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So as well as my Capri I took the plunge & bought this 4 door Escort. 1979, history from what I see is that it was bought new and passed over to the owner's wife in '94, then sold in 2005 and beyond that details are sketchy. But, it has an MOT until August '16, and plenty of small tweaks. New clutch, 1300 Crossflow, new Weber ICH34 carb, lowered 2" on single leafs at the rear, polybushed front end, and a 4 branch manifold, makes it sound faster than it goes, and front seat Recaros. It has a minor oil leak from the sump gasket (job to do) and the carb still needs tweaking but getting there. As my first dip into Escort territory it's a good start, it goes well (nothing like my Capri though) & a fairly smooth ride. Plans are to reinstate the chrome trim & paint the rear wheels, but the bodywork is solid & is worth keeping like it is, something cool about a ratty looking more door. Just need to enjoy it for the moment!

Well I bought another car. I finally own a Mk1 Escort. It is a 1972 MK1 XL 4 door. I purchased it site unseen on Gumtree and flew from Brisbane to Newcastle (Australia) and made the 10 hour journey home in the new purchase. Luckily the car was as described and apart from a very slow leak in a rear Tyre and a wheel bearing with a bit of a rumble by the 8th hour it didn't miss a beat! The car is a 4 door which some people aren't a fan of, but personally I am pretty happy with the purchase. It is basically rust free (Few bubbles from poor paint prep in the rain channels and a 5c piece sized bubble on a rear wheel arch is about all I could find. The paint is a home job and has some runs as well as a weird sort of reaction on the passenger side front door where there might be some bog that reacted to the paint??? But it is a presentable car and will be driven hard not looked at. 2 Litre Pinto engine 4 speed single rail box Lowered 2 inches on HD front springs and blocks in the rear MK2 2L front brakes AutoTechnica Bucket seats which are Mod Plated (These will be going promptly to be replaced by the cobra low backs from my Cortina) 2 Piece Roh 16" wheels (These have already been removed and replaced by the Superlites from my Cortina) The plan is to swap the 45 DCOE's from my Mk2 Cortina and then the Cortina will be for sale (Feel free to make an offer however I am in Australia), Re-make the alloy dash panels which are pretty rough, matching switch gear, put the cobra bucket seats in, fit Speedhut GPS speedo and quad gauge into the stock 2 dial dash, re-locate oil and gen warning lights to the switch panel in big LED's, Paint bumpers black (The qtr bumpers are glass so Chrome is out), De-chrome the wheel arches, fit a bigger more practical steering wheel that allows me to see how fast I am travelling, replace the cheesy led indicators on the front with some stock ones, Convert to round headlights and then pretty much drive the wheels off it! Oh and I also swapped the stereo from the Cortina into it which sounds much better. Anyway here are a few pics. Some from the advertisement. I took this one just before we jumped in it for the drive home I am quite bad at remembering to take photos but here are a couple when I got it home. Unfortunately I had to travel back to work for 2 weeks so I will have an update when I am back home. Nick