference animal to the previously rather rough Robin Hood business and product. They now make very nice kits/cars/parts, with solid technical and customer support.


Daniel

[blade7]

marcosgt said:

I can remember when you could hardly give away 2 door Escort 1.3s and Mexicos were hardly 'desirable'

Not how I remember RS Escorts back in the 80's. Motoring News/Exchange & Mart as soon as they came out, and call the owner before they went to work, or the usual traders were all over them.

[aeropilot]

blade7 said:

marcosgt said:

I can remember when you could hardly give away 2 door Escort 1.3s and Mexicos were hardly 'desirable'

Not how I remember RS Escorts back in the 80's. Motoring News/Exchange & Mart as soon as they came out, and call the owner before they went to work, or the usual traders were all over them.

While, billy basic Mk1 1300's etc were cheap as chips rust bucket bargain basement cars all through the 80's, AVO cars, including the most numerous Mexico, have been desirable since they were new, they've never not been.
The AVO Owners Club started in 1980, when the youngest was merely 5 years old, and good ones were sought after by then. Sure, many of them had already lead a hard life as club rally cars etc., but they've always had a desirable following.
Not personally liking something doesn't mean its hardly 'desirable'

[Earl of Petrol]

Not for me but it’s whatever floats your boat I guess. I can understand surviving RS models attracting strong money from a nostalgic and scarcity viewpoint, but a new copy? Not so sure.
It’s odd isn’t it that after 4 decades of rampant automotive development we hanker after a very ordinary 70s Ford, or other similar. Somebody mentioned Sunbeam Lotus earlier... that’d be my thing but I’d want an original, series 1, no mods, Coventry number plate....now you’ve set me off......

[phast]

Mmmmm yes please. Can I get one with a RS2000 nose though

[blade7]

phast said:

Mmmmm yes please. Can I get one with a RS2000 nose though

I always preferred the RS2, but the flat front Mex seemed to turn in just a bit better.

[Johnspex]

GroundEffect said:

RumbleOfThunder said:

Pretty sure cooking = decent. Agreed it's a fking stupid term though.

Cooking = most basic.

e.g. cooking apples...

I think some are confusing cooking with souped up. Both dated old fashioned terms but cooking definitely means basic, standard, not, in fact, souped up.

[s m]

blade7 said:

marcosgt said:

I can remember when you could hardly give away 2 door Escort 1.3s and Mexicos were hardly 'desirable'

Not how I remember RS Escorts back in the 80's. Motoring News/Exchange & Mart as soon as they came out, and call the owner before they went to work, or the usual traders were all over them.

Yeah, the RS' were always in demand as far as I can remember. Paid over £2k for each of my mk2 2000s in the 80s - both private buys though. You paid more from dealers like Yukspeed or Mike Young.
RS1800s went so quick usually - they'd always sold from private sellers by the time you'd spotted them in Autotrader/Motoring News. A friend wanted an RS1800 badly in the mid 80s - there were about 8 of us all scouring the ads for ages for him. In the end he had to go to Mike Young's down south and it was around 5k ( double the price of an RS2000 ) - maybe a bit more - for it.
Gave him a lift down to get it in my RS2000 - we had a good journey in convoy back across the Cotswolds

I'm not sure what the cheapest a tidy RS2000 ever got down to? I remember seeing ones for about £1200 -> £1500 in the late 90s but that was the era of £4K E30 M3s and £4K Cossies.
Anyone ever buy a decent useable one for under a grand back then? I'll have a look back in my old Autotraders.



My black one was just over 2k and a friend's yellow one was a few hundred more

The 1.3L Mk2 2-door I bought around the same time was about £350 - no ball of fire for sure but it was a lot more fun with a load of cheap bits bolted in - very easy to do in a weekend

[777petrolhead]

Now come on, I'm a petrolhead and when i was 17 i would have literally given a testicle for an RS2000 custom in black with a Janspeed exhaust but seriously, and the games moved on there's a lot of pretty good tackle new and even better used for 60k, if private companies can charge these prices for resto mods maybe the manufacturers should just start knocking out 'new old stock' would people still want to buy them ? Hmm maybe yes, pretty much everything is starting to look the same now anyway ...

