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The Cost Of The Cosworth And My Shattered Dream :)
General Car Related Discussion.To discuss anything that is related to cars and automotive technology that doesnt naturally fit into another forum catagory.
The Cost Of The Cosworth And My Shattered Dream :)
Well where do I begin...
Growing up my parents always had Fords, the first one being a mk2 Escort in blue which they had about 4 minutes before it was stolen. Next was into an orange mk3 Escort XR3, my dad loved his car and I have fond memories of the local mobile mechanic working on it in our back yard trying to keep it alive. They then moved into a maroon mk4 Escort i think this may have been a 1.3 but still a cracking family car.
So as you can gather from above I have a soft spot for Fords.
As a child I was obsessed with them and one day to my delight a neighbour up the road bought a used Escort RS1600i. I still remember it to this day it was grey had had a pink paint splat sticker on the bonnet/wing and a pink fido-dido sticker across the back window
In the mid 90's the local lads started buying mk4 RS Turbos and flying about with the sounds of the dump valves going. I was around 10 years old at the time and used to stand on the main road waiting for them.
Then one day this car drove past and I could not believe my eyes. When I say drove I really meant to say flew. It was silver and I had seen nothing like it in my life. It was a Ford Escort RS Cosworth.
That is where my obsession began with that car. Growing up if I ever saw a Escort Cosworth toy car or remote control car (Especially the Tamiya ones) I would save up my spends and buy them.
In 2001 I left school and got a job as Apprentice Mechanic at Ford. I loved every minute of my time there and had to wait a good 6 months before an Escort Cosworth came in. It needed a road test and I was lucky enough to be invited along. If I am being honest I was a bit disappointed in my mentors driving but I understand now it wasn't his car and I actually respect him looking back that he didn't rag the tits off it.
My first ford came in 2006 at the grand age of 21. It was a Ford Escort RS Turbo and I loved it (apart from being pulled off the police all the time as they still thought all drivers where 90s drug dealers)
I kept this car for about 18 months and then sold it as it needed some welding (£200 worth) and I was skint. It went for about £1400 as an Mot failure on ebay
I thought you know what it doesn't matter I will save hard and finally get my hand on a Escort Cosworth. At the time I remember I think you could get a pretty decent one for around £6000-£8000.
As the year have gone by I have grown up and done the grown up thing, getting married, buying first house saving hard, selling that house buying the wreck dream home and moving back in with the parents while it is gutted and extended and just when you think you are in a position to buy an Escort Cosworth you need £30,000 or £50,000 if you want a low mileage one.
I am gutted hahaha but not for the people who own them as this is great news.
Unfortunately I can not justify buying one at this price and if I am being honest I wouldn't feel comfortable buying one for more than £15,000 any more than that and I would use the money to buy another house as an investment.
So after the big long ass story my questions are as follows:
What is the cheapest you can remember seeing a decent Escort Cosworth?
What year and how much did you pay for yours if you own one?
Do you think the price will keep rising or do you think they are starting to peak?
Sorry for the life story but just thought I would share my life with Fords and my great sadness at probably never owning my dream car haha
there is only 1 way the price will go, if you want an aooreciating classic, but cant afford the escort then a nice mk1 Focus RS will appreciate just as well.
some of my hero cars from my teens are expensive now, i've always wanted an E30 M3 but know i will never own one. i remember my friend used the £5000 i paid him for his escort RS turbo to buy a technoviolet M3......
i always wanted one as i used to walk past a house on ym way to school and the owner was really into his BMWs. he had E34 M5 an E30 M3 and at the time a brand new E36 M3.
Enjoyed the read, interesting to hear a bit of history behind people's passions!
There is a thread on here somewhere about a guy who found an abandoned Escort Cosworth and went through the correct channels to become the owner, think it cost him £450?! Very interesting story whether you agree with it or not!
