RE: Ford Escort 1600 GT (Mk1) | Spotted
Discussion
s m said:
Charlie_1 said:
I had a 1972 1300GT back in the day 7 years old at the time I acquired it and what I remember most was rust but it was very pretty
Friend had a 1300GT too - was in good nick, he’d kept it when he got his RS so he’d have a car when doing engine upgrades.After my first Mk2 RS was written off by an errant BMW overtaking and hitting me head on, he lent it to me whilst I waited for insurance cheque to come through. It wasn’t rapid like the 1600s/2000s but handled really nicely - had a great razz through the lanes up against another friend’s Alfa 1300 Junior. We both got left behind by the bigger engines cars but it was a fun drive
On the subject of rust we used to use them in all weathers but the first thing we’d do after getting one was get them down the workshop and blast them underneath etc with Waxoyl…… then leave them to drip on the tractor wash pad
They did used to smell for a few days but at least it stopped them rusting too quick. A couple of my friends’ RS2000s had been Ziebarted from new and that was pretty effective
I got a 1.3 78 Mk2 in 86 that was really solid - used by a farmer’s daughter to take hay bales in the boot to her horse a mile or 2 away. Parked in an open barn and her Dad had sprayed everything underneath in old engine oil - crude but effective rust proofing
Put a modded 1600 in it and it was a cheap but fast runaround. Sold it for much more than I paid and it was still going up to about 1990 when it exceeded the the then owner’s skills
None of them had Satnav or Apple play etc but I can just remember them as brilliant fun and cheap and easy to do stuff on
A friend bought a solid Mk2 Rs2000 for weekend fun for about 15k about 6 years back - high days and holidays car and it lives in the garage when the salt is on the roads - but it’s still great fun for a blast at the weekend
Soon as I've scene this car I thought is it ex Aussie or a South African car , we had an M reg mk1 van that belonged to our old man's business and at about 4 or 5 years my mother ended up with it after a few years she got a MK2 V reg 1.3 GL 2 door followed by a MK3 Y reg 1.3 Ghia which I was given once I passed my test then a D reg XR2 then a G reg XR3i .
Non of these Ford's suffered with rust but my mum's cars were always garaged , however the XR2 at about 7 years old did when it was no longer garaged when my best mate finally talked her out of it , started going at the bottom of the doors ,
At the time of my mother having the XR2 I bought a 3 years old F reg Escort 1.8DGL which belonged to my dad's mate no other Ford's have been owned since,if Ford Europe hadn't killed of the Escort in the )ate 90s I think as a family we would have had more but other than a Cossie mk5s were horrendous looking things.
Non of these Ford's suffered with rust but my mum's cars were always garaged , however the XR2 at about 7 years old did when it was no longer garaged when my best mate finally talked her out of it , started going at the bottom of the doors ,
At the time of my mother having the XR2 I bought a 3 years old F reg Escort 1.8DGL which belonged to my dad's mate no other Ford's have been owned since,if Ford Europe hadn't killed of the Escort in the )ate 90s I think as a family we would have had more but other than a Cossie mk5s were horrendous looking things.
s m said:
I got a 1.3 78 Mk2 in 86 that was really solid - used by a farmer’s daughter to take hay bales in the boot to her horse a mile or 2 away. Parked in an open barn and her Dad had sprayed everything underneath in old engine oil - crude but effective rust proofing
Put a modded 1600 in it and it was a cheap but fast runaround. Sold it for much more than I paid and it was still going up to about 1990 when it exceeded the the then owner’s skills
I had a red 1.3 just like that, with a Mountney steering wheel, K&N filter and a four branch manifold and single box rally exhaust system. Put a modded 1600 in it and it was a cheap but fast runaround. Sold it for much more than I paid and it was still going up to about 1990 when it exceeded the the then owner’s skills
Slow and very loud.
biggbn said:
I'd take the beetle out of that selection of cars!! That said, I've never got the old Ford bug but a two door mk1 is a pretty little car and would be, I'm sure, huge fun.
I think that was his girlfriend’s car - for me that wouldn’t compare fun factor wise with the Escorts or Lotus - but would be boring if we all liked the same!
Great photos..My first car was a 1971 Mexico.. Bought for £500 in 1980 a great car and for the time quite fast and nimble!!
OldSkoolRS said:
Nice...BVR and speakers on the parcel shelf too. I prefer Venetian red too, black is a pain to keep clean, though 20+ years in my garage probably doesn't help. 
Just needs a wash, honest guv.
I loved Venetian Red and it had to have speakers on the parcel shelf in the 80s. Just needs a wash, honest guv.
While black may be a PITA to keep clean at least you still have yours!
Mine went in 1984 for about £2,500.
Mr Tidy said:
I loved Venetian Red and it had to have speakers on the parcel shelf in the 80s.
While black may be a PITA to keep clean at least you still have yours!
Mine went in 1984 for about £2,500.
Hasn't run for a lot of years, so an engine rebuild is on the cards too after I've finished the welding (strut tops and that's it since it's been garaged and dry weather use since about 1985). I bought mine for £1k in 1995 so I guess it counts as a shed? Only issue is that if I sell it I have to split the profit with my parents...While black may be a PITA to keep clean at least you still have yours!
Mine went in 1984 for about £2,500.
OldSkoolRS said:
Hasn't run for a lot of years, so an engine rebuild is on the cards too after I've finished the welding (strut tops and that's it since it's been garaged and dry weather use since about 1985). I bought mine for £1k in 1995 so I guess it counts as a shed? Only issue is that if I sell it I have to split the profit with my parents...
