katana

In the history, I smiled at the dealer letter to the third owner - if you store it and not use it, i'll buy it back for what you paid minus 10% LOL Cheeky Basket! Any normal dealer will charge £20-30 / week storage charge so add on £1000-1500 / year rather than lose it! Its the law of supply and demand - find another one like that and the price would halve . . . . but you won't - Greedy ? Yes, but KGF aren't a charity! Probably bought or sold on consignment - there is probably 20-30% of the screen price to KGF, rest to seller?

Auction page says 8500 euro plus 1650? euro commission so 10,155 euro total - who's correct? Still bloody cheap whatever!

Wow - never seen one off the car - looks big, what sort of capacity? As it looks bigger than the Monza tank i've got in the Escort and that is about 12 gallons!

Someone had to say it . . . . . . . . . . . we all thunk it though!

They never turned up - Twice! Next time (if they call again) they'll be told to f**k off! Just perusing Pistonheads and looking at a couple of 'replicant RS2000' Escorts, one was a 1.1L originally, another was a 1.3L - Both for strong money and yet mine, with original title describing what it actually looks like with 2.0L engine on V5 and in car - and its hard to sell ! Maybe I should put it on Ebay and build the fees into the asking price . . . . . . then watch the scammers go to town LOL!

Maybe because not all Rally regulations allow those modifications - easier to have a shell that replicates what Ford produced, rather than having some seam welded with no 4 link etc!

You've got mail / message!

Something moody going on as car 'looks' to be the same but clearly different photos / studio / showroom ! ! Belgian ad describes it as Black when clearly its Midnight Blue ! And the door cards are wrong for an RS2000 - ok for a Mexico though! And the stripes stop at the cone whereas they should continue. Chassis plate looks 'good' but some of the letters and numbers don't look correct for that type of car - I maybe mistaken but its not ringing true for me!

Do you realise what vehicle press tools cost to make, LOADS £££, so if a pattern is 'pretty good' they are generally classed as good enough. Even back in the day, pattern parts were only used to get a car back on the road, with Ford panels only for A1 fit & appearance. Now that isn't an option so we are left with poor fit stuff!

Why do people keep thinking these (Higgins ones) are 'restoration' shells ? The Irish rally scene love their old Escorts - there are hundreds getting used virtually every weekend (some of which get badly bent) This is what these shells were for - a 'cheap' replacement for an ever diminishing supply of old original and now crusty & rusty 70's cars! MST are now making their own shells on jigs (as I understand it) and are better - but they are still primarily aimed at the rally crowd. I think their shells start at just shy of £20k! Cheap if building a new rally / track race car but for a reshell on a road car (which deffo won't be original!) its maybe too steep? I can't even sell a 'complete RS 'replica'' for 5k less than a shell - draw your own conclusions.

I don't think you've been around the 'scene' too long to make those statements as SA cars - do - rust and the repairs can vary from good to passable to imaginative to dangerous. These cars are from a 'relatively' poor income society so repairs and mods were often cheap as chips to make it drivable. Some of the trim options and driveline configurations are alien to us Europeans and as such carry a degree of stigma - just like 2 doors compared to 4 doors - irrational but it happens!

Don't worry about me 'slipping' - its already at a give away price, anything lower will be met with 'short shrift' ! That wouldn't be Maclaren by any chance? LOL! I'll PM you if its still around!

Best be quick as someone who low balled me months ago is planning a look this coming Saturday! The figure mentioned is not negotiable is I consider it fair for what you are getting. Thanks everone for the replies so far.

