GRAFTERS: Group 4 Escort
Your projects: He’s got more projects on the go than most, but with an Escort-shaped hole in his life, Ali McMillan is on a mission to get this Millington Mk2 on the road sharpish.
M is for Mk2 — and Millington.
At what point would you open the door to your garage, or peer out of the front window, and think to yourself, ‘I have too many projects on the go’? Two? Three? Four or five?
For Ali McMillan, that’s a thought that probably never enters his head. Ali runs McMillan Jaguar, a well-respected marque specialist in North Lanarkshire, and once the working day is done and the shutter doors are pulled down, his attention is firmly directed towards a different brand — one we all know and love. The self-confessed classic Ford nut has, he thinks, around 10 Blue Ovals currently on the go, and if he’s sticking to form, that number will have increased by the time you’ve finished reading this.
It’s unsurprising then, to find out that Ali’s owned, built and enjoyed more classic Ford toys than most, including a Thundersaloon
Capri, Group A Escort Cosworth and BTCC Sierra RS500 (October 2019 issue), but there’s one that’s become more than a firm favourite over the years — the Mk2 Escort. Ali has owned plenty over the past three decades, but his latest — of which the spec and direction has been slowly evolving in the time it’s taken him to put it together — is by far the most exotic, morphing from a historic-spec Group 4 rally car into a modern-spec Millington-powered monster — only one he will quite happily pop out for a bag of chips in.
With so many projects on the go, it’s taken longer than originally planned to finish the Escort, but with winter beckoning, and a slowly-shrinking list of jobs to do on the car, the Mk2 could well be finally hitting the roads, circuits and stages of Scotland next Spring. As long as Ali doesn’t buy (many) more projects that is...
How long have you been building up this Mk2?
Probably about eight years on and off. It started out as an MSA-logbooked rally car which I bought as a rolling shell with a cage and an Atlas axle. It was solid but you could see signs of a where it had had a hard life, and it was covered in red primer when I picked it up. I was going to turn it into a historic-spec Group 4 RS1800 tribute with a proper BDG motor and started collecting the parts, but as the project progressed, the direction changed. I had three or four Mk2s at one point, but once the values started going up, I sold them on at various points to help fund different projects including this one — which is definitely staying put, by the way.
Did the shell need much work?
Not really. I’ve kept some of the battle scars as they’re part of the car’s history, and it means I won’t worry about using it. We added the link boxes for a six-link setup, and resprayed it in Radiant Red, but that was more or less it.
How did the switch to the Millington engine come about?
I heard about this engine through a friend of a friend. It was being used in a series in Ireland but the rules changed, so I got it for quite a reasonable price, though I had to sell all of the BDG engine parts destined for the Mk2 to pay for it — I had three of them in bits... The Millington’s a 2-litre and came with the induction set-up and manifold, so it was more or less a drop-in job. I got to drive the car it came out of too, so I know it was a good one — 275 bhp, and it’ll rev to 9500 rpm...
What about the rest of the running gear?
I found an Elite six-speed sequential gearbox for sale, so went down and picked that up. The rest is stuff I’ve collected over the years — I’m a bit of a hoarder. The fully-floating Atlas I put together from various bits and pieces and is based on a Fostek item. It’s got Bilsteins all-round with Cosworth front
legs and Porsche 944 brakes, Quaife quickrack, and a full carbon dash I recently found. The wheels? They’re 9x15 inch Revolution RFXs.
What’s left to do?
On paper not a lot — the wiring, some pipework, I’ve got to make up a prop, and there’s an issue with the clutch to sort. It’s probably a week’s solid work to finish it — if I was able to devote that much time to it in one go, but the business has to come first, so I expect there will be some late nights to come.
Do you plan to compete with the car?
When I first got it, I had no intention of rallying it, it was just going to be a fun road car. But I’ve since got my National A licence so who knows what might happen. Either way, I’m a great believer in using my cars, whether for track days or doing the shopping — seriously. I’ll quite happily jump in any of my cars for a run up the road — well, maybe not the BTCC RS500, that one’s pretty much irreplaceable should anything happen to it.
When do you hope to get it finished?
By next summer would be good, though I’ve just started another project... a Mk6 Fiesta track car!
“AT FIRST I HAD NO INTENTION OF RALLYING THIS CAR, BUT I’VE SINCE GOT MY NATIONAL A LICENCE SO WHO KNOWS WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN”
The Classic Ford Show — Europe’s largest classic Ford event — will take place on Sunday, June 7, 2018, once again at its new home of the UK’s historic Mallory Park Circuit.
Situated in the heart of the Leicestershire countryside between Leicester and Hinckley, Mallory Park has a rich motorsport heritage, and the circuit provides a stunning location for Europe’s biggest classic Ford event, surrounded by rolling hills and with the infamous lakes situated in the infield.
If you love your classic Fords you will love what this show has to offer. There will be all-day track action, demos from the best in the business, thousands of club cars on display, and we haven’t even touched on all the special feature areas at the show! So start working on those project cars now and put this date on the 2020 calendar!
Discounted advance tickets for the 2020 Classic Ford Show will be on sale soon. In the meantime, keep up to date with all the latest news about the show at: www.classicfordshow.co.uk.
FACTFILE
When: Sunday, June 7, 2020 Where: Mallory Park Circuit, Kirkby Mallory, Leicesershire UK Find out more: www.classicfordshow.co.uk