Ford Escort MK2 1.6 Ghia Auto

[Ted Deakin]

Hello all,

 

Not sure where to start, trying to find info to enable me to sell on a car that is in my ownership.

 

The car is a 1979 "T" registered Ford Escort M K2 1.6 Ghia Auto, it belonged to my late Father-in-law, and has been in my garage since 2009.

 

It is beige non metallic in colour, chocolate fabric inside, and a brown vinyl roof cover.

 

The mileage is under 4000 miles, not 100% sure without going out, but something like 3,500 and odd.

 

There is no MOT or tax, I have this year had new tyres fitted (155x13), the radiator has been re-cored as the cooling tubes where fine, but the metal fins in between the tubes just started to turn to powder, also last week when I lifted the bonnet, the little rubber grommet that the bonnet prop is located in just fell apart allowing the prop to just come out in my hand.

 

Now this car does not in any way belong to me, it belongs to my wife, who is the beneficiary of all has goods/chattels etc-etc, and it is not doing her any good seeing it there and bringing back painful memories.

 

I know Ebay exists, but I also know "SHARKS" exist as well, so I have joined this forum in the hope that I can get steered in a way to get what this vehicle is worth, and hopefully if sold to someone genuine, someone not local, as seeing it on the roads driving about would again upset my wife.

 

So people, where do I go from here, I did out of interest try putting it into "WE BUY ANY CAR"  yes I know, a bunch of SHARKS, but it costs nothing to get a start figure, well it did not want to know.

 

I cannot get it out too easily from my garage, as the wheels are sticking, not all 4 , but either 1 at the front or back, and I have not jacked it up to spin them.

 

The car is as good a condition as my wife's 63 plate Fiesta with 20,000 miles on, the inside is as new but dusty, under the bonnet is not as nice as the outside, as it has been black waxed all over from new by Ziebart on the 11/03/1979 with a certificate in the glove box.

 

Sorry if this has been long winded, but the forum say's to start here.

 

Thanks to all.

 

Ted (Edward).    

[Vista]

Welcome to the forum Ted. The car sounds nice but a crucial bit of info you're missing to determine value is whether it's a 2 or 4 door.

 

You'd also probably increase your sale value substantially by recommissioning it and getting an MOT on it.

[Ted Deakin]

Hello,

 

I never thought of that, it is 4  door saloon.

 

OK, I can see where your advising me, I would have to get the car insured in my name so as to drive it legally.

 

So if I get that side sorted and get it road legal and MOT on it, could I then come back to here to move forward !!??, don't want to be cheeky and as for help and then cut & run !!??, I know I can make a contribution, which I am more than grateful to do, as you "get owt, for nowt" in life, I need to get some pictures of it ready.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Ted. 

[Ted Deakin]

Picture.

[Ted Deakin]

Sorry people, struggling my way around this a bit, and the wife is a computer genius, but I don't want to ask her unless I have to, so please bear with me a little, while I find my way, this picture was taken when I was changing the radiator, but it is the same one with a new core and painted, changed the coolant for 50/50 antifreeze/water.

 

Ted.

[Ted Deakin]

Took car in for MOT yesterday and failed on just about everything !!.

Emissions (car will not even tick over and stalls when put into drive).

Front antiroll bar bushes excessive movement.

Inner track control arms inner bush's excessive movement.

Steering rack lateral movement excessive/mountings bushes perished/worn. 

Front brake pipe flexible's perished.

Rear brake pipe flexible perished.

Exhaust rubber mounting's split/missing.

Exhaust manifold/down pipe leaking joint.

Front rear brake assemblies binding/out of balance. 

Service parking brake below 10% N.S.R & O.S.R

 

So looks as though I will be busy for a few weeks, think they said it needs to be re-MOT within 28 days or full test again, it will be more like 28 weeks before I work through all that and do my work shifts.

 

Did get lot's of horn tooting there and back, but compared to a modern Focus it feels like driving a tank, awful steering, car feels like it is 3 times as heavy as it really is.

Ted.

[Ted Deakin]

Hi,

 

Car back in for MOT Friday, had all the jobs done by the local garage to me, but car still runs like a bag of nails, garage bloke reckoned it would need a good run and fresh fuel with a dose of RED X, something I have not used in 30+ years, my Dad always have a few "Shots" of red x in with his petrol.

Got it sitting on the drive with a bit of wood holding the accelerator pedal at a fast tick over, sounds great bit you can hear the misfire put-putting from the exhaust. 

Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

 

Ted.

 

[Vista]

If it's had the same fuel in it for years then drain it out and put some fresh stuff in for sure. 

Good luck with the MOT. Do you have a figure in mind for it yet?

