1974 Ford Escort mk1 - Restoration Part 1
Despite looking like it had existed since the time of the ark, I managed to pick up a completely sound late, 1974, MK1 Escort.
You know the score; normally the sills are rotten, the floors are gone, inner wings have been bodged, bottoms of doors are rotted out.... But no! someone had obviously spent a LOT of time and money before us to put the shell into great condition.
Don't get me wrong, it's had the odd repair panel, but the jobs that have
been done are quite small, the welding is very good and the car has been
undersealed and stone-chipped completely the underneath has to be seen to
be believed... not a single patch of rust!
One problem with the car is that someone had started work on it and then
left it in that state for a long time, easily 5 years or more. So no windows
were fitted, the interior was a mess, the tyres were all flat, no exterior
fittings were on it and it was half painted and half rubbed-down.
Mustn't complain though, as the strut tops were double skinned, the front wings were almost new (though not quite straight!), it had some Capri Laser/ Escort RS 4-Spokes, some Recaro seats, and the 1600 Kent lump was a runner. In the end all the parts were there inside the car... it was just a case of finding them....
Time for the first bit of surgery... A set of Capri 2.8i adjustable Bilsteins and uprated springs, along with vented 2.8i discs and M16 calipers! We also picked up a period Tecalemit & Jackson petrol injection system, as seen below, however it proved too complex to figure out and there was no information available on it - so it was eventually sold.
This page updated: 4/Feb/2007