Nice read that, I 2 was only young when I saw my 1st cosworth a black saph Cos coming off a petrol station back in the early 90s.... pulled off nice & slow then went mental, I remember standing there thinking what the fuck was that???
I went home & told my old man I'd just seen a sierra go faster than a Ferrari (not that I'd ever seen a Ferrari in person) he just gave me that look as dad's give all kids when talking shit!!!!! (But I wasn't) I said 1 day I'll get 1 & show you!!!! He just said ok son. Several yrs later (after dreaming of owning 1) I bought my saph cos, white 1992 4x4 50,000 on the clock stage 1 really nice well looked after car I paid 5k for it. I took my dad with me to go get it I was that excited (telling him all about how fast they were & so on) I peddled it for a few miles while he was messing with everything in the car (as you do with a new toy) then I gave it the beans... he shat his self & I can remember being disappointed & excited at the same time, excited I was a cossie owner but a bit disappointed with the speed!!! Maybe what I saw when I was younger was either a big horse power cos or as being a you child maybe we do exaggerate
Anyway a few months later I lost my dad but I always remember him saying it was the fastest thing he had ever been in or drove.... he loved his Vauxhalls!!!!!! Need I say more!! & him saying to me if you want something work hard & you will have anything you desire. Anyway Wise words which is why last yr I bought my dream car a imperial blue escort cosworth FSH 35,000 full lux pk, stage 1 minty mint at a cost of 30k I've since spent a further 5k on making it my own, i to thought I'd never own 1 with price going up faster than I could save, but then I thought if I don't I never will so I bit the bullet & bought 1 best thing I ever did, the escort is a perfect car to drive, where the saph is just how I remember it pulling off from that petrol station bk in the early 90s (now I've upped the power) just a pitty I can't take the old man out now.
Sorry to droan on but just thought I'd say how I got hooked, & if you can get 1 what ever the cost you will never lose on it, plus you get to play in yr dream car when ever you want.....
Far better cars for the money out there, it's still an escort ffs, might be time to let the past be the past and move on, either that or find a shell and build your own over time, buy parts as you can afford them, good rolling shell should be had for less than 10k, that's how I've done mine, if I ever let go of this one that's that as I'll never pay the prices people are asking now to get another.
I Bought my first RS a 1990 Mercury grey Escort RS Turbo in 1995 it was mint I sold it to my sister in 1997 and bought my first cosworth a 1990 moonstone blue 4x4 for £8300 sold it in 2003 for £5000 to buy my imperial blue small turbo escort cosworth 64k miles, I paid £11000 , its now done 73k
As for how much my escort is worth now I don't really care its going nowhere I haven't driven it for 3 years and don't really miss not driving it, I have my race car to scratch that itch!
But if someone offered me an obscene amount say 50K then they could have it!
shame I couldnt have kept my saph it was a good one and would be worth a few bob aswell now
On a side not My old RS Turbo was sold by my sister 2 years later and my dad couldn't see it go so he bought it and still owns it, he uses it very occasionally and its still mint!
steve
Last edited by The Youth.; 12-04-2017 at 06:11 PM.
totally agree with cos500. ive been you i was that person i badly wanted a mexico i had a young family houses were more inportant i couldnt even of borrowed the money for one if my life depended on it. you got similar skills to me im a mechanic/pannal beater sprayer. i made my own one bit at a fuking time. ok it might of been a rep but it was better than allot of genuine ones. i sold that got good money. i managed to buy a mex that was written of it was fuking mangled. i put it on the jig at work every night for a week pulling it stretching it i tore it in half i cried my boss said it would be the case i re sheld that three years latter i got a genuine shell. you said you would only want a low miler that doesnt mean much in cossie terms most of the time there really hard low miles get what you can afford rebuild the engine make it better than new get a 2d shell make your dream. ive got my own genuine saff now because what i did with a bit of wheeling and dealing
Always interesting to hear how folk got the bug. I'll never forget as a kid seeing the 3dr cosworth that used to park at our Texaco garage (didn't have the livery though). Then when I starting going to car cruses in my fiesta 1.4s, the bigger boys had saffs and I knew I had to have one - only took my 20 years to get around to it..!