[Monza]

Good luck with re-testthen on the road for the weekend

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[In The Pit]

So did it pass?  It looks and sounds a very nice car.  The air filter is missing in the photo's, if it's been missing for a long time debris may have gotten in to the carb making it run rough.  With regard to the bonnet prop grommet you can get new ones from ebay.  The colour looks to be Sierra Beige, it would be nice to see some more photographs.

[Ted Deakin]

Hello,

 

WELL, it passed !!, but the guy did take me through the car, and show me things that will need to be attended too in the near future.

 

One thing was the boot floor, even though the car is Ziebarted, it is drying out and cracking on the very flat surfaces of the boot floor, he recommends that the floor and everything is stripped off, cleaned back to bare metal where there is surface rust forming, and re-seal the bottom of the car, and not to be tempted to just put a new coat on top of whats there, as it would be sealing in any surface rust and make it worse.

There was also both front steering rack gaiters, not split or leaking, but very soft and spongy and will sometime in the future tear, so that is something to look at.

Engine still runs like a single cylinder, need to drain out the fuel and start again, the air filter was off in the picture as the fuel pipe was leaking from around the crimp type hose clip holding the pipe into the carb, this pipe was quite cracked, so I replaced it, there is also another carb pipe I would like to change, it looks as though it is an overflow pipe, but I have not found the other end yet.

I did get a new bonnet prop grommet, and it was off Ebay, pain in the back side to get in, but once I had warmed it up in a bit of hot water it went in, so that is back to as it was.

It is my long 2 week shift on now, so will not be able to do much else, maybe give it a good clean on the inside, as it is untidy and dusty from standing, really want to get the engine run clean, also fitted a inline fuel filter with the new pipe on the carb, but it did not make it run better, but if the fuel is off, then I don't suppose it will.

Is there any easy way of dropping the fuel out of the tank, did not want to take the tank out, but could try to syphon it out with thin washer pipe tube !!??.

Thanks for all the help guy's.

 

Still plugging away slowly.

Ted.  

 

[In The Pit]

12 hours ago, Ted Deakin said:

Is there any easy way of dropping the fuel out of the tank, did not want to take the tank out, but could try to syphon it out with thin washer pipe tube !!??.

Great that it passed.  If you look under the rear drivers side of the car (under where the petrol tank sits in the boot) you'll see the petrol pipe coming out of the bottom of the tank this can be undone using a spanner and the petrol will just pour out (no need to remove the tank) however you will need something like a builders bucket or an old washing up bowl to catch the fuel in as it will come out fast and may splash.  As I said in my previous post any chance of some more photos, as I could be interested depending on price/condition thanks.

[Ted Deakin]

Hello,

I have taken some more pictures with this phone, but not sure how to get them on to the site, this stuff is still new to me, I still listen to a valve radio, that is my interest.

Ted.

[Ted Deakin]

[Ted Deakin]

[Ted Deakin]

[Ted Deakin]

[Ted Deakin]

[Ted Deakin]

[In The Pit]

Thanks for the extra photographs the car looks nice, tell me do you have the original wheels for the car? as the ones on it are either RS or Capri alloys, originally it would have had sport steels with chrome rim embellishers these are the silver and black ones that are sometimes called dartboards.

[Ted Deakin]

Hello,

 

Those are not my wheels, they are my friendly next door neighbour "Youth" Frank, who kindly lent them me while I have a good go at cleaning up the original wheels, in hind sight, I should have had something done with the wheels while the tyres where replaced, but I never thought until it was too late.

 

The original wheels do have the chrome trim rings, the rings are in very good order, but there is surface corrosion where the old balance weights have sat, and the black Pizza pie slice shaped bits are so thin, you can see through the black, so I am going the whole hog, and try re-painting them and have bought some vinyl sticker type black bits for the highlights, if I make a mess of them, there is a local powder coating firm, that will put them right (approx. £50.00 per wheel !!??)..

Next thing is to have a look under the tank for this pipe to drain the fuel out, would be nice for it to run smooth instead of stalling straight away.

 

Ted.  

[stephens_xpack]

Loving the Escort, Sierra beige on a MK2 escort is all the rage again, and unlike the MK1, the four doors look just as cool as the two doors IMHO.

and looks to be in nice condition, very cool.

[Ted Deakin]

Hi all,

 

Escort now completed, 12 months MOT, just put 12 months tax on it so as I can drive it around legally, tank emptied, flushed out with cheap thinners and a gallon of un-leaded petrol, carb removed stripped and cleaned out, same with fuel pump, all put together with inline filter and set up on a gas analyser, now running very sweet.

Car has been valeted inside, and hand polished outside with polish and seal.

Have been advised that auction is best route to gain it's proper value, even though one member on here offered £2000 as it was,  without MOT.

 

I would like to say thank you to the people that genuinely helped out with good suggestions etc-etc, but I doubt I will get it to auction this side of the year, so will keep in touch via here.

 

Thanks.

 

Ted.