Ford Escort Mexico, just Escorts

jonbeeza

jonbeeza

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On my morning walk, I took a route I don't usually take. I came upon a unit that does classic Fords.
This lovely Mexico was on the back of a flatbed wagon, I would have loved to have had a walk around it, and have a good look at it.
 
Ford Escort Mark 1 Mexico just to be precise :)
 
derekG said:
Very nice I wonder how much that's worth now.
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I have seen some genuine Mexicos go for eye watering prices. Not sure if they are selling the one above, or if they are doing it up.
The place also does classic Ford parts.
 
Just looked the unit up, and it is called GS Escorts Runcorn. They do old classic car parts, and repair work. I am not sure if they sell cars though.

PS

Be careful when typing in the Escorts bit, I wonder why they did not simply say Classic Fords?
 
Many of them were written off by the Rally nutters, i know a lady who smashed one into a tree.

Kicking themself now that they are worth so much.
 
The front arches don't look flared enough on that one to me, it may be the angle but Mexico arches came out a bit more pronounced to the body than those IIRC..
 
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FlyPhot said:
The front arches don't look flared enough on that one to me, it may be the angle but Mexico arches came out a bit more pronounced to the body than those IIRC..
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I think that was as flared as it got in those days for a road-going Mexico, ISTR standard Escort front wings were pretty straight sided. It's a bit like 'wide wheels', what looks pretty standard these days seemed like F1 rears back in the day.
 
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FlyPhot said:
The front arches don't look flared enough on that one to me, it may be the angle but Mexico arches came out a bit more pronounced to the body than those IIRC..
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I would have loved to have seen inside it. Could not make out any rally seats either.
 
I did not want to get too close to the car, as I would have loved to have taken a photo of inside the car. But being on the flatbed wagon, I would have had to stand on my tip toes, as it was a little high up.
 
I was wondering if it was a genuine factory Mexico - I've seen that there are probably more "Mexicos" around now than were produced!
 
Nod said:
I was wondering if it was a genuine factory Mexico - I've seen that there are probably more "Mexicos" around now than were produced!
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On reflection and thinking back now, it may not have been a genuine one. I did not notice any rally seats.
 
I was looking at one of those infamous "lists" online the other day - cheap classic cars to invest in - and discovered that I had weed a number of them back where they were not classics: Ford Anglia, Ford Capri, Porsche 924, Sunbeam Stiletto, MG F. If only I'd keep one or two of them. Hindsight is a bitch.
 
fujilover said:
Many of them were written off by the Rally nutters, i know a lady who smashed one into a tree.
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We got a Mk1 RS1600 BDA wedged between two trees in Clocaenog years ago, happy days :)

GC
 
LeeRatters said:
Nice. But it's not a Mexico.

Wrong front wings/arches and the Mexico didn't have the trim around the side windows - 1300XL from new I expect.
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I knew those arches were wrong ;)
 
LeeRatters said:
Nice. But it's not a Mexico.

Wrong front wings/arches and the Mexico didn't have the trim around the side windows - 1300XL from new I expect.
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Wonder what shape the headlights are? Mexico were round and 1300XL rectangular, both had the 6 clock IP.

GC
 
fujilover said:
Many of them were written off by the Rally nutters, i know a lady who smashed one into a tree.

Kicking themself now that they are worth so much.
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I tied a mk2 RS2000 replica around a tree BITD... Wasn't really a proper RS2000 obviously, think it was a 1.1 or 1.3 2 door bodyshell and a sierra 2l dohc engine... was proper rally-spec though, roll-cage, fuel cell, fire extinguishers, the works. Sadly, I got a little over-exuberant and planted my navigator's side into the aforementioned tree. Tree definitely won that encounter.
Parted the remaining bits out and that was the end of my rallying era.
 
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Sorry for the very bad quality photo, it looks like it was taken in the 1940s, but it was taken in 1980.
That is me standing by my tatty old Escort. I have no idea how it passed the MOT, it had massive holes in the floor, and the indicators did not always work.

I have no idea what it is that I am holding, I have obviously just taken something out of the boot.

PS

Certainly NOT a Mexico. lol
 
Wish I still had my mk1 Mexico , sold it for £900,mid 80s if I only knew how much they would be worth years later, but then I couldn’t afford to just keep it. The money went towards a 4 door cortina.
 
Kediza said:
Wish I still had my mk1 Mexico , sold it for £900,mid 80s if I only knew how much they would be worth years later, but then I couldn’t afford to just keep it. The money went towards a 4 door cortina.
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I had the chance to buy a Mexico back in the 80s, but the owner hammered the car badly, so I decided not to bother. I too had a Cortina, went around corners great, ahh, the memories.
 
When I was young and even more mad than I am now I had an Escort Mexico.....
 
