Escort madness.

[iSore]

Am I missing something, or was my recollection of the Mark 2 Escort 1600 Sport as a very average road car, a leaf sprung shopping trolley powered by an old Cortina engine with 80 odd bhp at the spare wheel way off the mark?


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mk2-Ford-Escort-/2819499...


£30'000?


Really?

Apologies if feeling are hurt, but 30 grand buys something pretty serious these days. E30 M3, or a 3 door Cosworth...!

[niagra]

...and it's not even road legal with that no. plate!

[xtreme ant]

Its supposed to be a special edition version.
Prices have gone up because people are trying to relive their youth and have too much spare money.
If only i had kept my mk1 Mexico instead of selling it for next to nothing.

[Slidingpillar]

niagra said:

...and it's not even road legal with that no. plate!

Certainly isn't for a 78 car, but if the front plate was on original vehicle perhaps (daft extension of non-reflective plate law with tax exemption etc).

But from the front it is AME 242T and from the back, AME 242M. That is, when it's not BENS RS

Kent 244 cam is a bit racey for a road car. I've driven a Morgan 4/4 with that engine and cam, but that was a bit lighter, so low down torque is less important.

[Charlie Croker mk2]

Escorts & Cortina are Simple supply and demand as there are very few left that are in one piece and its a certain age group who want to re live there youth . OP's description of driving characteristics is correct though . I drove a 1960's mini a few years back -- utterly dreadful but back in the day I used to go all over the UK in one !

[nicanary]

I thought they were being bought by the historic rally fraternity. They pay big money for the shell and chassis plate.

[iSore]

Charlie Croker mk2 said:

Escorts & Cortina are Simple supply and demand

You wonder who demands it though. The AVO stuff was quite special (for it's day) but the Sport was just a Halewood bean can with some stripes on. It points to a lack of imagination tbh.

[grumpy52]

They were pretty dire when new ,the power figures were very optimistic ,very basic unless all the options were ticked .
I remember back when they were new that owners were spending a fortune on them just to keep up with Viva GT's Fiat 131/2
and Avenger GT/Tigers

[Pixelpeep7r]

You'll be in late 4 figure sums with even a standard 4 door escort (even the estates!) these days.

My mate is now pig sick - he scrapped a white two door Mark1 escort in the early 90's - Blue roll cage. Blue RS badges. blue 2.0 Engine.

Just because it needed some arch work..

[PATTERNPART]

I sold a Mk2 Mexico for a grand ten years ago. Any old two door seems to be worth £6K now. The Irishman who bought the car just looked at the inner wings. Didn't even start it!

[V8 Fettler]

Crossflow? Twin DCOE? Tubular headers? In the forest at night? Could always buy a nice new Audi instead.

[texaxile]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, especially when it's concerning the Mark 3 Capri I scrapped in 1989, complete with genuine alloy sumped RS2000 Mark one Escort engine in it. I stripped the DCOEs from it, but was even borderline on doing that, my only reason for doing so was a mate offering me £50 for them.

Bugger.

[Sir Bagalot]

xtreme ant said:

Its supposed to be a special edition version.

No it's not. It's a bog standard 1600 Sport. It is however, 1 of 6 press cars. So it says.

[mrpee]

I really can not see what drives the prices of old Fords so far up. Basic cars should command basic prices surely. A dressed up RS2000 is fun to drive I grant you, but the money involved brings much,much more capable and fun cars into the equation. It really does beggar belief.

After spotting this I think I might just become a full time spoon whittler

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-Ford-Escort-Ser...

[Bigphatcgar]

I'm sure we are all sentimental about them but......a very big but

When I was at college in 1990 £100 would of got you a 2 door scort on twin 40's , I know rarity an all that but and don't get me started on cossies

[Mercky]

mrpee said:

I really can not see what drives the prices of old Fords so far up. Basic cars should command basic prices surely. A dressed up RS2000 is fun to drive I grant you, but the money involved brings much,much more capable and fun cars into the equation. It really does beggar belief.

After spotting this I think I might just become a full time spoon whittler

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-Ford-Escort-Ser...

Thats a very tidy car though, and much better value than any of the mk1s and mk2 sheds that command really stupid money.

[rallycross]

1600 sport was nothing special to drive, they were very good at rusting through the floor pan and chassis rails though.
You could get a 1600 L, GL, Ghia and Sport, engine and drive train was the same on them but different cosmetics and different tyres sizes.

[anonymous-user]

My 1600 Sport back in the day was a P reg must of been one of the first Mk2 Escorts when I bought it in 1979, it had to have plates on both front suspension turrets as they had rotted through and the bottom of both doors were going home.
An average car.

[V8 Fettler]

Sir Bagalot said:

No it's not. It's a bog standard 1600 Sport. It is however, 1 of 6 press cars. So it says.

The engine doesn't look standard.

RWD 2 door Escorts in 2015 offer a link back to a time when rallying was a major motorsport, and all the better if the blue collar image upsets the purists!

[mike74]

xtreme ant said:

Its supposed to be a special edition version.
Prices have gone up because people are trying to relive their youth and have too much spare money.
If only i had kept my mk1 Mexico instead of selling it for next to nothing.

Correction - people have got too much spare DEBT.

Cheap and easy credit is all that's creating this current bubble in classic Fords and just about every other asset for that matter.