The go-faster Mk3 Escort

Do you remember the Mk1 Golf GTI we featured in conjunction with Lancaster Insurance a couple of years ago, and more recently the Mk1 Mazda MX-5 which was the specialist insurer’s giveaway car for the 2019 season? Well, with the prize car now established as a popular fixture of Lancaster’s show season, the hunt was on for a 2020 candidate even before the Mazda had taken up residence with its new owner.

The task of finding a suitable candidate fell to Lancaster’s Clubs Liaison Manager, Dave Youngs. With the growth in popularity of everything 1980s, another hot hatch presented itself as a likely candidate, and here Dave took the opportunity for a personal step back in time – he’d had four XR3is back in the day and clearly relished the chance of revisiting the Golf GTI’s nemesis.

For those readers who are not quite up to speed on Ford’s 1980s history, the hot Escort first broke cover as the carburetted XR3 in 1981, in which form it featured the 1.6-litre CVH motor with a twin- choke Weber carb and uprated camshaft producing 95bhp. Like the Golf GTI, it initially ran just a four-speed box until 1982, but sitting on cloverleaf alloys and priced significantly lower than the Golf, it was a sales success. This spurred Ford to add fuel injection in 1982 to create the 104bhp XR3i, and with MacPherson struts up front and torsion beam rear, the XR3i was now really very similar in concept under the skin to the Golf. Its smaller engine capacity did mean it trailed the Golf in straight-line speed though, sprinting to 60mph in 8.8 seconds and topping out at 116mph. However, that was duly rectified in 1984 with the unveiling of the RS Turbo.

With the Escort idea given the green light by Lancaster’s management, the hunt was on, but today the XR3i is a rare beast – the DVLA lists just 134 examples on the road, with 146 XR3i Cabriolets also having survived. Certainly the Mk1 Golf GTI seems to have survived in much greater numbers, and with a healthy budget to source a presentable example, nobody relished the task of piecing back together a rusty Escort.

Luckily, Lancaster already had a good relationship with the XR Owners’ Club. This

dates back to 2017 when an Escort XR3i Cabriolet was restored for Lancaster’s charity challenge which pitted Mike Brewer against Ant Anstead. The mastermind of that project, Dave ‘Blokie’ Petrie, had the necessary contacts, and he pointed Dave Youngs towards the XR3i you see here. This was a well-known car within the club which had already been restored to a really high standard, and shortly afterwards Dave was enjoying his fifth XR3i.

The Escort might have been lovingly restored in the recent past, but as ever with a 30 year old Ford (or any 30 year old car for that matter), it’s not perfect and our first task was to get it up on the ramps to compile a to- do list. We’d already picked up on a few details after collecting the car, like the inside mirror which won’t stay glued to the screen, the tired bolster foam on the driver’s seat, a shabby parcel shelf and the wind noise at speed from the sunroof. Other minor points are a tendency to jump out of reverse – usually a sign that the linkage needs adjusting – and the random dash waning lights.

For a deeper assessment we called in at Tiger Racing in Wisbech, where they know their way round Escorts of all types and were recently responsible for resurrecting the bodywork on our own Mk3 project car. [See the August 2019 to April 2020 issues of Classics for that story – Ed] First impressions were promising, with the Tiger guys making a beeline for the front bulkhead where they were duly amazed by the pristine battery tray, which is often something of an Achilles’ Heel on the Mk3 Escort. With the car up on the lift, Tiger’s Paul Dudley pointed out the factory spot welds still in evidence on the sills, which suggested that the car had been solid and original before its restoration.

As we looked more closely though, we spotted a few jobs to do if we wanted to make the Escort perfect, including play in the centre pivots for the rear suspension arms and a slight weep around the nearside front hub bearing. There was also an annoying crease in the nearside rear arch. This looks like a supermarket trolley dent, but is just deep enough to have cracked the paint, meaning it’s a more involved repair than calling the paintless dent man. It’ll certainly need doing though before it deteriorates and becomes unsightly.

The Escort was scheduled to be Lancaster’s giveaway car in 2020 before Covid arrived and caused the cancellation of so many events. You can keep up to date on this and all their competitions on the Lancaster website at: www.lancasterinsurance.co.uk/competitions/

On our initial drive of the Escort, it became clear that the dashboard warning lights were somewhat erratic.

Paul Wager Group Editor Group Editor at Kelsey Media, Paul heads up the team which brings you our weekly paper Classic Car Buyer and the monthly Classic Car Mart, as well as being unofficial marshal of the company’s eclectic and ever- changing fleet of classic project cars. Ranging from Honda CRX to Bentley Turbo R, the collection temporarily includes this Escort XR3i, while Paul’s own Alfa Spider has recently been changed after 23 years of ownership for a modern classic in the shape of a Honda S2000.

Wind noise at speed from the sunroof is punishing, but Paul is hopeful that careful adjustment will sort it.

ABOVE: With factory spot welds still visible, it’s clear that this Escort was unusually solid before the previous restoration began.

ABOVE: More of a problem was the play in the rear wheels which might be a cause of the car’s tendency to wander slightly at speed.

RIGHT: Close inspection showed a slight weep of grease from the nearside front hub, but that is not an immediately pressing problem.

Only easily visible with the car on the ramp and up in the air is this suspected car park dent which has slightly broken the paint.

Further inspection revealed this to be caused by the centre bushes for the independent rear set-up.