Ray

thats excellent you should start your own night school recon that would be a winner, giving the kids something to do as well as teaching them skills of work

where are your B*LL*CKS men my littluns 18th tomorow (yes x-mas day) so to the garage/workshop for a couple of hours in the morning to get out of everyones way, then to mothers for the rest of the day, (dinner and tea) back in the garage/workshop boxing day, while the wife goes back to work

Hi every now and then i see a purple 1300E mk1escort driving around Southend Airport, usually on a Sunday, but i miss the reg no every time as i always seem to be on the other side of a dual carriageway i saw you again yesterday it would be nice to meet up with a local man with the same car and interest as myself if this is you (i cant believe there would be more than one, nice thought though) and you feel up for a meet, PM me and i will give you my address, where we can meet and you can see my two 1300Es Thanks Ray

hi, im looking for the shaped piece of millboard (dont know what to call it) that goes in the boot between the underside of the parcel shelf and the boot springs, on a mk1 escort 2 door, it attaches to the lugs on the underside of the parcel shelf ( car body) often sags with damp and age, and suspect then gets thrown away, as never seen one on flea bay

i think we all need more information here to be honest, the old battery could have been and probably was knackered, but whats it been replaced with, ie std old school lead acid, or modern tech battery like a calcium or silver, has the re situ of the battery been done correctly etc going back in time to my youth, we did the alternator conversions for this very problem, as the dynamos dont pump enough juice out, then the regulators fail as well, ford fitted alternators on all mk1 escorts that had heated rear screens for this reason if the dynamo or regiulator stop or reduce the charge, which isnt a lot to start with, the running engine will drain the battery to be able to run, run long enough the engine will stop running as no spark can be produced, but stopped before that and you have a battery that wont turn the engine on a further note if you use anything but an old school lead acid battery on an old school set up, the battery will deeply discharge, then you will need a battery conditioer to hopefully kick start the battery back into life, these conditioners charge the battery at a higher voltage for a set time dependant on battery type, this cleans the plates, all modern cars do a similar thing, when the battery beconmes in such a deeply discharged state, it can give up instantly, even while driving and the car will stop running, even on motorways the charging voltage is not current related, its voltage calcuim, gel and silver batteries all require a higher charging voltage than a std lead acid battery, even the lucas ACR alternator cannot supply the correct charging voltage to keep these modern batteries topped up, if you dont believe me, look at manufacturers web sites so check see what type of new battery you have fitted

we know who wears the trousers in you house then lol

looks to one side to me, in other words its not side level

or very little low life to steal it

being over 50% deaf, i have become a social retard, and rely on texts and e-mails for most of what i do, and yes, when the kids text in a foreign language called text, it really bugs the hell out of me, especially when the youngest has just passed her A levels and one of them being English, i know she cant spell, but the wife just texts total gibberish and im forrever sending her question marks, then she has the front to ignore them, and thinks using a dry wipe board while im driving will help me to understand the crap shes written, regardless of that meaning i have to look at that rather than the road (we had a row in spain over that one) but what really gets on my wick, is the likes of sellers on e-bay, who refuse to text or e-mail about their item, and will only talk on the phone, and have no understanding for the deaf who rely on those formats, or when i do have my hearing aids in, the twits behind counters (mc donalds in particular) that think shouting helps, when it doesnt because i then cant lip read (hearing ids dont help me, they just give me ear infections), and yes i do speak the sarfend lingo, very broadly, but i dont think my spelling is that bad lol nearly as bad as horses and cyclists on the road rant over

wasnt sure how to just copy the pictures, so done the whole bit lol

http://www.oldskoolford.co.uk/ipb/index.php?/topic/81763-p100-not-oldskool-but-r-u-interested/&do=findComment&comment=909145

i would say that ford were at the top as well, i see the cause as a mixture of reasons, people re-living ther youth, but they could have chsen a different car, so why the ford, well it was vastly popular, and genereally 40-50 years down the line there are still a lot of them out there, therefore they are still well catered for in comparison to other makes and models, in regards to spares and modification parts, thus making them more desireable, they are also fairly easy to modify, Ford also used a lot of common parts across the range, again making the classic ford easier to support unless you have a classic car that is or is going to be worth a fortune, then getting parts re-made because they cant be found is not economic, when you go round the shows, most bare shell restos are done with fords or expensive and rare makes and models, as far as i can see, the roots group cars and alike dont have that support, therefore not as desirable and not worth as much, and certainly not worth stripping back to a shell, the cars would never get re-built the problem being, where will it stop, and are we heading for a big crash in the market once the people re-living their youth fall out of love with them again, ot just get too old to maintain and drive them, and theres a glut of cars, and potential buyers are not from that era, so dont want to pay good money in the 18 months ive owned my escorts, i would have said prices have doubled, it has to plateu somewhere