As for values, it's not just fords, lots of cars are appreciating. My mate reckons his TVR has gone up about £10k in the last year or so... and don't even get me started on the price of a classic Porsche.
Always interesting to hear how folk got the bug. I'll never forget as a kid seeing the 3dr cosworth that used to park at our Texaco garage (didn't have the livery though). Then when I starting going to car cruses in my fiesta 1.4s, the bigger boys had saffs and I knew I had to have one - only took my 20 years to get around to it..!
As for values, it's not just fords, lots of cars are appreciating. My mate reckons his TVR has gone up about £10k in the last year or so... and don't even get me started on the price of a classic Porsche.
i originally got the rs bug working as a school boy i had to serv petrol inbetween being the dogs body i used to fill up this rs 2000 and clean it when in for service i had never seen a car like this before my grand parents had a beat out vauxhall viva in my mid twentys i ended up owning it
It nice reading everyone's reasons for having a Ford.
My current project is a Fiesta RS 1800. I know they are not everyone's cup of tea but they are affordable.
I also had an itch to buy one and I think that stems back to when I used to walk to work at 17 years old a chap had one at the local tool hire place. I asked him one day if I could have a look inside and he told me to fuck off haha. Well I have my own now and if I ever saw him again I bet he would want to look in mine.
there was a escort cossie round my way too when I was younger and the rumour was it was a ringer. So whenever me and mates saw it we would be like yeah it's a ringer to each other. Best thing is we didn't even know what a ringer was.
I remember that all the private garage owners all seemed to own an escort cossie too.
in January this year we had a ford reunion with all the lads I worked with when I did my apprenticeship. We meet up every few years a good 20 of us. They where all at least 5 years older than me so when I was all 17 they all had their cossie's on their mums insurance. Was funny listening to them talk of the regret of selling them and how little they got for them at the time.
I also have a soft spot for an escort gti as my old mate at work used to have one in 2003 and we thought we where bad in it ha
Enjoyed the read, interesting to hear a bit of history behind people's passions!
There is a thread on here somewhere about a guy who found an abandoned Escort Cosworth and went through the correct channels to become the owner, think it cost him £450?! Very interesting story whether you agree with it or not!
My love of fords began when I was on work experience, I had always loved cars but at 15 years old I went to a local garage for 2 weeks work experience. I was put to work with a mechanic who at the time was about 21 but seemed like he could have been much older at the time. After a few days we got talking about cars and he said he had a ford escort xr3i. I didn't have a clue what one of these was so he said take a walk down the road at lunchtime and it's parked down one of the side roads. I remember walking round the corner and I saw this awesome looking machine, it was was a mk3 xr3i, primer grey lol with limo black windows all round, blended in s1 turbo kit and fondmetal 4000 deep dish rims and big spot lights on the front, instantly as soon as I saw it I was smitten! He offered me a lift home and he had a mega stereo system in there and he cranked it up and i had never heard bass like it. From that moment I was hooked. He went through a succession of escorts and then a saph Cossie and that ride in the saph Cossie got me hooked on them too.
my love of fords began quite late, was a car nut since i was 5 but never really had an affiliation, i learnt to drive at 17 and had a boring first car, then bought a renault 19 16V at 18 which i was so smitten with. went off to uni there and one of my halls friends had a fiesta van and his dad was in the RSOC, he bought his first RS turbo in 1999 and took me out in that, in 2001 he decided to sell it, i snapped it up off him and the rest is history.
there are better cars sure, but there isnt the same network of people, businesses and enthusiasm for the brand with any other marque (i know the VW scene is big but never been involved with it).
