I always though that the Porsche was super-reliable and never needed anything spent on it?!! It's an itch I have to scratch at some time, for sure.
Here’s one of my two Escorts, and it’s the one I’ve lavished a lot of care and attention on.
I bought it in 2008 from the original owner, who bought it new in 1971. It’s an early Mexico, with the battery in the boot, and virtually identical to the RS1600 and Twincam of the same month and year, except that it has the cooking 1600GT Kent engine.
The original owner turned out to be most fastidious with the car, having it Ziebart treated when new…twice! He kept every document associated with the car, and kept a diary of every penny spent on the car. The car was always garaged, completed 11 tours of Europe up to 1982, when it was retired to live in his garage.
He did revive it in 2003, when he treated it to a partial re-paint to tidy up a few parking dents and scratches, but did little else and returned it to the garage until I bought it.
When I found it the underbonnet area was a mess as the Ziebart treatment included doing the complete engine bay! 4 weeks with a hot air gun, a plastic scrapper and 4 gallons of petrol later it was all gone, revealing the original paint and stickers underneath.
In 2010 the car was photographed and included in the ‘Factory Original Sporting Mk1 Escorts’ book, that defines originality for Twincams, Mexicos, RS1600s and RS2000 cars. Some 20 photos of this car were used.
This is what it looked like for the photoshoot..
The eagle eyed will notice that it has two filler caps. An extra tank was installed in 1973, along with a Magard sumpguard, for one of the longer distance tours which went over to and around Greece. Quite a long way to go in a modern car!
In 2011 I started a very careful renovation of the car, with the objective of conserving as much of the original fabric of the car as possible. The car was stripped down to the bare shell, and it had never been welded, and didn’t need any in the renovation. It had a new nearside wing in 1974 after a parking bump, and a new driver door skin in 1977 after a similar bump, which wasn’t done very well, but that was it. Everything else was totally original.
The interior was just about perfect so nothing was replaced. The carpet was the original rubber carpet, and although it had a few splits and a bit fragile, a few days of work had that looking good again. The floor under the carpet and in the boot was still in its original paint, so that stayed as well. All the glass, rubber seals, door seals, chromework, lights, grille, wheels and hubcaps were all original to the car and needed no work apart from painting the wheels, The engine, gearbox, prop, back axle, suspension, steering and brakes were all stripped and rebuilt, although very little work was required other than cosmetic. Again, all the sub-assemblies were original to the car, and most has never been off before.
I had to phone up the original owner when I stripped down the engine. The car has done 90,000 miles, and it has ‘STD’ on the pistons, no wear on the bores and the journals are standard size as well. He used to service the car himself, and would change the oil and filter every 5000 miles, and before and after every European trip! He also said that he ‘never exceeded 4000 rpm’, which I believe!! I really did wonder why he bought a Mexico, but haven’t asked that yet.
This is the only car I’ve ever had that gets as many looks and waves as the LY Vee. I don’t think I’ve ever stopped the car without someone making a comment, usually positive! It’s huge fun to drive, apart from on the motorways where it is painfully noisy at anything above 70mph.
There are very few original cars left now, maybe less than 5 of these early cars with so much original fabric left in them. Many cars have been re-shelled or have had extensive bodywork restoration, as they rusted like crazy! The Ziebart treatment, combined with one very fussy owner, preserved this car in such amazing condition.
This is how it looks now. I have kept all the period mods, and the spot lights will be going back on.
Here’s one of my two Escorts, and it’s the one I’ve lavished a lot of care and attention on.
I bought it in 2008 from the original owner, who bought it new in 1971. It’s an early Mexico, with the battery in the boot, and virtually identical to the RS1600 and Twincam of the same month and year, except that it has the cooking 1600GT Kent engine.
The original owner turned out to be most fastidious with the car, having it Ziebart treated when new…twice! He kept every document associated with the car, and kept a diary of every penny spent on the car. The car was always garaged, completed 11 tours of Europe up to 1982, when it was retired to live in his garage.
He did revive it in 2003, when he treated it to a partial re-paint to tidy up a few parking dents and scratches, but did little else and returned it to the garage until I bought it.
When I found it the underbonnet area was a mess as the Ziebart treatment included doing the complete engine bay! 4 weeks with a hot air gun, a plastic scrapper and 4 gallons of petrol later it was all gone, revealing the original paint and stickers underneath.
In 2010 the car was photographed and included in the ‘Factory Original Sporting Mk1 Escorts’ book, that defines originality for Twincams, Mexicos, RS1600s and RS2000 cars. Some 20 photos of this car were used.
This is what it looked like for the photoshoot..
The eagle eyed will notice that it has two filler caps. An extra tank was installed in 1973, along with a Magard sumpguard, for one of the longer distance tours which went over to and around Greece. Quite a long way to go in a modern car!
In 2011 I started a very careful renovation of the car, with the objective of conserving as much of the original fabric of the car as possible. The car was stripped down to the bare shell, and it had never been welded, and didn’t need any in the renovation. It had a new nearside wing in 1974 after a parking bump, and a new driver door skin in 1977 after a similar bump, which wasn’t done very well, but that was it. Everything else was totally original.
The interior was just about perfect so nothing was replaced. The carpet was the original rubber carpet, and although it had a few splits and a bit fragile, a few days of work had that looking good again. The floor under the carpet and in the boot was still in its original paint, so that stayed as well. All the glass, rubber seals, door seals, chromework, lights, grille, wheels and hubcaps were all original to the car and needed no work apart from painting the wheels, The engine, gearbox, prop, back axle, suspension, steering and brakes were all stripped and rebuilt, although very little work was required other than cosmetic. Again, all the sub-assemblies were original to the car, and most has never been off before.
I had to phone up the original owner when I stripped down the engine. The car has done 90,000 miles, and it has ‘STD’ on the pistons, no wear on the bores and the journals are standard size as well. He used to service the car himself, and would change the oil and filter every 5000 miles, and before and after every European trip! He also said that he ‘never exceeded 4000 rpm’, which I believe!! I really did wonder why he bought a Mexico, but haven’t asked that yet.
This is the only car I’ve ever had that gets as many looks and waves as the LY Vee. I don’t think I’ve ever stopped the car without someone making a comment, usually positive! It’s huge fun to drive, apart from on the motorways where it is painfully noisy at anything above 70mph.
There are very few original cars left now, maybe less than 5 of these early cars with so much original fabric left in them. Many cars have been re-shelled or have had extensive bodywork restoration, as they rusted like crazy! The Ziebart treatment, combined with one very fussy owner, preserved this car in such amazing condition.
This is how it looks now. I have kept all the period mods, and the spot lights will be going back on.
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:rofl:
