Sunday Feb 05

Ben Allen’s Ford Escort Mk2 RS2000

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Barn-find rust bucket.

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PPC contributor Ben Allen first set eyes upon this 1976 Escort RS2000 when he was just a child. The RS was first purchased by his uncle way back in 1990 and since then had been stored in a barn on his farm. It was here, 10 years later, on one fateful visit to his Uncle’s, that young Ben spotted the distinctive droop snoot front end, RS 4-spoke alloys and unmistakable Escort shape nestled in the depths of the Lincolnshire farms outbuildings.

Five years after his first lustings for the iconic 1970s Ford Ben finally managed to get his hands on it, purchasing it for a bargain price in 2005. Since then Ben has had University to attend to so progress with the Escort has been slow. Whilst mainly staying in storage, there has been some time to begin stripping the car down for its long planned full restoration.
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Unfortunately it has become apparent that there is far more rust than car left and so the job of resurrecting the historic Ford could take a lot longer and cost a lot more than first anticipated. A whole new front end is needed, due to extreme rot on the inner wings and bonnet, all new sills and floors are required, and the 2.0-litre Pinto engine has seen better days having sat around for the best part of two decades. Plans for the engine are a full strip down and rebuild with uprated internals, twin Weber carbs and a tubular exhaust manifold. The bodywork will get a full strip down and nut and bolt rebuild to retain the cars standard looks, whilst the running gear will be renewed and uprated to allow the car to keep up with more modern machinery.
Ben sold this car to a friend after giving up welding.

 

Practical Performance Car (PPC) is a monthly magazine aimed at real car enthusiasts interested in affordable performance tuning. At PPC we pride ourselves in providing the most entertaining, informative and inspiring features for petrolheads everywhere. Each month we feature an eclectic mix of affordable performance cars, great driving adventures and world-class technical features for the DiY tuner. Our editorial team is headed up by well known Will Holman who has a deserved reputation for 'stick a V8 under the bonnet' attitude to life. His editorial team is stacked with experience including Dave Walker (speciality engine management), of the sadly missed Cars and Car Conversions (CCC) magazine, David Vizard, the legendary engine tuning guru, and Kevin Leaper - ex technical editor of Practical Classics.

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