I'll always remember what sparked my love of 3 door cosworth, in the early 90s i was in the back of my dads cortina we were going to see my nan on the a34 in Newcastle under Lyme which all of you guys will know was home to castle performance and turbo systems, i heard something loud approaching from behind, vrooooooooooooommm pissssh vroooooooooooommm pissssh, then i saw it, a shiney black big winged beast, it took off up the road, thats it i was in love it was like seeing the batmobile on road to a 6 year old, ive never been lucky enough to have a genuine one though, I have my fake im building and im more than happy with that
I've always had a love of fords as I grew up in area where club rallying was popular, back in the mid late 90s when mk2 escort could be had for £500 quid, stick a 50quid pinto in it and a cage and some rs2000 brakes and you had a fun rally car sort of thing, so tats where my love for fords came from, plus my father and uncle (his brother) used to buy classic ford and fast ford, always used to look at them when I was growing up. That's where my love for them has come from, plus when they were still the in car for thieves a scrap yard who was run by a mate of my dads got a stolen recovered 2wd saph in as an insurance write off, all the locks were damaged and it had been hot wired but other than that it was ok, so it would of been rude not to take it out for a spin before it was written off! My dad said he'd never been in anything that accelerated so hard (like I say, when they were the in car). From then on I've wanted a cossie, hasn't happened and actually have a feeling it wont, but if I ever got the money for one, I would in a heart beat. I'm not stupid, for the money you can buy much faster cars now, but to me RS and old skool fords are special.
I am the same as you Glenn, always been a Ford fan, and never left any of them standard apart from a 2.8i Granada 5 speed manual. Anglia 105E which I put 1500 Cortina GT running gear in, Cortina 1600E Stage 3 engine tune 120bhp, 3.0V6 Mk1 Capri with lots of engine mods by Swaymar Engineering, Lotus Cortina Mk2 with big valve engine swap, 1600e Uren Savage V6 and my current Saff 2wd with lots of modifications. Wish I had kept them all, they would be worth a lot of money now!!
Many a time I've been tempted to get rid of my Cossie and get something else but the truth is nothing else seems to float my boat and I know that if I sold it, I would regret it and also more than likely struggle to find one I like for a reasonable price. Looking at some of the prices people are asking for them, it's bloody ridiculous!!
I've thought about so many different cars, Vauxhall VXR8's, Mercedes C63 AMG's, new Focus RS's etc.............. But the thing I like about old cars is their simplicity and the fact that you feel more involved with the driving of the thing!
I also own a new Focus ST which I really like. It handles well, go reasonably well for what it is, it's reasonable on fuel, I find it comfortable to drive and it's a nice safe car for my daughter to travel about in. It's perfect for what I use it for. But I get out of it and think to myself 'yeah it's a nice motor but it doesn't 'do' anything for me as such'.
Now I get out of my 2wd sapphire Cossie (when it works at least! ) and I think to myself 'yeah man!! That tried to kill me on that roundabout! That was great fun!!!'
Many a time I've been tempted to get rid of my Cossie and get something else but the truth is nothing else seems to float my boat and I know that if I sold it, I would regret it and also more than likely struggle to find one I like for a reasonable price. Looking at some of the prices people are asking for them, it's bloody ridiculous!!
I've thought about so many different cars, Vauxhall VXR8's, Mercedes C63 AMG's, new Focus RS's etc.............. But the thing I like about old cars is their simplicity and the fact that you feel more involved with the driving of the thing!
I also own a new Focus ST which I really like. It handles well, go reasonably well for what it is, it's reasonable on fuel, I find it comfortable to drive and it's a nice safe car for my daughter to travel about in. It's perfect for what I use it for. But I get out of it and think to myself 'yeah it's a nice motor but it doesn't 'do' anything for me as such'.
Now I get out of my 2wd sapphire Cossie (when it works at least! ) and I think to myself 'yeah man!! That tried to kill me on that roundabout! That was great fun!!!'
