KEEPERS
Martin has owned this Escort – bought for just £600 – for 20 years. And eldest son Jack can’t wait for the day when he can re-build it
I’m a Ford man and have owned a fair few Escorts; my first-ever car was an 1100 Super. I’ve owned this 1300E since 2006, when I bought it from a former owners’ club member who was moving to France due to his work. In fact, I think it was left unused between 2000 and 2006 because its former keeper was out of the country.
‘The exhaust back box fell to bits during the short drive home after collecting the car so my first repair job was a trip to nearby Burton Power to buy a replacement – this time an RS2000 rear exhaust section.
Other running repairs included cutting out the rusty offside rear wheel arch and riveting on a replacement, and painting the surface-rusted interior floor panels. I removed all of the old underseal on the tops of the inner wings under the bonnet before priming and re-painting them in body colour. For good measure, I mounted a cross-strut brace for rigidity, just like Escort rally cars have. But it meant that I had to fit a smaller sports air filter for clearance.
‘It’s been reliable mechanically but nevertheless I’ve replaced the cylinder head gasket, water pump, thermostat housing and the radiator. It has also needed a wheel bearing, front suspension strut and front brake calipers, but I’ve only had to replace two tyres since acquiring the car. Lesser maintenance work has included anew alternator, fan belt, battery, speedometer drive cable, starter motor, a new-old-stock ignition switch and a reconditioned electronic ignition distributor. The most recent replacement is a new-old-stock Weber carburettor although this still needs fine-tuning in conjunction with a good, long run – I really must get around to this.
‘The car has always been saved for special drives and shows, usually with eldest son Jack tagging along because he has always wanted the car from the beginning! Many people remark on its colour at shows, because most 1300Es were metallic purple, such as an earlier one I once owned, but it says red on the chassis plate. It had XR3i sports seats when I bought it but it now has the original cloth ones. What I really need is another rear seat, because the cloth is threadbare and worn – a typical problem that afflicts a lot of Ford models from the Seventies.
‘The car is a keeper because Jack intends to restore it when I eventually hand over the keys. It has never been up to show-standard condition but it’s pretty tidy and, importantly, mostly original and genuine. The mileage is 163,000 and I've got most of the past MoTs. Also there can't be many 1300Es left, certainly not N-reg – that makes mine one of the last before the MkII. Coincidentally, I collected my Escort from a lock-up in Aveley, not far from the old Ford Advanced Ve