The world has officially gone mad in more ways than I ever imagined...

[s m]

J4CKO said:

I think Escorts and Minis are a bit overrated in a way, as I remember driving MK1 and 2 Escorts and though I loved them, at the time I never thought them a paragon of handling magic, they were generally miserable old 1.1 Populars or tragically Barried four door 1.3's with a loud exhaust.


Most ones anyone drives nowadays will be fully restored Mexico reps or four linked rally cars, not the S reg 1.1 knacker I remember

Well Jacko, looks like you might be transported back to your youth and all your memories of knackered 4-dr Escort Mk2s and Minis if you watch Top Gear on Sunday at 8pm

Presenters are all going back to their first cars and hence are driving a knackered Escort, Mini plus, for the EVO readers they’ve even thrown in an old Boxster which was in all likelihood the cheapest!!!

They’re having an ‘adventure’ through the Ethiopian desert in them


















I’ll give it a watch......at least until the piano lands!

[aeropilot]

777petrolhead said:

Now come on, I'm a petrolhead and when i was 17 i would have literally given a testicle for an RS2000 custom in black with a Janspeed exhaust but seriously, and the games moved on there's a lot of pretty good tackle new and even better used for 60k,

Yet another who hasn't bothered to read and understand the original article...............

[J4CKO]

s m said:

J4CKO said:

I think Escorts and Minis are a bit overrated in a way, as I remember driving MK1 and 2 Escorts and though I loved them, at the time I never thought them a paragon of handling magic, they were generally miserable old 1.1 Populars or tragically Barried four door 1.3's with a loud exhaust.


Most ones anyone drives nowadays will be fully restored Mexico reps or four linked rally cars, not the S reg 1.1 knacker I remember

Well Jacko, looks like you might be transported back to your youth and all your memories of knackered 4-dr Escort Mk2s and Minis if you watch Top Gear on Sunday at 8pm

Presenters are all going back to their first cars and hence are driving a knackered Escort, Mini plus, for the EVO readers they’ve even thrown in an old Boxster which was in all likelihood the cheapest!!!

They’re having an ‘adventure’ through the Ethiopian desert in them


















I’ll give it a watch......at least until the piano lands!

Yeah, I will have a watch, will see if I can cope with "No Likey".


I think there is plenty of stuff available cheaper than old Escorts that are better, faster and whatever but the problem with them all is they arent an old Escort, no car seems to evoke the same level of sheer want among so many people.

I know a 944 is better in every way, and for the price of an 89 bhp 1600 Escort Mexico you can get a very nice Turbo and change, the 944 is a very nice car and has a following but it is a much smaller one than the Ford.

Escorts were everywhere and excelled in many motorsports but mainly rallying, 944 did well but we didnt wee them so much in comparison, your dad was much more likely to have an Escort than a Porsche.

Its a heady combination of nostalgia, motorsports, sheer exposure and them being actually pretty good for the era, plus they are good looking cars.

I would probably take a 944 Turbo over a Mexico, but a properly modified Mk2 with all the usual stuff done would be hard to turn down.

[aeropilot]

J4CKO said:

I think there is plenty of stuff available cheaper than old Escorts that are better, faster and whatever but the problem with them all is they arent an old Escort

For the umpteenth bloody time........

R A L L Y I N G.

So come on then, write a list of all these plenty of available and cheaper rwd cars that are a good as an Escort to compete in rallying?
And cheaper has to include running and repairing it, not just buying it.

[J4CKO]

aeropilot said:

J4CKO said:

I think there is plenty of stuff available cheaper than old Escorts that are better, faster and whatever but the problem with them all is they arent an old Escort

For the umpteenth bloody time........

