Description
H&H Classic Auction @ The Imperial War Museum, Duxford/ Cambridgeshire
9th October, 2024 13:00
1975 Ford Escort Rally Car
Built to left hand drive specification and prepared for rally specification in Finland
Estimate
£10, 000 - £14, 000
Registration No: Unregistered
Chassis No: BBATRY78856
MOT: Exempt
A left-hand drive market car understood to have been campaigned in a number of Finnish rallies
Fitted with a 1600 Crossflow with twin Weber Carburettors, Close Ratio Gearbox and Limited Slip Differential
A running, driving car that should prove to be a rewarding project
When the Escort was re-launched as the 'MkII' for 1975. The RS1800 model made its winning debut as a works Group 2 car on the Granite Rally in April 1975, victory going to Roger Clark. In that year's Lombard-RAC Rally, Timo Makinen brought his RS1800 home ahead of the field to score the car's first major international success. It would be the first of five consecutive Lombard-RAC victories for the RS1800 and its Escort RS Group 4 derivative. In 1979 the Escort brought Ford its first World Rally Championship for Makes while works driver Björn Waldegård became the first official World Rally Champion.
Understood to have been built during 1975, chassis BBATRY78856 is an early example of a two door Mark 2 Escort and was delivered to the European market in Left Hand Drive form and is believed to have originally been fitted with an 1100cc engine. Little is known about the early history of the vehicle, however the Finnish documents on file show known ownership since 10th May 1997. It is understood that it underwent its rally preparations during this period, which included the fitment of a 1600cc crossflow engine, twin choke Weber Carburettors, a close-ratio gearbox and limited slip differential. The interior was fitted with a full roll cage and OMP bucket seats. The car would go onto be rallied in Finland until 2013, before being laid up in storage ready for a new owner.
Acquired by the vendor a few years ago and imported to the UK, he had grand expectations of getting the car out on rally stages again, so got the car running and driving ready for further improvement. Unfortunately, his advancing years now means that he has decided to sell the car on to someone who is more likely to enjoy it.
Upon inspection, the Escort fired into life readily and moved around for the photography session –and it is evident that with some work it would be a fast machine. The vendor advises that ‘the car will need improvement’ to both the mechanicals and updates to fulfil competition regulations but is a ‘good starting point’. The shell appears to be relatively solid, but the vendor advises it could be ‘further improved’ should a prospective buyer wish to. Un-registered for UK roads, a Finnish logbook and sundry documentation is provided. Prospective buyers should be aware that they will need to register the car with the DVLA should they wish to use it on UK roads.