Looks like you ought to keep it then!Borderline off topic, I'm gonna indulge a little reminiscence. Look away now if easily bored.
I was fortunate enough to grow up living right next to a large army test track facility, near Bagshot. Closely resembling an alpine rally stage, it was built for training drivers of tanks, ducks, stealthily quiet land rover jeeps and large AWD wagons.
But, every now and then, the MOD would let it out to rally clubs. This was the highlight of my life. A few times a year, on a Saturday or Sunday, I'd awake to the sound of the revving of loud, crude but effective home tuned crossflow, pinto, rootes and coventry climax engines, with their straight through exhausts. I don't think anyone was worrying about decibel limits in the early 80s. I still remember the excitement and anticipation.
Soon as I heard the sound, I'd leap out of bed, gulp down some breakfast and rush up the hill with my dog. Mk1 (and some Mk2) escorts, avengers, chrysler sunbeam 1600 TIs, Imps and the occasional real oddball would come flying around corners, sideways, with stones flying out from under the back tyres like bullets (you had to watch it!!!). To a 9 year old petrolhead, I assure you, this was an enticing sight. I'd stay up there for hours on end. My mother would tell me off, "Where have you been? We were so worried about you!". I think my Dad came and found me on one or two occasions.
It was all good, but it was the escorts that really entertained. They would just get sooo sideways, and the drivers would just seemingly hold them, right on the point so effortlessly in a drift, all the way round long bends. I think I learned how to do oversteer ten years before I could actually drive. Those escorts weren't very quick, but they were hilarious. It was a marvellous day out, absolutely free, and right on my doorstep.
I wish I'd taken some photos, but I thought it would just be there, forever. Sadly, the MOD sold the site in about '86 to a private enterprise who weren't interested. But I have one more enduring memory. Somewhere around '83, I was up there, by chance, and the Metro 6R4, still unreleased at the time was put through its paces there. Myself and two other schoolfriends hid on the inside apex of a hairpin as the 6R4 came thundering round. We were literally 4 feet away from the car (out of view) as it flung round the bend putting down 410 BHP powering its way out on to the straight. The ground actually shook, and each of us experienced a high any rally fan would sell his hind teeth for. An experience that can't be bought. A little dangerous, but never mind, eh.
I was fortunate enough to grow up living right next to a large army test track facility, near Bagshot. Closely resembling an alpine rally stage, it was built for training drivers of tanks, ducks, stealthily quiet land rover jeeps and large AWD wagons.
But, every now and then, the MOD would let it out to rally clubs. This was the highlight of my life. A few times a year, on a Saturday or Sunday, I'd awake to the sound of the revving of loud, crude but effective home tuned crossflow, pinto, rootes and coventry climax engines, with their straight through exhausts. I don't think anyone was worrying about decibel limits in the early 80s. I still remember the excitement and anticipation.
Soon as I heard the sound, I'd leap out of bed, gulp down some breakfast and rush up the hill with my dog. Mk1 (and some Mk2) escorts, avengers, chrysler sunbeam 1600 TIs, Imps and the occasional real oddball would come flying around corners, sideways, with stones flying out from under the back tyres like bullets (you had to watch it!!!). To a 9 year old petrolhead, I assure you, this was an enticing sight. I'd stay up there for hours on end. My mother would tell me off, "Where have you been? We were so worried about you!". I think my Dad came and found me on one or two occasions.
It was all good, but it was the escorts that really entertained. They would just get sooo sideways, and the drivers would just seemingly hold them, right on the point so effortlessly in a drift, all the way round long bends. I think I learned how to do oversteer ten years before I could actually drive. Those escorts weren't very quick, but they were hilarious. It was a marvellous day out, absolutely free, and right on my doorstep.
I wish I'd taken some photos, but I thought it would just be there, forever. Sadly, the MOD sold the site in about '86 to a private enterprise who weren't interested. But I have one more enduring memory. Somewhere around '83, I was up there, by chance, and the Metro 6R4, still unreleased at the time was put through its paces there. Myself and two other schoolfriends hid on the inside apex of a hairpin as the 6R4 came thundering round. We were literally 4 feet away from the car (out of view) as it flung round the bend putting down 410 BHP powering its way out on to the straight. The ground actually shook, and each of us experienced a high any rally fan would sell his hind teeth for. An experience that can't be bought. A little dangerous, but never mind, eh.
Edited by Johnny5hoods on Friday 25th November 00:30
Edited by Johnny5hoods on Friday 25th November 01:11
fttm said:
Bagshot was a car breaker come the end , rough as feck .
Yeah, it's been allowed to fall into disrepair now. I think the main pit area is now used for storage by (I think) BCA. Some of the lanes are still used by army lorries. But some , used at one time by rally clubs, are now not maintained at all, and overgrown.I remember, back in the day, a Mk1 Escort came flying round a particular bend known for it's deep potholes, and broke its axle. Rough is certainly the word.
OldSkoolRS said:
Nice...BVR and speakers on the parcel shelf too. I prefer Venetian red too, black is a pain to keep clean, though 20+ years in my garage probably doesn't help.
Just needs a wash, honest guv.
Nice Just needs a wash, honest guv.
My first Mk2 RS2000 was Venetian Red - had the plate BDA 8T. I remember when my friend bought his RS1800 from Mike Youngs down South ( basically twice the price of a decent RS2000 in the mid 80s ) he was interested in getting the plate off my car but couldn’t as his car was an earlier year. That RS was written off by an out of control BMW but I did notice it was resurrected later on and given a colour change to black.
Second RS2000 was a black one - like you say, an effort to keep clean but looked nice when it was
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