R A L L Y I N G.

So come on then, write a list of all these plenty of available and cheaper rwd cars that are a good as an Escort to compete in rallying?
And cheaper has to include running and repairing it, not just buying it.

You are selectively quoting but missing my point I feel,

Yes, I know about rallying, but go to any old car meet and, especially a Ford one and there are rows of immaculate Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts, I would expect there are more out there that arent used for competition than those that are.

The point I was making was that, for the money there are loads of other classic cars out there, that were regarded as better at the time, like the 944 it was a bit later and at the time was much, much more expensive than any Escort, but over time they have ended up more prized and more valuable than the Porsche, not that the Porsche doesnt have a following I hasten to add.

I get that the Escort is the best platform for a historic rally car but I am talking about the desire for ordinary folk to buy an Escort Mk1 or Mk2, they go for good money because of demand and pricing will be affected, but not entirely based on the demand for cars for competition. I cant imagine anybody spends 30k on a freshly restored Mexico to turn into a rally car ? Rally folk perhaps have less choice than classic car enthusiasts, but the enthusiasts still all seem to want an Escort.

Even youngsters who werent born when these cars were in production, or even daily use are in on the act, possibly as they pop up in films and video games.

Old Escorts are cool and f*** basically and every bugger seems to want one, and not all the alternatives so much.

[Jex]

s m said:

aeropilot said:

Just wish the people that get these Mk2 shells made would do a run of Mk1's as well.

I think there could be enough demand for a Mk1 run

See a fair few being restored still

www.pistonheads.com/features/ph-features/ph-revisit-behind-the-scenes-at-retropower/39083

[aeropilot]

J4CKO said:

You are selectively quoting but missing my point I feel,

No, you are missing the point, as many others are by thinking this is about classic cars/road cars, and its NOT.
The prime reason this project is possible and viable, and by its very nature of the regs, is to provide a increased supply to the world of rallying as there is a finite number of surviving 'original data' plates out there to build a rally car (which has to be road registered)

Of course the bloody 944 was a better road car than a Mk2 Escort, but thats not the point, as a 944 is not a better prospect as a rally car. An old 911 is of course, but then, that's an even more expensive option than the bloody Escort, and again, there's a finite supply of old air cooled 911's around, as they are just as, if not more desirable, as a road car!!

This really isn't rocket science to understand...........

[s m]

J4CKO said:

The point I was making was that, for the money there are loads of other classic cars out there, that were regarded as better at the time, like the 944 it was a bit later and at the time was much, much more expensive than any Escort, but over time they have ended up more prized and more valuable than the Porsche, .

Just as a tangent, for anyone that's going to tune in to Top Gear on Sunday, what's the betting that the Boxster was the cheapest car to buy out of the three compared to the old 4-dor Mk2 Escort and Mini? ( if they let on how much they paid for the 'feature' cars )

[J4CKO]

aeropilot said:

J4CKO said:

You are selectively quoting but missing my point I feel,

No, you are missing the point, as many others are by thinking this is about classic cars/road cars, and its NOT.
The prime reason this project is possible and viable, and by its very nature of the regs, is to provide a increased supply to the world of rallying as there is a finite number of surviving 'original data' plates out there to build a rally car (which has to be road registered)

Of course the bloody 944 was a better road car than a Mk2 Escort, but thats not the point, as a 944 is not a better prospect as a rally car. An old 911 is of course, but then, that's an even more expensive option than the bloody Escort, and again, there's a finite supply of old air cooled 911's around, as they are just as, if not more desirable, as a road car!!

This really isn't rocket science to understand...........

Ok, I can understand for the new shells that the rally requirement is perhaps the main driver.

[blade7]

aeropilot said:

For the umpteenth bloody time........

R A L L Y I N G.

So come on then, write a list of all these plenty of available and cheaper rwd cars that are a good as an Escort to compete in rallying?
And cheaper has to include running and repairing it, not just buying it.