Think its time to post my new project and how its coming along so far I started restoring the 1990 michelin/pilot escort cosworth, once driven by Malcolm Wilson and co-driver Brain Thomas, it was then donated by Ford to there Heritage department where it continued as a display vehicle. But for some reason they sold it on after stripping most of the parts off the car. The person who bought it, was intending to restore it but ending up leaving the car outside for 10 years :/ sooo now its time for this car to get restored to its former glory At the moment its been fully stripped down to bare shell and its been for its acid dip at SPL LTd and then it went for its roll cage up at SW Motorsports in preston, cheers to all the lads up there. And now its back here for some more body work

As we bought the car, needing quite abit of work
Car stripped down before it went down to SPL Ltd for its acid dip I'll get some more pics on tomorrow with the new cage fitted

 

Cool project! Love the Pilot paint scheme the most. Where's the original roll cage though?

 

Cool project if i remember right it was a small turbo car remember it on ebay

 

This is my favourite livery on the escorts!

When was this dipped? I saw pic's on facebook a month or two ago..I'd love to dip my saph!

 

The cage got ripped out and used again on another escort, we've just got it back with the new one in

 

It got dipped middle of january, its really worth doing, does a fantastic job.

 

Going to keep my eye on this.....

Keep the updates coming.

 

reminds me of my old R/C car , loving the car

 

Update: The shells back with the new 6 point cage in(few pics below) just about to cut the dash to slot round the cage, then got abit more welding to do on the wings and floor pan, then its time to go back to the dippers for another acid dip to remove the service rust and then its E-coating on top of that

 

When you dipped it did you find it removed more than you were expecting?
it doenst look like a car thats rotten but ive heard of people dipping mk1 escorts and stuff that have looked ok and finding they were full of filler and a little more rusty than they anticipated and having nothing left!

 

It's a shame to see a car that I remember watching on tv as a young lad in that condition, that car got me into cars and became my favourite car of all time, please please please restore it to its former glory.

Look forward to seeing the progress on this, good luck with it.

 

Are you restoring it to group a spec?

 

I can remember this been on ebay twice.It was from Newton Aycliffe about 8 miles from me.

Good luck with the resto.

 

We were actually expecting worse, as its been stood outside for 10years, but thankfully its a solid shell and doesnt need much doing to it but yeah ive heard a few stories like that, just glad it didnt happen to us

 

Yep, as close as i can get it.

 

Cheers Dont worry this time it will be restored to its former glory, not like previous owners who just left it outside to rot

 

Top man can't wait for the updates.

 

Is this a replica of Michelin pilot cars?

 

Looking forward to the resto

 

this should definitely be an interesting one!

 

Awesome!! Will the car see competiton? Or just track day work? (there aren't enough cossies in rallying IMO)

 

From what I can gather it was used as a press/promotion car of the era alongside the pilot rally cars.

Keep the updates & pics coming

 

Its was built by ford in 1990 for there display/press car to run along side there rally cars

 

Not too sure yet, be nice to get it to a few rallies.

 

this is a great project and such a special car , good luck

 

Agreed.

It's got a sunroof, so presumably it's not the original group A car driven by Malcolm?
When I was at M-Sport a few years back they had a similar exhibition car (Focus) which was done up in the WRC livery and body kit but had almost completely blacked out windows so you couldn't see in, as save for a set of seats it was a completely standard rd car.
Cheers
Iain

 

No its not a original group A ,the car was built for a display/press car in 1990 straight off the production line in germany , from what i gather malcolm used it at shows and press days to promote Ford all around Europe. And because its never been rallied its never been registered either
This one has uprated suspension, cage etc but most of that got stripped off and like you say blacked the windows out when they stood it in the show room.
And yeah lovely car, wasnt that one for sale last year?
Ben

 

My boss owns original group A one and uses for shows ect. Be nice to see this back to glory

 

Quick Question, Does anyone know a better way of making a copy of a dash? Other than making a fibreglass mold over it? cheers

 

yeah looks like i be watching this one great project and good nick for being outside for 10 years i remember my mates mk 4 escort van was painted like that

 

i also remember seeing this on ebay, and im glad it ended up going to a passionford member!

how much did it go for in the end?

and how much was the chassis diping? where did you get it done? ive herd horror stories of acid being trapped in gaps and then once painted the acid leaks out and causes more rust? do you think that could happen?

i cannot wait to see how this turns out, good luck with it

 

I got it pritty cheap
and it was £700 ex vat for the dipping and that was at SPL in Dudley, and i havent heard anything like that before but i suppose, there is a chance it could happen. But there isnt many places it can get trapped plus it gets cleaned after the dipping

Cheers

 

Yeah George Gauld has the real deal, cracking car.

 

Ah nice to see this on here. I live 10 mins from the guy that had it for ten years on his drive.

Went to see him about it in 2011 and he wanted £10k back then but there was to much missing for me

 

Can you not make a box and and make a 2 piece mould using plaster or rubber etc

 

Sure is .

 

I knew bill who had this in Benton, I bought my mk1 escort off him and my rs2000 mk5. He was a funny old man but had a very nice and very big collection of cars including many mk2 escorts bud sadly they all ended up like that escos, I viewed this 3 years ago on his drive and looked a miss match of parts, rs2000 door cards, saph leather seats etc but too expensive at the time, I payed more attention to the lancia delta in the garage behind it! Nice to see someone saving it as bill passed away!

 

Yeah its got quite a few parts that arnt suppose to be on it, but there all goingand i got it for less than half of what he was asking Whats happened to the rest of his collection?
Cheers Ben

 

Yeah we got it for alot less than that, about half

 

Bmillward did you see my reply about the dash?