LeeRatters said:
I agree. But you didn't mention anything About a Fulvia (?) ;)
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Yes, it's a Lancia Fulvia. My Dad had one for a while when I was a little kid, I remember it had a 'grab rail' mounted (as standard) on the dashboard on the passenger side, which I used to get hold of to climb into the car... and keep hold of when he drove... no child seats or even seat belts in those days, and he was always a fast driver! It was red too, just like the one above. Happy memories. :)

Before I was born (and he had to start being sensible!) my Dad was a rally driver, the next step would have been to turn pro, but he realised that, with his own business to run, as a newlywed with a newly bought house and me on the way a year or so later, he needed to give the hobby up. So his rally prepared Mk1 Cortina GT (with high compression Mangoletsi tuned head, cam and twin carbs, which was quicker than a standard Lotus Cortina to 60 MPH) was sold.

Funny story with the sale of that car (a trade-in to a dealer). Dad's co-driver/navigator went to a works do and noticed their old Cortina in the car park... long story short, he found the owner, a bank manager, who said he was very happy with the car, and it seemed very quick. He went on to say that he'd noticed a large tray mounted beneath the engine and had asked the dealer about it. Apparently the dealer had told him that previous owner was very fastidious and didn't want any oil on his driveway, so had fitted the tray (which, as you've probably guessed, was a full rally-spec sump guard) to catch any drips!

Sadly my Dad died in 2014, but I'm sure a couple of slides of the offending car still exist in the family photo collection. If I can find them I'll dig them out and tag you in on the post. (y)
 
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Mr Badger said:
Yes, it's a Lancia Fulvia. My Dad had one for a while when I was a little kid, I remember it had a 'grab rail' mounted (as standard) on the dashboard on the passenger side, which I used to get hold of to climb into the car... and keep hold of when he drove... no child seats or even seat belts in those days, and he was always a fast driver! It was red too, just like the one above. Happy memories. :)

Before I was born (and he had to start being sensible!) my Dad was a rally driver, the next step would have been to turn pro, but he realised that, with his own business to run, as a newlywed with a newly bought house and me on the way a year or so later, he needed to give the hobby up. So his rally prepared Mk1 Cortina GT (with high compression Mangoletsi tuned head, cam and twin carbs, which was quicker than a standard Lotus Cortina to 60 MPH) was sold.

Funny story with the sale of that car (a trade-in to a dealer). Dad's co-driver/navigator went to a works do and noticed their old Cortina in the car park... long story short, he found the owner, a bank manager, who said he was very happy with the car, and it seemed very quick. He went on to say that he'd noticed a large tray mounted beneath the engine and had asked the dealer about it. Apparently the dealer had told him that previous owner was very fastidious and didn't want any oil on his driveway, so had fitted the tray (which, as you've probably guessed, was a full rally-spec sump guard) to catch any drips!

Sadly my Dad died in 2014, but I'm sure a couple of slides of the offending car still exist in the family photo collection. If I can find them I'll dig them out and tag you in on the post. (y)
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Nice memories ;)
 
Not quite so classy, but years ago I had an escort estate, previous owner had done some modifications, upgraded suspension
and flared arches on the front, that thing really held the road
Someone hit the front n/s wing when it was parked, luckily the owned up, so off it went to the local Ford garage for repair.
Went to pick it up and as normal in those days was shown the car for approval, first thing I noticed was the standard wheel arch that hade been put on :rolleyes:
We did laugh once they realised and to their credit |I was given a courtesy car whilst it was put right
 
Mr Badger said:
OK, let's put this in perspective, here's a photo of a Ford Escort... it's the one behind the proper rally car! ;)



Cat, pigeons... pigeons, cat. :exit:
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Not too well up on cars, but yellow one looks like a cross between a Lotus and a TR7. :)
 
Gremlin said:
Not quite so classy, but years ago I had an escort estate, previous owner had done some modifications, upgraded suspension
and flared arches on the front, that thing really held the road
Someone hit the front n/s wing when it was parked, luckily the owned up, so off it went to the local Ford garage for repair.
Went to pick it up and as normal in those days was shown the car for approval, first thing I noticed was the standard wheel arch that hade been put on :rolleyes:
We did laugh once they realised and to their credit |I was given a courtesy car whilst it was put right
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My first car was a British Racing Green Mk1 Escort estate (classy!) that I painted white number circles on the bonnet and front doors. As I recall it was a 1300 engine. I thought I was the bees knees in that car but it did have its problems such as a steering rack that wandered horrendously (on my local dual carriageway, the A3 in London, I'd have to work very hard to keep it in a straight line! It had no MOT (and I couldn't even get a 'bent' MOT from anywhere as it was so bad. And the engine had more knocks and whines than anything I've ever known. I had every intention of renovating it and making it road legal but it eventually gave up the ghost after about 8 months of me owning it, so it was scrapped.

But, I loved that car and it was a real bargain at just £20 (this was in 1988).
 
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Had another walk past the garage this afternoon, and the car is still there.
 
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Looks a bit rough at the back end. No sign of a Mexico bag either, did they have badges on the rear?
 
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