I bought this car a couple of years back in September 2002 with a view to restoring straight away. Two years down the line and things have gone REALLY slowly. Theres been tons of stuff getting in the way. I stripped the front end when i used to live with my folks, then i moved house in to my own place and things slowed down. There was no where to work on the car so its sat since then waitint to be looked at again. Whilst i couldnt work on it ive been collecting and cleaning bits so i hadnt completely forgot about it. Anyhow, iv'e now moved to a new house and it has... a double garage so in one months time, my Dad is gonna trailer it up to me and i can get started again. i cant wait Heres a few pics of the car after i bought it.
First one is from a previous owner taken in about 1993

As bought

Same


Interior stripped

Front end stripped

Wing off


Ive decided to go for the original look i think although im tempted to put some subtle mods on. Nothing irriversable though. The shell is pretty solid, a bit of rust up front but nothing too bad. It had a new hood before i got it and an engine rebuild so alls well there It has been converted to carb at some point too so thats another job to convert it back. (got all the bits for that though )
So what do you guys think? its gonna take a while but ive got the enthusiasm, its been building up for two years!

 

Very nice mate

i love mk3 escorts i think there the bollox

 

I like, i like!!!!

Just what i've done to mine!!(see link below)

 

cant beat mk3 escorts can ya there the bollox

 

nice 1, can't wait to see the finished result!

 

alright mate where about in aberdeen you from???i'm from banchory!my mate from aberdeen did the same to his convertable just recently! except he had a rotten rst so changed eveything over!and painted it aTVR blu'ish green flip paint!if your looking for inspiration there should be pics posted now in the forsale section of his car@www.aberdeencruiser.com

 

i love the mark 3 there the best will be nice to see end result

 

Cant get the link to work m8. But IIRC yours is the red cabriolet isn't it?

No pics up yet, i'm in BOD Aberdeen. Theres some really nice motors going about round here. I saw a dark blue Mk4 van the other day it was perfect. I used to have a modded one but at the time i was skint so couldnt go as far as i wanted with it.

Started painting my garage floor the other day. What a job!! still will be nice when its done.

 

the vans a turbo very quick!shocks alot of people! i used to have a red frst lookalike van! Now got s2 turbo and saph cossie!theres acopule of not bad looking convertables going about aberdeen!

 

I've seen one mk3 Cabrio in Aberdeen a white one i think. not too sure tho. Really like that van, would have another no question about it!

 

i stay in aberdeen & i seen that white mk3 cab going around its tidy am sure my mate knows the owner

 

Link fixed now

 

one of the white one i know of is only ment to be 1.3! still looks good! theres a nioce black one sits in kincorth!S! mad what do you drive???

 

looking forward to being at the stage you are one day

 

Well after a few delays (mainly finding a trailer for the big move) It finally went ahead. Travelled down on the train to my folks on friday and drove back up with the cabrio in tow Saturday. 4 hours later it was in the garage
Heres a few pics of the move and what ive let myself in for.

Getting ready for the trailer


in the garage

Some pics before stripdown




I did this repair two years ago. I'm gonna start again...

The dreaded battery tray

New panel ready and waiting to go here

Inner wing shitness

After a couple of hours...
I think its been broken into a few times

Filler is all over the back panel

The rifle scope was free with the car!


So thats it so far. I think i need all the encouragement i can get! Any comments, advice, help, anything appreciated!
Updates will come soon. going to work on it when i can as much as possible.

 

It looks better than my escort did and im persevering, stick with it, it'l be worth it in the end.

 

i'm sure it just looks worse than it is! if you need any bits give me a shout! good luck!

 

good luck mate will look somuch better when ya done it

 

Nice one mate - another Scottish member too!

 

Well another few months past and i'm not much further on. Its not for the want of trying though! Moving to Aberdeen has and is taking up a lot of cabby working time

Anyway, have stripped the car a little further as you can see.