and if theyre any good there will be a waiting list or a while before you can be booked in the guy that did mine is constantly refusing work on a daily basis, he gets very well recommended as hes good, but he is a one man band and can only take on so much, if he dosnt know the person wanting the work done, its an instant no most of the time

top gear started life as a boring program about cars, it couldnt survive in the modern times when we started to get more channel choice, and had to evolve into an entertainment program, well entertaining for most of the people anyway, so agreed, well scripted, just like Clarksons Sun column, as he could never be that continuously funny off his own back, but thats television and exactly what gets viewers, a couple of the old has been presenters then switched channel to present a more original format of show called 5th gear, while it has survived, because there are now too many channels, that new formats are in short supply, its boring rubbish, personally i have never made a point of watching either program, but if TG is on when i walk in then ill sit and watch, but 5th gear, ill switch it off, while 3 of them are professional drivers, im agreed with above, without being sexually discriminitive and dis-respectful, but a doris just dosnt gel on this sort of program The future success of TG will all be dependant on entrertainment value, and the cars will be more props than the talking point, TG is going to be a very hard act to follow, and having what happened and the presenters having to go, i personally, would have scrapped it in its entirety including the name, and resurected it under an entirely different name and format, as unfortunately the 3 presenters became top gear itself and your never going to loose that STIGma if you parden the pun we can all go test drive a standard car, but its not so easy to even get near a super car, so to see someone throwing one around a track, with the appearance of not caring and to see the inside etc, for some is the closest it gets and is entertainment value Chris Evans has his work cut out now, i would like to see him make a success of it, but im not holding my breath, as it really should have been put in the same sack as Clarkson as Aardvark101 says, lets have some truthful restoration programs and not the rubbish thats peddled in wheeler dealers, car SOS and for the love of cars, Chris Evans name on a program like that or a completely new idea would be far better

introduce me then

dont know how true this is, so dont shoot the messenger, but the guy had no reason to lie and thats his business, but i was told only 2 weeks ago, that its now illegal for any tyre distributer/fitter to fit a tyre, regardless of new or part worn, over 5 years old, due to the age hardening of the rubber, and ive actually seen him checking the dates as they come off the wholesalers van to cover himself also i know that they are trying to bring in a maximum 10 year tyre life for the MOT, if they havnt got it in already

that said it wasnt cheap either, 10 mile trip was £110

the size of transporter you need, the weight probably wont come too much into it, it will be the dimensions, it was certainly the case when i had to have a 3.5 ton long wheel base flat bed transit recovered, as the size of the recovery truck needed took that sort of wagon with ease

found the thread, it was Lizzy, but it appears she hasnt been on here for a couple of months

having searched the forum i cannot find the thread, and i cannot remember who she was but some months ago there was a lady on here looking for the rare wide light switch for her escort for the MOT one has just come up on e-bay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Genuine-Ford-Escort-Mk1-1968-Lotus-Twincam-GT-Super-Headlamp-Switch-/331576854577?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4d33854831

stumbled on this site, may not be your thing, you may already know of it, appologies if you do but i found my mates dads mk3 cortina on there that was in an accident in 2001 the more info people add, the better it will get http://www.drivearchive.co.uk/

i have done two proper HPI checks, and both said that my old VRM is still registered, and actually state that it has never been scrapped off at the dvla or been subject of an insurance claim, 4 previous keepers and last change was 1989 chances are its rotting or rotted away in a garage somewhere, the check also says it still has its original engine whereas the next one that i would like has no history with it at all on an HPI check, and does not appear for sale, as if its never been used

hi Guys, im not too versed on registrations, ie what you can and cant do when it is out of the norm, so let me explain according to HPI checks my original escort seems to still be a registered car, so doing a check on the next closest number, absolutely nothing comes up on an HPI check, i have scrolled all the registration sale sites, and its not one thats for sale either so, is it possible, ie do the DVLA have a process, to apply to the them for a specific registration number, as i dont know if the number has ever been used or not whilst my original registration has not been taxed or MOTd since 1989, it is still registered to someone at the moment, i would love to buy the car back, but all avenues on finding the owners identity have come to a halt as well

so yes its plastic, but as well as being plastic and looking tacky, unless my eyesight is really bad, or the photo has a large reflection, the tail/stop lamp and half the indicator will light up the boot instead of reflecting the light, its clear in the bottom

youve lost me the light is totally wrong