Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2023 i Classic Ford

NEXT ISSUE ON SALE: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17 W hen it comes to European-designed Fords, the UK has arguably always been at the forefront of the classic Ford scene as we know and love it, but you can’t deny that there are some incredible cars that have been, and are being, built that reside far outside of these island shores. This issue celebrates the global phenomenon of the scene, from Ireland to Tasmania and all stops in between with, we hope you’ll agree, some incredible cars, which thanks to the individual tastes of each country — and the car’s owners — all have their little tweaks and tricks that truly make jaws drop. It’s inspiring stuff, and we hope that they’ll have an impact on how you approach your own projects.…

Good news if you’re a fan of original Ford literature and images — Ford’s new online Heritage Vault offers a comprehensive digital archive collection that you can access for personal use. Ford created the Heritage Vault for journalists and car enthusiasts, making it easy to discover the company’s rich heritage from anywhere in the world. The searchable artefacts are downloadable for personal use, free of charge, for the first time as one of the auto industry’s most comprehensive online databases. Throughout 2022, Ford scanned and uploaded almost 10,000 photographs and product brochures from the first century of the company’s history available to the public online for the first time The physical vault forms part of the manufacturer’s new Heritage and Innovation Centre (above) in Daventry which also houses the relocated…

Picture the scene: it’s Christmas Day, and you’re unable to move from the sofa. Stuffed with roast spuds, brimmed with gravy and with a paper crown atop your bonce, you’ve watched the royal speech and now the credits are rolling on the Only Fools & Horses special, Miami Twice from 1991 in which Delboy’s stopped his Capri from rattling by giving it a firm slap. You flick over to ITV and bingo, there’s a Professionals re-run with Bodie and Doyle skidding about in a 3.0S. Could there be a more quintessentially British afternoon? The Capri has always been a vital part of Brit culture, of course. We may not have got the myriad V8-powered muscle cars that Ford of America was churning out through the 1960s and 1970s, but we…

Stephen Starkey’s lifelong passion for commercial vehicles and diesel engines was always likely to steer him towards a career as an HGV mechanic. Yet, when it came to choosing that perfect candidate for a project, it just had to be everyone’s favourite trusty load lugger — a2.4 York-powered Mk1 Transit. Those of a certain age will remember the days when Mk1 Transits were to be found on every street corner or pounding the motorways while helping to keep the economy moving. With car-like handling, unrivalled reliability and an impressive cargo area, it’s little surprise the Transit would later go on to become marketed as the Backbone Of Britain. Often worked into the ground and regularly witnessed without mismatched panels, a coating of red oxide and just a sprinkling of rust, it…

Eddie Wilson has been in the automotive industry for an impressive 55 years. He raced in his younger days and his sons, Craig and Adrian, grew up attending local race meets at Baskerville Raceway. Eddie bought his sons a 1960 Prefect 107E as a ‘paddock basher’ so that they could learn how to drive in the relative safety of their farmland home. With uncle Robert also in on the action, enjoying club days in his Mk1 Cortina, it was perhaps inevitable that restoring and racing old Fords would become a genuine family affair. As Eddie himself puts it, “Australian motorsport over the years has been a wonderful interest for me whether it be as a competitor, spanner man or spectator and naturally, my family followed suit.” Eddie is an experienced…

The Lotus Cortina had left an indelible impression on the young Eddie: “I saw the first one race here in 1965 at the then famous Longford Grand Prix Circuit in northern Tasmania. It was driven by a very swift young French-Canadian, Allan Moffat who went on to become one of Australia’s greatest Touring Car drivers and multiple Bathurst 1000 winner. That year Allan had purchased a Lotus Team works car from Colin Chapman at the end of the Trans-Tin-Top series in the USA and shipped the Lotus directly to Australia for that summer’s racing.” Eddie’s original retirement dream was to buy a genuine Mk1 Lotus to restore. However, he was unimpressed with what was on offer at the time. Unperturbed, he devised a plan to build an accurate tribute car…

From: UK Cars: ”I have a few classic Fords,” says Mike, “in what I like to call my man cave where I have ongoing projects that I work on with my dad who is 60 years-old with a 18 year-old’s mentality for cars! “He’s a Capri expert having had 100s of them throughout his life. I’m 32 and I follow in his footsteps with the love and a passion for classic Fords, and my two sons — one is six, the other is three — often join us.” “Our current projects include the red Mk1 Capri which is a 3-litre GT XLR — avery rare car. It was registered January 1, 1970 so was actually built in 1969. My dad purchased the car in 2012 as a wreck, and it…

SAFE TECH When working on cars and using tools of any kind — especially power tools — always use protective gear: goggles, gloves, ear defenders, masks and a decent set of overalls are essential. A fire extinguisher is also advisable. Never work under a car without supporting it with axle stands and if you’re not completely confident of your ability to complete any task safely, leave it to the experts. K is for... knocking Knocking is a noise you don’t want to hear from any engine. It indicates the motor’s at risk of destruction. It is caused by a violent increase in pressure after normal ignition. This occurs when uncontrolled ignition takes place, instead of the normal, progressive burning of the air/fuel mixture. The noise (resonation within the chambers) is…

What’s been done this month: Summed up what has and hasn’t happened, went to the pub to commiserate and hatch a plan Next on the to-do list: Fit the replacement cam and head Thanks to: Steve’s Classic Cars, 07941 648076 The Worxs, 07540 985698 In this instalment, I finally bring you into the new year. Sometimes a project can just fall into place. You know those cars where there are no repairs to sort out and you can crack on with the fun stuff and get modifying? You may have some parts laying around that are put to good use and everything comes together nicely. Heaven. I can only think of a BMW E36 and a Toyota Soarer among the hoards of modified motors I’ve owned that fall into this…

Christmas 1988. That was when young rally fans received the Duke VHS tape of that year’s Shell Oils British Open Rally Championship. The main battle back then was between Pentti Airikkala’s Mitsubishi Starion, Jimmy McRae’s Sierra Cosworth and David Llewellyn’s big Audi. But it was the sight of a diminutive Vauxhall Nova at full chat around the lanes of the Isle of Man that kept us entertained; Jimmy’s son Colin was driving, and Steve Rider’s succinct commentary said it all, as Colin slid over the heather on the season-ending Manx Rally: “His time will come…” He wasn’t wrong. Picture yourself in Hafren forest in 1991, where a crowd on a windswept Welsh hillside was buzzing with excitement that McRae was leading the Lombard RAC Rally in a Subaru Legacy. It…

Poking a probe inside a sill to look for corrosion is one of the jobs an inspection camera is designed for, but how effective is it at looking into the unknown? We tried several of them to help assess the state of the metalwork in a sill. The cameras didn’t show much corrosion and we assumed we’d be getting off lightly when we planned to repair the exterior due to some surface rust. However, once the exterior had been cut away, we discovered the inside of the sill was in a much worse condition than anticipated, as our photos show here. It was perhaps too much of an ask for an inspection camera to be able to show this level of corrosion, especially in such a tight spot where movement…

When we suspected this fuel tank was full of dirt or the remains of old fuel, an inspection camera came to the rescue in assessing whether there was a problem. Having removed the sender unit from the top of the fuel tank, we used 10 inspection cameras to look inside (he also tried looking through the fuel filler neck). He found a slim torch helped to add illumination inside the large tank, whereas the LEDs on the end of the probe for each inspection camera were generally inadequate for such a vast area. Some probes were more fiddly to manoeuvre than others and knowing the correct way up for the image was at times frustrating, despite many of the cameras could flip it four ways – only one of the…

Hoping to finish your classic Ford project this summer? Reckon it’s something special? Then enter the 2023 Great Unveiling! This annual event, which takes place on the Sunday of the Classic Ford Show, is designed to showcase stunning classic Fords that have just been finished in time for the show. Hidden under covers until the event, five never-seen-before completed projects will be revealed one by one in front of a huge crowd on the Classic Ford stand. In previous years we’ve had Maltese-style drag cars, concours RS3100 Capris, a Nissan turbo-powered Mk1 Cortina, and a replica Broadspeed Escort 1300GT… What we’re looking for: Classic Fords with a genuine wow factor. So anything from a heavily-modified competition car, a trick custom job, or even a ground-up restoration. Crucially though, your car…

ON SALE February 17! The April issue, on sale from February 17, is looking firmly forward with our pick of the Fords you’ll be drooling over at the shows and events in 2023 — from a south London-look icon (above) to a turbo’d Pop 100E, and much more besides. Plus we reveal what to look for when buying a Capri 3.0S, and examine what might have been if the RS1700T had been given the go-ahead. The April issue hits the shelves on Friday, February 17 — why not subscribe to make sure you don’t miss out? Turn to page 22 for our latest subscription offers.…

British Blue Oval fans have it easy. While we’re not always respected by main dealers, and classic Ford tax can burst even the biggest wallets, we are at least treated to the greatest machines the company has ever offered. The UK, after all, is the birthplace of the Lotus Cortina, the site of AVO, the sporting Escort’s rallying playground, and the Transit’s true home. We were the Sierra RS500 Cosworth’s sales market, the Racing Puma was built exclusively for us, and it was Great Britain’s buyers to thank for keeping the Capri alive well into the 1980s. Yet we don’t have fabulous Fords all to ourselves. Aside from the obvious Shelby Mustangs and Thunderbirds, there’s a world of Blue Oval-badged oddballs that never made it into UK showrooms. From two-door…

CONTACT Scottish Ford Live www.knockhill.com It might have been a bit later than usual in the year for the annual Ford extravaganza at Knockhill, but that didn’t stop blue oval fans coming out in their droves. Shorts were hastily swapped for trousers and the big jackets dug out. Knockhill has its own weather system, so random sunburn in winter and frostbite in summer really shouldn’t be unexpected either. As ever the variety was as wide as ever at this event. Yes, there were a lot of modern Fords, especially on track, but the 20th Century definitely dominated the show areas. Exactly how we like it! Near the bustle of the track cars preparing for their sessions was the MJ Racing stand. Featuring a number of Cossies which aren’t afraid to…

“I always found myself looking at the photos of Dad’s old race cars and with uncle Robert doing a few club days, I just had to have a go myself,” says Adrian. The hunt was on for a car for Adrian and Eddie to prepare. The father and son duo went to view this car back in 1997, a deal was done and the rest, as they say, is history. The Anglia already sported a 1500 Cortina engine but there was a lot of work to do before it could competitively turn a wheel. Eddie and Robert used their know-how to go through the car mechanically. The powerplant was treated to a ported head and a single sidedraught Weber, the gearbox was rebuilt with Lotus ratios and the drum brakes…

Adrian was keen to race a Group N Historic saloon and the search was on for a suitable base car. The Mk2 Cortina came up for sale through a contact. Complete and a sound starting place, the car was brought home and stripped. Adrian addressed the rust and the car was then fitted with an approved weld-in cage. The choice of blue is a Ford colour but unusually, it’s the blue that was used on their 1970s tractors — Adrian saw his dad’s tractor popping in the Tasmanian sun one day and the decision was made. “The Cortina came up a treat with the 2K paint job. I finished off with the blackouts at the top of the doors and between the taillights and this breaks the blue up nicely.…

From: UK   Car: Puma 1.7 “My daughter bought this Puma in 2007 and after running it for five years she asked me if I wanted it. Yes was the reply. I used the car mainly for my work – commuting and on business – until 2017 when it failed the MoT with a longish list. So, what to do? “In 2016 I’d bought a scrap car for parts and the stripdown gave me the experience to take on a full rebuild of my old Puma. The engine was taken out and sent away to Chris Allison for his engine and gearbox service including cleaning and painting. Chris supplied his own design of four branch manifold and inline exhaust and rear box. I did not want it too loud! The…

From: UK Cars: Mk1 Escort Leigh bought this Mk1 RS2000 replica as a standard 1300 Deluxe in need of a major restoration eight years ago. Arriving with a seized engine and no shortage of rust, a four-year restoration ensued but Leigh had no intention of keeping this Mk1 standard. “I planned to modify the car to my own taste right from the start,” Leigh smiles, “it would essentially be an RS2000 replica with a modern twist. His choice of a 2-litre Zetec swap with Omex throttle bodies provides a potent 170 bhp while the Willwood four-pot callipers and GAZ suspension ensure this Mk1 stops and handles as it should. Leigh has also fitted Cosworth Recaro seats, a stainless Ashley exhaust and bias pedal box along with an array of other…

Following some dyno maintenance, I wanted to run up an engine just to check everything worked correctly — the only trouble was I didn’t have an engine ready to run. Then I remembered I had a filthy, rusty Pinto that had come with a job lot of parts. It had been kicking around at the back of the workshop for a couple of years with no ancillaries but was otherwise complete and was fitted with an injection head. Given a quick look over it was clear it had never been rebuilt — it even still had the original factory-fitted core plugs! The standard Ford cam was in excellent shape so it looked like it might be a runner. I took the dented rusty oil filter off it and cut it…

October’s Spa Six Hours was marked by capricious weather conditions — but thankfully not enough to discourage the enthusiasts of classic machinery, who witnessed some spectacular battles. No less than 14 GT40s were at the front of the starting grid, which was an incredible effort for the blue oval. Then at 3:55 pm the race started and over the following 6 hours, the ever-changing climatic conditions didn’t make it easy for the drivers. Certain cars were unable to avoid violently coming into contact with the protective walls and of course, the gravel traps welcomed a significant number of machines, too. However, at 9:55 pm the pole holders David and Oliver Hart and Nicky Pastorelli were consistently in the leading group, avoiding any mistakes and claiming an undisputed victory. The GT40…

There are a few limitations with what can be seen through the end of a probe on an inspection camera. The lens is surrounded by LEDs to provide illumination, so it can’t be very wide (around 60-70 degees, whereas a GoPro is around 120 degrees). The view of the lens on most inspection cameras is straight ahead, so if the probe is squeezed down a fuel filler neck for instance and into a fuel tank, it’s very difficult to turn the end around and look back – the same problem can arise when feeding a probe through a spark plug hole and into a cylinder bore where looking up at the valves may be impossible. Some probes can provide a sideways view, but none of the equipment we tested offered…

Over the years we’ve brought you numerous stories of old Fords that turned out to be far more rusty than their owners realised. Cars without floors, sills made of filler and newspaper, rotten A-posts and non-existent suspension mounts. So it’s refreshing to present a tale of a Cortina that didn’t shock and horrify its owner with how badly the ferrous oxide had taken hold. John Metcalfe picked up this 1981 Cortina in August 2019. “A friend bought it at auction,” remembers John, “then asked if I was interested in it. I’ve always had older cars and I do like Fords, although I trained with British Leyland. I’ve got about 30 classics; an XR3, Granada coupe, a Metro, Maestro and Montego, a three-door Cosworth… I like a bit of everything.” John’s…

An immaculate Escort RS1600i has sold for what’s believed to be an auction record price, with the recent Car & Classic sale seeing the virtual hammer fall at £40,250. This stunning example had been restored to a very high standard twice in the last decade. Its rebuilt engine was rebuilt to fast road spec, but the car’s original twin-coil ignition system was retained. Car & Classic’s head of editorial, Chris Pollitt, commented: “It is clear that models which fired up the imagination of car enthusiasts in the 1980s and ’90s, who perhaps couldn’t afford them when they were launched, are becoming increasingly popular and commanding premium prices.” The entire Ford Escort range continues to be popular on Car & Classic, taking second place in the website’s most-searched-for rankings in 2022.…

The idea of modifying an original whaletail-toting Sierra RS Cosworth is an increasingly tricky one to grapple with. After all, the values of old-school Fords have been galloping on apace, and these iconic road-racers – which were once relatively affordable performance machines to thrash around in – have firmly and finally passed into the pantheon of the blue-chip investor car. Whereas it used to be the norm to wind up a Cossie’s boost and see how far it went before it popped, it’s now the case that complete, original Cosworths are being snapped up at top-dollar prices by speculators who have no intention of driving them so fiercely (or at all) and plan simply to watch their investment grow. This, of course, leaves the fast Ford fan in a tricky…

We’ve all made that promise to ourselves when letting a good car go to a new owner. “I’ll have another one,” we tell ourselves, and more often than not, we know that we won’t. Mikie Morris, however, kept his promise to himself, and for good reason. We often reach a crossroads in life, where we need to prioritise the really important things. For Mikie Morris, it was just 10 years ago when he watched his last classic Ford drive away. His priority then was building a house with his partner, and so the Escort had to go. With a history of Fords in his life, Mikie knew it wasn’t the last one he would have. Growing up in a big Irish family, it was Mikie’s older brother Noel who lured…

Having owned a 1965 Mk1 GT as a young man, Eddie was on a nostalgic hunt for a similar car. When this 1966, Australian-assembled example came up, despite it needing some TLC, he could see the potential and had to have it. Adrian carried out a bare metal respray on the car while Eddie set about restoring the ample chromework. Mechanically the car has been upgraded with a performance camshaft, ported and polished cylinder head, double timing chain, Genie exhaust manifold, performance air filter, an uprated oil pump and Bosch alternator. Enkei 6.5x13 inch wheels are a handsome choice with a purposeful-looking offset that works well with the 1.5 inch suspension drop. Talking of handsome, could you think of a better companion to that gleaming Polar White paint than the…

