Followed Home

[Rally Pack 2000]

Was out in my Mk2 escort today getting some quotes on some trimming and headlining replacement and on the way home it became apparent that someone was following me. My car had no rear screen in it just a emergency plastic sheet so I didn't pick up on it initially but so that the sheet didn't blow up like a balloon at speed I didn't take the highway home I went round a very twisty series of back streets. Even turn there he was. I was basically one street away from home and I though if I go to my house then he has my address and the cars become a target. So I pulled over and sure enough he pulled over behind me. For the first few seconds I thought, right get out of the car and confront him but if he turns out to be heaps bigger than me then jump back in the car. I got out and confronted him with a terse, "Is there any particular reason your following me?". To which he replied "Yes I want to buy your wheels". I was a bit taken aback but still suspicious because I thought he has several suburbs to try flag me over if it was just a chat he was after. After sussing him out a bit I discovered that he owns a Twincam. No less, the only known Purple one to still exists which I even posted an image of on the Australian Twincam thread this past year. For a few moments there I was pretty nervous, Im not one you would ask to cover your back in a pub fight and if you did it was only because I was last one of the group still able to stand. Just a total bizarre encounter really. That and an offer of two thousand dollars for my set of Capri Laser wheels that I just refurbished recently. I think I may have to open a bit of a shipping corridor for any of you guys and your discarded Laser wheels. With a bit of TLC there may be a market here whereas you guys seem to be dumping them on the tip!

[Vista]

Capri laser rims are indeed pretty common here and rarely wanted on Escorts. 

Think I'd have been mighty suspicious if I had been followed like that too.

[stephens_xpack]

Glad that ended well, nothing worse than some scroat trying to suss out where you living. How much you reckon to send a set of wheels over, maybe that is why they worth so much in Oz?

[Rally Pack 2000]

On Tuesday, 29 August 2017 at 19:34, stephens_xpack said:

Glad that ended well, nothing worse than some scroat trying to suss out where you living. How much you reckon to send a set of wheels over, maybe that is why they worth so much in Oz?

I suspect the shipping costs may exceed the cost of the wheels themselves. I will watch out for some on the forum though and see if it turns out to be feasible. I wouldn't mind a set of Mk1 RS wheels for the Twincam if I can get a set at a reasonable price.

Still suspicious of the event though so have taken some extra security precautions. A neighbour gave me a solid steel shackle and offered to dynabolt it to the concrete floor so I can chain the diffs of the cars too.

[colr6]

I've just given four Capri wheels and nuts away to a local rally lad, got sick of falling over them !!

[Rally Pack 2000]

1 minute ago, colr6 said:

I've just given four Capri wheels and nuts away to a local rally lad, got sick of falling over them !!

 Darn I would have taken them for sure Col!

[colr6]

1 minute ago, Rally Pack 2000 said:

 Darn I would have taken them for sure Col!

I offered them to loads of people for FREE but nobody wanted them !! People wanted proper RS wheels and all had to be the same year stamp.....anoracks!!!! A wheels a wheel if it goes round and isn't bent who can see what year it was made at 70 mph !!

[Rally Pack 2000]

All mine are different years so I dont think it matters to anywhere here. Its more about the lack of wheel choices for Escorts and Cortinas these days. Minilites seem to be the only thing available here and it really gets a bit samey after a while so a set of Capri Lasers is just as good as set of RS ones to anyone local. Ford Australia never used any 4 spoke alloys so people like them simply because they are different. I prefer the tapered seats of the Laser wheels myself as they locate better and I just used some Mondaeo or Ka wheel nuts to fit them to the Mk2. While its true I had them professionally polished so they look better than most Laser wheels, the first month I put them on I got 3 offers for the car. I hadnt ever had a single one prior to that. Now some guy follows me for miles to buy them for his purple Twincam, clearly no one is fussed if they are genuine RS ones or not, they look smart enough.

I so wish I knew you were giving a set away!

[colr6]

If you want some wheels drop David an email at R&R alloys I know by his feed back he has sent sets to Aus. You may be pleasantly surprised at a deal or not maybe ! They do all types of wheels and is very helpfull, I've had two sets off him and he is willing to give advice for free!

[Rally Pack 2000]

Thanks for that info. Its more about getting some older original wheels to offer up to local punters than a new set for myself. Im happy with the Laser wheels for my Mk2 as others seem to like as well. Im still looking for something for he Twincam though but cant make up my mind. I would consider a set of Mk1 RS alloys for that but not essential. Im resisting minilites if I can.

[NudgerSS]

Sold mine for £100 to a guy in Portugal for his rally car


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[mk2dk]

Hi Rally Pack 2000

That's a strange coincident, I fully understand your suspesion.

Had a similar experience a couple of years ago. Was working on the Escort and the garage door was open. Noticed a silver VW that drove past my garage several times very slowly. Went outside, and the chap stopped. He was cleaning out his shed and had 4 Ford alloys he wanted to sell. We drove to his place and it turned out, they were Ford 8x16  Escort Cosworth alloys he bought new from Ford in the 90s. Now they are in my shed

mk2dk

 

[Rally Pack 2000]

6 minutes ago, mk2dk said:

Hi Rally Pack 2000

That's a strange coincident, I fully understand your suspesion.