This was in the rear N/S quarter!

And what it left behind...

other side not as bad

Got this full stainless from my bro. should polish up nicely


Going to be sourcing some new rear panels this month. Also had a sucessful trip to the scrapyard the other day, found a Mk3 Escort Ghia with 54k on the clock. it was near mint! So had most of the interior trim from it like switches etc. Got a whole boxful for Ł30

 

Nice one ,cant beleive the amount of filler in the rear panel,must have weighed a bit

 

feeking hell

 

just a bit! Bloody cowboys, it was tarted up for sale before a few years back i reckon. Someone was conned!

on the lookout for two doors too, mine are fcuked.

 

Didn't I give you a door ages ago?

 

I'd forgotten about that
Just need to get it up to aberdeen!

 

Roo, lookin gud mate i built a s1 cab luv mk3 cabs good luck wiv ur restoration matey

 

Along with the rear window and frame taking up space in my garage!
Sounds like an excuse to come down

 

hey there roo

i thought u'd have perhaps gotten a bit further than this.

i'm asuming that lee.j is your brother?

i'v got mine finished and on the road now. goes well. it seems it has a drink problem. loves optimax.

nice garage by the way. is that the B100 BYS bootlid?

 

Alrite Tony, fancy seeing you here
I know I know... there seems to be so much getting in the way all the time. I have promised myself to get on with it though so this weekend will hopefully see some action!
Lee.j is my brother.
Yup thats the B100 BYS lid, wish i had that number!

 

Not much progress but welding begins tonight!
Spent last night stripping the F/O/S of suspension then of all the underseal. A few holes here and there but no major surprises.
Here's some pics of how i got on...








Hopefully have some rebuild progress tonight rather than more stripdown!

Also, does anyone know if this part:


Is still available? its the strengthening piece attached to the 'A' pillar. Both mine are rotten and beyond saving

 

Try www.carpanels.co.uk i got my replacement panels from them fella.

Keep up the good work

 

 

Cheers for the link,
Have had a quick look on that site but can't seem to see anything resembling it. Looks like a trip to Fords tomorrow...
Could do with an 'A' pillar section too.

Does anyone know if this:
http://hadrian.dominohosting.biz/hadrian/hcpdb01.nsf/Plookup2/30-27-516FORDESCORT%20MK309-80-01-86!EditDocument&Ret=ALL
would fit the cabriolet too? both sides on mine are fooked

 

You could get whoever done the work on the rear to make you a pair of strengthening sections out of high quality p38, looks like you'd never tell the difference
Dont forget to take pics of tonights progress

 

somehow i doubt not!

Just came in to get the camera so pics later.

 

As promised.
I cant believe how doing just one area of welding can give so much pleasure! Really want to crack on now.

The offending metal removed

Replaced by shiney new metal


And tomorrows task

To be replaced with

 

good luck mate av got a silver one cost 380 notes four year ago thought tidy it up 14 grand later million wheels all new and restored the lot and want different wheels already its under my turbo cabby on pictures bit hav a lookjust dont let it get carried away love mk3s keep them goin my series one vans on as well [mk4 converted to mk3]

 

Just looked at your cabriolet Mine will look something like that one day! I've got a mk3 XR3i too but it needs major work and the cabby's got to get done first. Like your van too, always wanted to do that myself. Closest i got was this:


That was about 5 years ago and i still wish i'd kept it!
It still goes around (in cambridge) but looks completely different now.

 

Very small update, (an old pic)

Been a slow winter and not been too well so progress has been slow. Drivers side inner wing area is just about done now though.
Managed to get a pair of Recaro's for free. As you can see there fooked. Some mad woman out for revenge slashed them apparently!


Anyway, they've got good frames so i'm going to retrim them myself. Does anyone know where to get the side bolster material from or something similar? I tried east kent trim supplies but they don't do it anymore.

 

nice to see a few cabs coming back on the road