I had the pleasure of a passenger ride in a beautifully restored 1978 example as an impressionable 18 year old. I remember the punch in the guts from the acceleration, and the very lairy handling. Incredible machine! This is definitely a car where the performance figures do not do the experience justice.
Cheers
DP
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i had a rapid fiat 131 supermirafiori
it was very quick after a few mods but it died of terminal rust at only 7yrs old
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JS,
At least you could tinker with it to get it going right. These days it would be a trip down the garage and plug it in and wait for the fault code to show up !
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The appropriate analogy here is leaving cartons of free cigarettes in a room full of reformed smokers! I can't stop thinking about how much I now want a hot Escort. I made the mistake of broaching this with my wife last night and the exchange went something like this..........
- Y'know that Honest John forum I ....um ...occasionally look in on?
- Yeah.
- Well there was a good thread tonight on fast Escorts
- What do you mean?!
- Y'know the cars....Ford Escorts
- Oh ...I thought you meant.....
- Crikey no, its all about cars.
- My Dad had one of those.
- Not like these, these were the ones I really really wanted when I was younger but could never afford.
- Dad's used to break down a lot, I remember when we went to Penzance one year...
- No darling, these are quite different, like in the Professionals.
- The what?
- Y'know Bodie & Doyle, George Cowley, y'must remember!
- If you say so.
- Anyway, thing is, they are now classics, quite a good investment really and not too expensive to buy and run, parts are easy and.......
- You're not serious?
- Well a bit, I mean what a hoot, zooming around in a Mexico or an RS2000
- At your age, pah!
- What do you mean, people often say I look much younger......
- Yes dear
- Anyway I've seen one on the internet........
- Just hold on a minute, when and where exactly would you use this? You said yourself that there's nowhere left you can get the foot down..too much traffic you said....too many cameras....not worth having a fast car.
- Well the thing is they're not actually all that fast
- Right, I thought you said....
- Yeah, well they were fast in their day but .......
- so you want to buy an old Ford Escort, which isn't all that fast.....to do what exactly?
- Well, I could work on it. You can on those old engines
- What you mean it wouldn't be reliable?
- Oh no, they were pretty bulletproof but y'know technology has moved on and...
- So where would you keep it?
- In the garage
- The garage is full
- Yeah, but I could buy another shed and put all the stuff from the garage......
- So you would need a shed as well?
- Or we could block pave the front lawn and have a car cover
- Block pave? How much would that cost?
- Oh let's not get bogged down in the detail for now. There would be ways round it.
- Sure
-So what do you think
- I think we need a conservatory
- Conservatory?
- My sisters got one and they spend all their time in there
- Sounds exciting!
- Don't be mean!
-Sorry its just .......
- So which one of your "imaginary friends" came up with this piece of wisdom?
- They're not "imaginary friends", I don't know any of them really. They're just people who are interested in cars and car stuff.
- Sounds exciting!
- Hey!
Well if you want one it's up to you, I'll not stop you, but are you quite sure? Wouldn't it be better to upgrade the Mondeo? It's getting a bit long in the tooth.
- S'pose.
:-(
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So I guess the coffee and croissants at your place is off then ?
That was funny. One of the best posts in a long time.
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great read, Shoespy - it'll strike a familiar chord in many homes. One of my sons sold a mint Dolomite Sprint to buy a V reg RS2000, fully restored and in gorgeous Postman Pat red... and he's head-over-heels in love with it. Very stealable (many turn up in Ireland, apparently). There's an amazing following for these 80s Fords and the prices they go for are quite crazy. But how reassuring to see so many of them around nearly 30 years on!
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And this morning................
- Y'know what you were saying about how I should upgrade the Mondeo?
- Mmmm?
- Well they do a version caled an ST220. 3.0 V6. You can get them as estates.........really practical actually..........
- Wouldn't that use too much petrol? You do a very high mileage.
- Yeah, a bit....but they will be cheap soon....new model out and the road tax thing....wouldn't be too bad I shouldn't think.
- Yeah, right.
:-(
PS Backroomers always welcome at the boot locker!
Edited by shoespy on 19/04/2008 at 12:03
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Memories??. I had a 1978 (T) Mk2 RS2 in diamond white ? BY FAR the most enjoyable driving years of my life? Bought it in ?82 and had to let it go in ?90 when the kids started to arrive.
Got up one Saturday and thought ?I want an RS2000? (like you do?) and found mine at Roger Moran (RS dealer) in Leominster, Herefordshire for £3000 He was a well respected road rally driver back then, and is now just as successful in single seaters on Hill Climbs.
Believe it or not, I didn?t actually drive it until I reversed it off a mates transporter onto our driveway at home. The point being, that I wouldn?t have known if it drove ?right? or not, so I asked a motor club friend who actually built rally escorts to test-drive it for me. I remember sitting in the back, my mate driving it along this twisty Welsh Border 'B' road and Roger Moran himself driving it back ? absolutely awesome car control.
