Lincolndanny

iTrader: (2)

Hi guys, seeing as im locked up at home with man flu, and im fed up of sleeping, thought i would finally do a write up of the 10 cars ive owned since i passed my test @ 17. Im now 24, and its scarey how it only feels like 5 mins ago since i passed my test!

Anyway, sad to say, they have all been Escorts!!

My very first one was a mk2, bought just before my 17th birthday, and it took 4 months of searching to find one. Good 2 doors were illusive even back in 2001!!! I think id saved up about £1500 to find a half decent 2 door when i stumbled upon my 1.1 Popular for only £500!!! It had its original strut tops and floors etc so was a massive bargin at the time.

I spent the next 2 years ploughing all of my Part time Halfords wages into it, and it ended up slammed over 7j Superlites, with buckets, rear cage, cammed up 1.3GT x-flow etc. I ended up taking it off the road due to what i thought was abit of rust, but one day i got so disheartened with it, i cup the bugger up on the spot! Biggest mistake of my life? Errrr yep! Stuggling to find the CD with all the pics on at the mo so this is the only one i have, it gained a mex front spoiler and went even lower after this picture!


Next on the list was a silver MK4 bonus. I wanted to build a Silver RS Turbo so found this stock 1.3 with FSH and 61k for £350 back in 2003 and then proceeded to buy a donor RS Turbo to convert it. Over the next 2 years i spent about 10k building it, most of that money going on Gen Ford parts when i restored the engine bay! Ended up with 17" OZ Superleggras, Koni suspension all round, 18psi, big intercooler etc. Then one day out of the blue i got an offer on it and away she went, ooop to Scotland. Again, wish i never sold it, and i believe its now been written off!







Couple of the pics of the donor RS, used it for a week to make sure the mechanicals were ok! Think i bought it for £600 with a months tax and test!



So with the proceeds of the silver Turbo, i went back to the old school and bought a mk1 to restore. Its along term project, i generally either work on it for weeks on end, or then lose enthusiasm and leave it for months. I replaced the full floors, rear quarters etc and the structual stuff is all done. Just little bits here and there to do before i can start prepping it for painting the inside and underneath! But im in between a house move at the mo, so its currently resting in my parents garage for a few months till me and the girlfreind are all sorted in a new place.





Trouble was i needed a car to drive and i missed the Turbod Escort so thought i would quickly build another! Wasnt bothered how rough it was as it was going to be a sleeper, and i wasnt going to be powedercoating this,that and the other! So i went all the way down to Essex with a couple of mates to buy a £150 Black Bonus with a whole 2 days Tax and MOT! It looked like a fairly solid old bus, but looked like it had been polished with a brick! Anyway, 4 months later after ploughing all of my wages into it(i was that desperate!) i had it all Turbo'd and to my amazement, after a full valet, it looked a million dollars!






Anyway, got it all on the road, and after 3 weeks and only 200 miles, i came out of a pub one night to find it gone....

This is how it was found the next morning......



Never been so gutted in my life Trouble was is i hadnt got my fix, so what did i do? Went out and bought another, but this time a minter of a minter mk3 estate. Low owners and low miles this was the cleanest standard mk3 i could of wished for!






So, went out and bought another RS Turbo engine and box ready to do the full powdercoating/new bolts etc again....

Taking my girlfreind home one night, i was shattered and the roads were horrible, it didnt take long before i ended up going off the road.....



Proper messed it up Roof got kinked, inner wings all bent and suspension mounts bent inwards. To the scrapyard for that one! So within the space of 6 weeks i had lost alot of money and 2 of my babies

At this time i moved in with the girlfreind so money was VERY tight, so was just happy to have an Escort altogether. Plucked this little fella off of a drive where it had been left for years after the original owner passed away. Serviced it and cleaned it up, did me well as everyday transport for a while, the floor was mint!





Trouble was the rear end was rotten so offloaded it!

In the meantime i bought this for £200 and then sold it a couple of weeks later for £350!


Time to go back to a minter!
Bought this 1 owner 1989 1.6GL, with low miles, FSH off the original owner for £475! Its lived in a garage all its life and bar some bubbling on the rear arches, its stupidly stupidly mint! Has all original keys, books, tax disk etc as well! Plans for this are to sort the rear arches, find some new genuine ford GL wheel trims, service it with genuine ford stuff and keep it as mint as possible. Its good all the toys on it such as electric mirrors, windows etc. If you were to of walked into Ford back in 1989 and ordered the highest spec combination for the standard escort, this was it-4 door estate 1.6GL! Only the sporty XR's, Cabs and RS's were more expensive!




So this combination currently leaves me with a mint Estate for general duties and a resto mk1 to keep me tinkering. Trouble is, i still havnt enjoyed a Turbo'd escort since the silver one really, so when this solid little minx turned up for £180, i couldnt refuse! Like the MK1 its "in storage" now really untill we are back in our own house in a few months, and then finally after what feels like years(well, it is!) i can finally start building a Turbo'd MK4 again!




Hope you like, its taken me ages to write this out !!!

massivewangers

iTrader: (1)

Some lovely motors there. A 2dr MK2 for £500, what I wouldn't give!!!!

I want a little 3dr MK3/4 Escort to Turbo, but I don't seem to have the nack for finding bargains

fiend

iTrader: (1)

You must really love Escorts!

The black sleeper with the rst engine is awesome.

BAM_S2

iTrader: (1)

thats awesome mate, great thread - some really clean mk4s there, that black one looked the business - shame it got burnt out.

rickbartlett

love that silver one mate.awesome looking

Twins

iTrader: (18)

Great write up danny

adam151082

10 outa 10 for all 10

Rab

You have had some shitty luck mate. But you have knocked together some lovely cars!!

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Nices escorts mate.The floor of the blue mk3 escort is mint.

AGAR-COSWORTH

You really seem to have the knack of sourcing mint cars. I always loved your silver one that Stevenebm got in the end. Apparently its still about up here, but its not the same car anymore after a few incidents

stembo21

iTrader: (1)

nice cars danny

Benni

That silver Escort RS Turbo... Amazing. Such a lovely car. I'm surprised you sold that beauty.

Benni.

clarke5700

nice work makes me wish i hade took more pics

boothy

iTrader: (14)

some nice cars there mate.

ram

iTrader: (4)

cool write up cool cars

danny_boy699

iTrader: (5)

all spot on cars, loved the sliver and black 1 think i got some pics of it saved on the computer some where.

your mk1 escort look the twin brother of my brother in laws same wheels and clolur

stevenebm

iTrader: (6)

great cars danny.after having to sell up for my house my mate bougth the silver one and it just sat in his garage.i always said to him to give me first refusal back on it when i was on my feet.he sold it to a local numpty and i gave up trying to get it back off that guy and he put it in a feild.its being rebuilt as we speak iirc.

dakar

iTrader: (1)

Really enjoyed reading all that Danny,some nice cars there too

CarbonRick

Great write-up Danny. Some impressive motors, whats the plan for the Mk1? CosPower?

Mike C

iTrader: (1)

Love the MK2 mate

matts1

what a stunner that silver mk4 bonus was, really really nice job on that.