I was reading the February 2023 issue and the Expert Clinic section in particular, regarding the lowered Mk3 Escort — the guy has lowered the car and the rear feels unstable. This happened to my Mk3 when the car was lowered — the wheels seems to toe in and push the hub forward which in turn makes the car feel unstable. I was able to overcome this at the time by spacing the rear hubs on the trailing arms/tie bars pushing the hubs back to factory position by checking with Dunlop gauges. You can now also get adjustable trailing arms/tie bars for the Mk3 Escort. Hope this helps Jonnie Walker UK…

What’s been done this month: After 30 years, I’ve finally bought an Anglia 105E Next on the to-do list: Come up with a realistic project plan for the year Ihave run the numbers, and doublechecked them to make sure I wasn’t wrong. I have spent 30 years waiting to own an Anglia 105E. That’s three decades, close to 60 per cent of my age, spent wishing and hoping a little Anglebox would one day come my way. Despite a multitude of Cortina and Escort projects over the decades, an Anglia has always eluded me. Sure I have come close a few times, but many 105Es were too far gone, or smashed, or in one weird situation ended up being a Mk1 Escort two-door. There have been two very influential Anglias…

Open The design of the open differential means that it’s constantly trying to balance the torque offered to both of the drive wheels, which in day-to-day driving is great, as when cornering (for smooth progress) the inside tyre needs to rotate at a slower speed than the outside tyre. The torque split and the way the ring and spider gears operate means that, if one wheel is held in a fixed place while the other experiences less load, the wheel offering less resistance will receive all the rotational force. Put simply, if you boot an open diff’d car around a roundabout or a sharp bend, then all the weight of the car is transferred to the outside wheel, leaving the inside wheel to smoke its way through to the canvas.…

Also known as borescopes and endoscopes or inspection cameras, this electronic equipment provides the means of looking into the unknown and has been available for at least a couple of decades, but has gradually become more affordable. Nowadays, some can be connected directly to a TV screen, a smartphone or a tablet, whereas most have their own small screen to provide a live view and the ability to take photos and record video. The burning question with such equipment concerns whether it helps or whether it’s simply another gadget to fill up your tool cabinet (and judging by the size of the carrycases for some of them, they will take up an entire drawer). We’ve spent several months researching this to find the answer, following jobs where an inspection camera…

One advantage of using most inspection cameras is that they can take photographs and in some cases, record video. This helps to analyse a problem in more detail, transfer the files to a computer and not only store them for future use, but also send them to other people, should you need a second opinion. Most inspection cameras use a micro-SD card to store photos and video, which can be transferred to a computer via a USB cable or through a suitable card reader. We found taking photographs particularly useful for assessing specific parts that cannot be seen otherwise. Most inspection cameras can take photos at around two megapixels, which provides a reasonable level of quality. However, we found that these images can be grainy because of low lighting, which…

1. Don’t just renew It’s all too easy to let the direct debit continue and sign up for another year with your existing insurer. Before you do though, have a look at quotes from other insurers. If they come in cheaper and you don’t want to switch, call your existing insurer, quote the cheaper prices and quite often they will be able to bring your renewal quote down to a similar level. 2. Look at classic insurance They’re often tied into Agreed Value, limited-mileage polices but classic insurance specialists can offer some great-value policies. Most class a vehicle eligible for classic insurance as being over 20 or 25 years old, but some allow exceptions for modern classics, so do your research before you dismiss a classic insurance policy out of…

Following the success of the Supersport version, Ford went all-in on a feisty Fiesta with the launch of the XR2 in September 1981. While the Supersport made do with the 1.3-litre Kent motor, Ford decided to go large with its latest XR, looking across the pond for inspiration and opting for a revised version of the bigger 1.6-litre Federal engine that stateside Fiestas received. Its reasoning was simple. Not only did Ford need to eclipse the Supersport’s peppy performance, the development criteria for the new XR2 also specified it had to be capable of over 100 mph yet be affordable to boot. The company’s Special Vehicle Engineering (SVE) operation was tasked with making the dream a reality and gave the 1598cc motor a go-faster makeover with the additions of a…