3 things I remember more than anything else over the years,
The solid feel of the ?quick shift? gear lever, moving only an inch or so at the most between 1st & 2nd etc
The precise feel of the steering, even without a ?quick rack?
Also, all that torque! Plant your foot in any gear at any speed, and it would pull you out of trouble (needed it a few times in Wales?)
£3000 must have been a lot of money then for a 22yr old?.
Getting sad now.
Maps
Regular reader ? rare poster.
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Shoespy, get an ST220 estate and tell her it's a 2 litre and hope for the best. With a bit of luck she'll never notice. :-)
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I'm sure you can get TDCI badges from e-bay or somewhere. If she finds out tell her that it was your imaginary friend that suggested. Feigning slight madness has got me out of a couple of tight spots.
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There is a dealer near me that specialises in stuff like rs2000 strada arbarth etc.hes got a mint Granada 2.8ighia x in black with cream leather but wants 10k for it. he sold an orange mk2 escort rs2000 last week for 6k. seems a lot of money but pretty rare now
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Hmm! Got any pictures? Does he have a website I could peruse?
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i'll try and remember what he's called.
the place is on London road. southend on sea
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Bigbirdy AfFORDable Classics in Halstead specialise in classic Fords Their prices look high initially but in reality seem to reflect condition.
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www.affordableclassics.co.uk/carsforsale.php?start...8
This website carries an official warning from the junior mod as some of you accused me of leading you astray previously. I'll say two words Granada 2.8 anyone ? Don;t even look right !
Some classic Fords in there
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I had a Strada Abarth 130tc and thought that it had loads of character. Marvellous engine with twin DCOEs. Gorgeous exhaust note with plenty of "pops" on the overrun. It also had straight(ish) cut gears in the ZF gearbox that made a strangely attractive whine. The silliest bits were the ridiculous Recaro seats that were too big to lift forward properly - they looked good though and came complete with a hole for a racing harness.
My bother bought it new in 1985 and wrote off 2 Pirelli P6s on the first day while trying to experience Car magazine's description that "...you could feel fag ends in the gutter through the wonderful steering....".
Had to sell it for a house deposit in 1988 and I imagine it rusted to death a few years after.
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ive just remembered it's called Days Of Grace
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- Wouldn't that use too much petrol? You do a very high mileage. - Yeah a bit....
Ah, you see, there's your error right there. You should have waxed lyrical about
1) how the TDCi models can get super-expensive to run in terms of repairs etc and that therefore
2) the 3.0 V6, being a much simpler engine, would actually be a better bet long term, and
3) would cost less in terms of oil changes (which is completely true - smaller oil capacity than the Duratorq) and so
4) what you would lose in fuel costs you would gain elsewhere etc.
Worked for me in justifying an MPG drop of around 8-10 :-)
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>> - Wouldn't that use too much petrol? You do a very high mileage. >> - Yeah a bit....
Or just tell her that an LPG conversion would pay for itself very quickly and then you would have petrol reliability with better than diesel running costs. :-)
My V6 Mondy is on Ebay right now and if I don't get what I want for her (which I doubt I will) then I'm going to convert her and keep her for a couple of years.
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"Well if you want one it's up to you"
Ah yes. I think I saw that phrase in one of those useful 'what women really mean when they say something else' lists. I think it roughly translates to 'if you want me to call my solicitor...'
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Funny you should say that, I have threatened to call my accountant. Significantly she hasn;t said no in any sense - other than the Landie would have to go, which to me is a win win situation, I had pencilled in its sale this year anyway.
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Shoespy, I suspect our wives are sisters...I suggested switching our diesel Volvo S60 for a V70 R model...our conversation went down a remarkably similar route even though, over here, I can claim back 50% of my travel to work over and above what the company charges...through my tax return.
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PU, forget the RS2000, just go for the curly perm!
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They used BL vehicles in the first series. A TR7 for Doyle and Dolomite Sprint for Bodie. Cowley had an SD1. The story goes that BL were dumped after they were unable to provide cars of the right colour when they were required, thus messing with the continuity somewhat. BL snatching defeat from the jaws of victory yet again.
So are we going to form the CI5 (criminally insane 5 ?) club. Membership requirements-a lairy rear drive Ford.
I bagsy Bodie.
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as a teenager it was at the top of my car fantasy list
along with the capri bodie had
as an adult ive seen similar cars pass through auctions etc very badly the worse for wear
ive driven a pretty well sorted RS2000, well a few different ones, round a rally circuit, it belonged to the rally driver training folk, I have to report they are very different to drive in real life compared to your fantasys of youth, although you could try this approach to let off steam if you can find any training places with such old timer cars still on their books
back end slides out ruthlessly, very exaggerated rear wheel drive characteritics, no ABS etc which we all take for granted makes it hard work in slippy conditions
you could do what the kids in Essex do nowadays and get a Focus RS, although personally if you really can afford the insurance, have somewhere mega safe to park etc, then just get a scoobie
me i like the anonimity of a bog standardish car for day to day driving, my friend with a new lambo has been stopped twice in the 2 weeks he has had it, "is this your car" etc
ah well hey ho
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