1976 Ford Escort – Antique Roadshow – 188

Huddled on the bank of a dusty road in between some trees, on a cold, still winter’s morning, the silence is broken by that unmistakable sound of twin sidedrafts screaming for air as a Ford Escort flies around the corner, leaving a rooster tail of dust. It’s fond memories like this, that Tony Stewart holds of the legendary RS2000 rally cars, that led him on a year-long hunt for the perfect Escort. As he explains: “I was originally looking for a standard Escort, with the intention of building a tough little street car, until this particular RS2000 replica turned up. It was easy to see it had been looked after from day one, and already had the gearbox and suspension sorted, so that [was going to] save me a lot of time and money down the track. When I checked it out the

body and interior were in great condition, so I jumped on it.” It’s for that very same reason Tony plans to never part with his MkII, as he says, “I would never sell it. I work for a Ford dealership and I had the car in at work, dropping the motor in, when an old guy came in and offered me big money for it, but I just couldn’t, I’d never find one like it again.”

The Escort started life in 1976 as a plain 1600. But, as the story goes, the original owner really wanted an RS2000, but they weren’t for sale yet, so he went with the base model 1600 and got his hands on a full RS2000 Recaro interior. And then sometime between then and now a two-litre Pinto engine was swapped in for the 1600, most likely from a dirty old Cortina. With a classic recipe of extractors and twin 45mm Weber carbs, the engine punches out 120 beautiful-sounding horsepower to the rear wheels.

In this day and age of street cars making over four times that figure, it may seem tiny to most, but the power is something different; the extremely light, stiff and nimble chassis from Ford makes for an extremely fun car to drive, and you can use 100 per cent of that throttle, unlike those massive-power monsters. Says Tony: “It’s just such a great car to drive, I’ve owned plenty of cars in the past, including 4WD turbos, and nothing compares to the fun I have driving this. Through my involvement helping out the boys at PPRE, I have plenty of friends with big-power cars and they don’t stand a chance through the corners; this car is all about the throttle, you’re hard on it most of the time, it picks up the inside wheel on most corners. If it had too much more power it wouldn’t be this [much] fun. The guy I got it off is involved with Targa, he used it for track days and hill climbs, so it’s really well set up.”

Although parts of the build were spot on, other areas where crying out for Tony’s attention, like the engine bay, which was a bit of a mess — there where wires hanging out everywhere and it was just really untidy, so the Pinto was ripped out and tidied up, while Tony went about welding up and smoothing over all the holes.

The bay was then coated in plenty of Ford’s famous stark white to match the exterior and the two-litre dropped back in. All the wiring, relays and vacuum lines were then hidden to give the bay a really clean feel.

He also made a few changes to the exterior, which included the front spoiler to complete the RS2000 look, the ride height was dropped and some smaller tyres were fitted, giving it a more aggressive look.

The paintwork was done 12 years ago and it still looks amazing, although a few little niggling things had begun to annoy Tony. So as you read this, the RS replica is in a thousand pieces in the hands of his brother, Peter, who will be panelling and painting the Escort. The goal is to have it ready in time for Powercruise in November, where Tony hopes to go about embarrassing some modern cars once again.

While the body’s away, he’s turning his attention to the factory head that he has sitting at home: “I’ll open up the ports a little and add a more aggressive cam, nothing too crazy, just add another 50hp, which will make a world of difference, especially when plenty of right foot is added into the mix.”

You will often quote us saying that you can never have enough power, but sometimes in truth it’s not how much power you have, it’s how you use it. The way Tony’s RS2000 replica uses it is bang on, if you ask us.

This article is from NZ Performance Car 188. Click here to check it out.

1976 Ford Escort (MKII) – Tuning Menu

Heart
ENGINE: 2000cc 4-cylinder Pinto
BLOCK: Fresh rebuild to factory spec
HEAD: Mild cam, adjustable cam gears
INTAKE: Weber manifold, twin 45mm DCOE Weber sidedraft carbs, Uni filters
EXHAUST: Custom headers, 2 3/4-inch system, twin straight-through mufflers
FUEL: Factory engine-driven pump
IGNITION: Electronic Pertronix Ignitor kit
COOLING: 2-litre RS2000 radiator, modified thermostat
EXTRA: All wiring, relays, bonnet cable and booster vacuum lines hidden, all holes welded and smoothed, resprayed in factory Ford stark white

SUPPORT
GEARBOX: Toyota Supra 5-speed, close ratio with short shifter
CLUTCH: Ford Sierra pressure plate
FLYWHEEL: Lightened
DIFF: Factory
OTHER: Full seam-welded chassis, strengthened cross member, quick rack steering wheel

SHOES
WHEELS: 15×7-inch Minilites resprayed in FG Falcon gunmetal grey
TYRES: Sport Cat 195/45R15

EXTERIOR
PAINT: Ford stark white
  ENHANCEMENTS: Fibreglass aftermarket front splitter, Ford RS strips, aftermarket headlights, Cibie spotlights

INTERIOR
SEATS: Genuine Recaro Ford RS2000 seats front and back
  STEERING WHEEL: MOMO
  INSTRUMENTATION: RS2000 dash cluster
ICE: Pioneer head unit, 6-inch fronts, 6×9-inch rears

PERFORMANCE
POWER: 87kW (120hp) at the wheels

Tony Stewart – Driver Profile

Age: 30
Location: Wanganui
Occupation: Mechanic
Build time: One year
Length of ownership: One year
Thanks: Wanganui Motors workshop and parts department, Warren and the boys at PPRE, Chass Wardle NOBAIL Fabrication, my brother Peter Stewart, all the guys and girls who helped along the way, you all know who you are.

Words + Photos: Marcus Gibson