In The Pit

If you are keeping it forever then that's not so bad, but worth keeping the original engine and any parts you remove as should you wish to sell it in the future you have the correct parts to offer to any potential new owners. As these cars get older it'll be the standard ones that fetch the ££££, look at RS prices the standard ones fetch a lot more than the messed with ones. As you say great that the interior is in good condition as interior parts (especially seats & door cards) are very hard to find in decent condition now.

Stunning car I do like the Goldcrest although based on the L they were virtually Ghia spec. Personally I would also get rid of the awful silver/black number plates (which are illegal on a 1980 car) and lose the rubber aerial and it would be 100% bang on. Ford did special editions very well in the 70's early 80's and they always sold well. I have a Goldcrest (a gold one) that I've owned since 2006 not as tidy as yours, mine is completely standard. I'd say there's more than 26 Harriers though they survived fairly well. Very few Goldcrests and Linnets left now so keep yours nice and standard just how it is. Has your Goldcrest been restored or is that original paint, whats the story with it?

It sold for £14,042. A lot of money but the Capital is rarest model MKII out there. They do look very smart and this ones in great condition.

Two versions of the white needle clock as well so yes photos would help. Amazing how many small changes were made with the MKII Escort between 1975 & 1980.

A guy I used to work with back in 2010-2012 came from Israel, I gave him a lift in my MKII Escort 1300 L and he told me that they had them back home and that when he was working in the police out there they used one as an undercover car for surveillance as it would have just been seen as an old car and not raised suspicion.

Always good to see old cars like this still in service and not enthusiast owned (presumably). This one would have been ex forces as it's black and is a 1980 car but registered in 1983. It's done well to survive at 113000+ miles, check out it's MOT history link theres been a massive amount of welding required over the years to keep this car on the road (I don't think I've seen so much corrosion failure before). He only does a couple of hundred miles a year if that so you were lucky to spot it.

These were also fitted to the luxury Ghia & GL models so yes these bulkhead covers fit all MKII Escorts.

You will have to wait until the 1st April 2023 for 1982 cars to be exempt currently (January 2023) it's still only up to 1981 that are tax exempt.

It's such a shame about this one, let's hope that the money they are offering does the trick as it could still be stored somewhere. With regard to driveway parking not everyone has a garage and as mentioned above the owner has had this since 1987 when the car wasn't worth a lot so they possibly just got used to leaving it outside and as Dorset is not a crime ridden area thought it was safe. I'm not on social media but hope people share this update about the reward money to keep the car fresh in people's minds in case it's spotted.

Yes red interiors were available on the MKII Escort from September 1978 until the end of production in August 1980 and the Ghia models (with red interiors) had red carpets (very smart they looked too). There's still a few about and as the red can fade a bit these would be that 'impossible to find part' for the owner of such a car. Black is the common colour fitted to most of lower spec/bottom of the range cars so i'm guessing a lot of these coloured carpets may be for higher spec Ford models.

I'm pretty sure 2 is a MKI Fiesta rear, it's definitely not for a MKII Escort. You are right on 3,4 & 5 all MKII Escort.

Not worth that money but it is nice, I always liked the look of the MKV facelift I had a diesel one that served me well for a while. There used to be loads of them about but I don't recall seeing one in gold before I'm guessing it may have been a premium colour only available on high spec models, the same goes for the light coloured interior which looks really nice it's more upmarket than the dark grey/black interior my MKV had.

No I'm not sure what the version code is, I think I've seen conflicting information on this for the Sport. The 1300GT engine was also in the MKII 1300 Ghia.

Was the car from France as I've seen these wipers on some cars from the Continent mostly (or all) French ones. This option was not available in the UK.

A very rare special edition MKI Fiesta Kingfisher is currently on ebay (not mine) but I thought worthy of a thread as these are pretty much all gone now. He's not listed it as one but it is, a lot were two tone paint but this is a single tone car with the option pack, untaxed since 1 October 1996 (last logbook issued 11 April 1995) has to be worth saving and restoring back to standard as these must be the rarest of the bird named MKI Fiestas and MKII Escorts left. Check out the Fiesta Kingfisher logo on the dash binnacle (I didn't know they had these). Ebay link

From today (1/4/21) all cars from 1980 now qualify for free VED (road tax) so that means the last of the MKII's the ones from 1980 on a V or W reg no longer have to pay. They are also MOT exempt as well. This will apply to early MKIII Escorts from 1980 too. I think it was Autumn 1995 that the original rolling tax exemption came in at 25 years before being frozen in 1997. It's been a long wait to finally see all MKII Escorts exempt.

Yes it did (along with other colours) you can tell if the seats should be blue as the vinyl part of the seat will also be blue

I rather enjoyed reading my comments from 11 years ago, I still stand by what I wrote regarding the availability of UK spec 4 door 1300 Sports (they were available overseas). Also I was correct on Olympic Blue being available on the MKII, I can 100% confirm that as I now own a 1975 1300 L in Olympic Blue.

It could be that the article is Mike's real opinion and the fact that Wheeler Dealers modify cars just goes to show that Mike (and Ed/Ant) get very little say in what actually happens to the cars, with this being a producers decision.

The Daily Express have (yesterday) published an article about the modification of classic cars and how it can affect their value, the MKI Escort is used as an example. A good point made about keeping the original parts safe so they can be sold with the car in the future. Link Here

Interesting to read that the rolling number plate exemption was in fact a mistake but they are not reverting back to a 1973 cut off so as not to cause owners the cost of new yellow/white number plates. Personally i'm glad they have stopped them rolling each year they look silly on cars from about 1972 onwards from the late 60's most cars were fitted with the new yellow/white plates (period photographs and Tv shows/films can confirm this). I also see that the Euro symbol is no longer allowed to be displayed on newly made plates from 1/1/21 (i'm guessing the Union/English/Scottish/Welsh/Northern Irish flags are still permittable). Worth noting that new number plate laws/changes are coming in September 2021 they don't state what they are but if you need new number plates for your car might be worth doing before September in case the new changes are not welcome.

It would be pretty hard to find a black MKIV as they weren't available in black, however Ford made some as SVO's. The photo Vista posted is a Midnight Blue one.

You're doing the right thing keeping it standard. So few standard MKI and II's left now, I think they always look best how Ford intended.

Thanks for sharing, you've had a nice variety of cars there. My favorite is the red Ghia, love that red interior. Last taxed in 2003 so I guess it's long gone.

To double confirm the colour is Neptune Blue from the picture and the fact it's a March 1976 Ghia. Worth noting it's a rare colour and a nice one at that, hope you're keeping it. Out of interest what colour is the interior? the few Neptune Blue ones i've seen normally had black.