Had a similar experience a couple of years ago. Was working on the Escort and the garage door was open. Noticed a silver VW that drove past my garage several times very slowly. Went outside, and the chap stopped. He was cleaning out his shed and had 4 Ford alloys he wanted to sell. We drove to his place and it turned out, they were Ford 8x16  Escort Cosworth alloys he bought new from Ford in the 90s. Now they are in my shed

mk2dk

 

That turned out well but still sounds creepy to me.

While the offer for my wheels probably sounds good round the other side of the world for the type of wheels they are, its a matter of there is nothing nicer here to get as their replacement. All the work I put into them, getting them stripped polished and then the masking and painting I did myself does add up in the end. Im still at a loss what wheels to put on my Twincam let alone have to do the Mk2 all over again. I just want something different to Minilites which everyone seems to put on their Mk1s but now that the Mk2 has 4 spokes it seems a bit samey to then go do the same for the Mk1 even if I could find a set of the early RS alloys.

 

On Sunday, 3 September 2017 at 17:57, NudgerSS said:

Sold mine for £100 to a guy in Portugal for his rally car

I wouldnt have minded those for myself. It would have cost even more than that for postage but if I put the work into them I could have turned them around I think.

[colr6]

How about a set of four spoke revolutions for the Twink...........I like them ?

[Rally Pack 2000]

3 minutes ago, colr6 said:

How about a set of four spoke revolutions for the Twink...........I like them ?

They are definitely on the list Col. They would certainly go with my White Mk2 with a matt black centre. The Twincam though I'm just no sure about. I'm looking for a wow factor but can't pinpoint what that wow actually looks like yet. The British and Chequered flag caps do have a period feel to them that may suit or maybe put a Lotus symbol there instead?

[Rally Pack 2000]

Further to this, the chap in question was true to his word and popped around for me to see his beautiful original 1971 Wild Violet Twincam. The only one I have seen in that colour in my lifetime so you can be assured its the only one of that colour left in the world. I read on here some of the horror stories on these pages with thieves following you home from shows and the like and my paranoia probably got the better of me. Apart from my newly restored wheels who would want my old clunker Rally Pack? And as it turns out all he wanted was the wheels at that!

Anyways he had no idea I had a Twincam tucked away so he was just as surprised as I was. I don't think my Twincam is in danger though, his is heaps better than my neglected carport statue. I said he could try my wheels to see if that tyre size fits under the rear guards. Its been a few years since I added to my Twincam drive tally of 15. A drive around the block is a fair price for trying my wheels and tyres don't you think?

 

 

[colr6]

Although I am a Lover of the twin cam, sorry but that looks bloody awful. No wonder he wants some more wheels, they look so out of place. The right set of wheels would transform the look of that car. But that's my view 

[Rally Pack 2000]

3 minutes ago, colr6 said:

Although I am a Lover of the twin cam, sorry but that looks bloody awful. No wonder he wants some more wheels, they look so out of place. The right set of wheels would transform the look of that car. But that's my view 

Wheels can transform a car and its sometimes hard to look past that but the car itself is terrific. I had never had many people approach me about my Mk2 until I put different wheels on and then I had three offers for the car in the first month! *Tip - It make or break in the wheels people. Its why Im being so fussy and cautious for my Twincam's wheels.

The wheels on that Twincam are some strange period hybrid of steel wheels with alloy centres. Its fair to say I think any of the original Minilites or Superlites would spruce things up a bit. But he has only owned it for 3 months (and at the upper price limit I have ever seen a Twincam fetch here) so its fair not being able to rush out straight away and drop even more cash on wheels and tyres. After years of thinking about it I still cant decide. When we try on my wheels I will try take another snap to see the difference.

[colr6]

Put some steelies on it, vinyl  roof it, rear pillar badges and pass it off as the quickest 1300E around!!

[Rally Pack 2000]

14 minutes ago, colr6 said:

Put some steelies on it, vinyl  roof it, rear pillar badges and pass it off as the quickest 1300E around!!

Ray would hunt me down for blaspheming against 1300E's!

Actually we didn't have vinyl roof Mk1s at all. It was only on Mk2 Ghias that had vinyl roofs and all our Ghias were 4 doors so no 2 door Escort ever got one standard. I remember one friend had 2 door Mk2 with a vinyl roof but we could never figure out how it got it. You guys had 2 door Ghias and vinyl roof RS's so it was easy to put a vinyl roof on any car if someone wanted one as an option I would imagine.

[colr6]

Would have thought it would be a no no due to the temps you have out there. Never mind causing interior temps to rise couldn't see the vinyl lasting that long !

[Rally Pack 2000]

37 minutes ago, colr6 said:

Would have thought it would be a no no due to the temps you have out there. Never mind causing interior temps to rise couldn't see the vinyl lasting that long !

It never occurred to me that it would make the car hotter. You always learn something new on this forum! From the Mk2 Ghias I saw they would peel easily up the A and C Pillars and many brittle and torn holes on top of the roof. You can imagine what they did to the C Pillar rust problem! We didn't know there was a hole in the Ozone layer here in the Southern Hemisphere back then. It was so harsh on some items like RS/Rally Pack boot spoilers that people were getting them replaced under 12 month warranty. No UV resistance at all on Escort stuff I have noticed. Its why I can't get a decent set of C Pillar covers. Drop some corn flour and the C Pillar trims on the same bit of concrete and you wouldn't be able to tell which was which.