My sentiments exactly! Not sure I could ever bring myself to sell the Cossie unless times were proper desperate
Gaz i feel exactly the same. I love my mk3 mondeo. Its so comfortable,it goes well for a 2.5 v6.
I drive my cossie and think fookin hell,it rattles squeaks and but fook me its just sooo much fun. I just respect the old girl for what it is.
As said before the price of some parts are just pissing me off. Im after a rear bumper but i don't wanna pay a fortune for it. Theres one on ebay for 400 quid lol.
If you can wait I think you should be able to find a good cossy for around the 30 k mark and I think it will be a sound investment , all classic cars have gone up a lot , for example I sold a Renault 5 turbo 2 in 2001 for 12500 and if you can find a good one know you are looking at least 70 k , but don't leave it too much longer , I have one , don't use it much but when I do it fills such a special car
If you can wait I think you should be able to find a good cossy for around the 30 k mark and I think it will be a sound investment , all classic cars have gone up a lot , for example I sold a Renault 5 turbo 2 in 2001 for 12500 and if you can find a good one know you are looking at least 70 k , but don't leave it too much longer , I have one , don't use it much but when I do it fills such a special car
My old next door neighbour had some nice cars when I was like 10 or 11 years old he was only a young lad too.
He had:
Astra mk2 SRi
Astra mk2 GTE (he crashed this and I remember him cutting it in half with a grinder in his back yard)
Renault 5 GT Turbo - The one with the arches that were not colour coded.
If you can wait I think you should be able to find a good cossy for around the 30 k mark and I think it will be a sound investment , all classic cars have gone up a lot , for example I sold a Renault 5 turbo 2 in 2001 for 12500 and if you can find a good one know you are looking at least 70 k , but don't leave it too much longer , I have one , don't use it much but when I do it fills such a special car
Ye everything has gone up, not just fords, just look at what a Mak evo will go for, any air cooled 911 Porsche, E30 BMW M3s etc have all skyrocketed big time, plenty of haters on facebook love to have a downer on cossie prices on the groups I'm in, but truth be told everything desirable has got expensive.
Love these stories about what kick started everyones love for Ford.
I grew up with rather simple ones to be honest, My grandad had a standard red Mk5 Escort, then one in blue, It looked lovely even not being a performance model. Every time on the way to his house after school though and still sitting there now and not having moved in around 15 years is a Xr3i soft top with an RS Turbo bodykit, I finally knocked on the owners house a few years ago asking him what his plans are with it, He said it was one of 3 or 4 specially made I think to feature in an advert from Ford, He said it was going in for a 10K plus showroom restoration, It's still sat there looking worse for wear to this day.
My friend said his brother in law who lived with him had a Series 2 RS Turbo in their garage, It'd been stored in there for years just sitting and he hadn't done anything with it until getting it out this year, and for a car sat that long it looks amazing, I'll have to put some pictures up, But I go a bit off subject.
But I got the Ford bug early from my grandad, I blame him for my choice of first car, I got the Mk6 escort that's still my signature picture on here, I replaced every movable part on that I think until I went through more money than sense, I ended up scrapping it for barely £100, One of the biggest car regrets I've had so far, I moved onto an 08 1.6 Turbo diesel fiesta I modded quite a bit but it just didnt have any real grunt or get up and go.
My story ends at the minute with the car I sold the fiesta to get which is a 55 Plate Mk2 Focus ST, Currently running 340bhp and looking lairy as anything, I'm loving it!! I wonder if that will ever go up in value considering how easy they are to mod and the appeal of the 5pot engine even though they dont have the RS badge
12-04-2017, 07:20 AM
The Cost Of The Cosworth And My Shattered Dream :)
he shat his self & I can remember being disappointed & excited at the same time, excited I was a cossie owner but a bit disappointed with the speed!!! Maybe what I saw when I was younger was either a big horse power cos or as being a you child maybe we do exaggerate 
) and I think to myself 'yeah man!! That tried to kill me on that roundabout! That was great fun!!!' 