I thought long and hard about posting this reply but I think it is a worthwhile comment - feel free to comment further as I think the discussion needs to be had! Update Time : Its still here but did have a viewing by someone certainly more knowledgeable than myself and have learnt a lot more of this cars back story - and its not to my benefit unfortunately! The viewer had done his research, HPI checked it and spent best part of 90 minutes crawling over, under and through the car. Long and short of it is . . . . . . its not an RS shell, but as a shell of unknown heritage, the guy couldn't fault its condition other than some poor MIG welding 'tails' and the garage paint job! He also pointed out something that I never was aware of - I had it down as poor assembly back in the day but once shown it was obvious. So what have I got? Well its not an RS shell but has been fitted with all the 'right bits' required to be an RS. It was originally LHD as supplied, as confirmed on the chassis plate, and has a V5 that states it is a RS2000 Custom. We were both of the opinion that a RHD shell was likely re-purposed some time, years ago at which time (possibly) that all of the RS shell upgrades and other bodywork was done. This was a considerable amount of work to my mind - wings, bonnet, strut towers, cone panelling & fixings, OHC engine & Type E gearbox, repositioned gearstick hole, 4 leaf springs, rear radius arms, mounts and use of correct 3.54 axle and glass swapped for bronze tint. Now, obviously I can't sell the car as an 'original' RS2000, it was never intended (by me at least) to be an original RS2000 with all the mods i've done, so what do I call it? 'Replica'?, 'Tribute'?, 'In the Style of'? When does a non RS shell become an RS shell and when can you rebuild a collection of rusty lacework steel panels, with non Ford panels, MIG welded and not spot welded as factory and still call it 'original'? At least with mine, the majority of the panels are very likely Ford, not pattern! Oh, I mentioned the HPI Check - it came back with a 'Stolen / Recovered' back in 1991 !!! Other than that was totally clear - another bit of its previous life through 22 owners! I will wrap it up for the winter and ponder its future - but as the buyer requested to hear it run (it hadn't for 12-15 months) and he'd already declined to take the car, I connected the battery, ran the fuel pumps and first press of the start button, she rumbled into life!!! Not well and idled down to stopped but fired up again & rev'd a little - I was totally surprised - maybe this was her sign of wanting some more attention . . . . bloody women! If you want to buy something that says its one thing, is actually another and is maybe a bit better in its bones - this is for you! I've reduced the price to what I think is fair - £15,000 ono - contact details as above.

It ain't been taxed since march / sept 2008 and MOT expired sept 2008. This is details held by DVLA - it says Export flagged !

You may also want to look at : https://www.steelpanels.co.uk/category/ford/escort-mk-2/body-side-escort-mk-2/page/2/ - they seem to have good rep although pricey?

They did back in the day but the DVLA weren't so hot on reshells / identity transfer back then - now its a different matter. They ain't dim and know the no FORD shells are available so the reg. cannot be transfered. If you use one of the full shells and use ALL new or refurbished to 'as new' quality then as MST have done, the completed vehicle can be registered as new with a new age plate. Its a hugely grey area with conflicting and often opposing opinions from DLVA licencing about what is and isn't legit!

But those at least were genuine, Ford original products.

I think asking that question on a 'purist / classic enthusiast site isn't going to get much response! They are really aimed at the rally teams for building new cars from solid metal - ask about on sites dedicated to 'old skool' rallying and you may get more replies! Which in a way is a good thing as it keeps 'real cars' out of ditches, hitting trees and stone walls and be left for the restoration brigade to salvage and / or rebuild.

There you go - corrected it for you !

What pharmacuticals are these salemen on to come up with a figure like that? And the 'Mexico' badges - well thats class!

Sold to the man with the Yellow avatar

Ok - picture time! Don't know why but I thought it was Lucas but its clearly Bosch - (DOH, made in Germany as was car DOH LOL!) I've got no idea what its worth but it must weigh at least 5kg for postage?

Output voltage is a 'bit low' - usually you'd like to see +14v and max of about 14.5 - 14.6v. Where is your volt meter sensing voltage from - I wonder if its just seeing battery voltage?

If I do find, I will give you a call BUT this starter came from an RS2000 with a RS bell and mated to a 2.0L Pinto - ovbiously you have a OHV, are you certain it will fit & mesh with flywheel ? as could be a spendy mistake if it doesn't.