SECRET FORDS

Steve Saxty reveals four concepts from his stunning new book.

Steve on the fantastic four:

“I realized that a book featuring one-offs, cancelled cars and prototypes might shock people if the cover featured too many vehicles they didn’t recognize. That’s why I chose the Escort Coupe, Sierra-derived Capri and red RS Coupe for the main Secret Fords cover; they are recognizably Fords, but obviously ones you couldn’t buy. Since it also tells the story of how the Fiesta, Escort, Capri, Cortina, and the rest, were designed I needed to get that across too. For the Collector’s Edition I needed two sets of custom-drawn illustrations for the boxed slipcase and scrapbook within it. The slipcase features the craziest-looking far-out weirdos while the scrapbook (right) shows these four, more recognizable, prototypes — this is their story.”

Fiesta RS prototype

The RS Fiesta is one of those cars that comes and goes across Secret Fords. Like replacing the Capri, Ford tried many times behind the scenes to design an RS Fiesta — this 1979 car was the first of several attempts. It was created by the Motorsport team in Germany and intended to bask in the halo of the rally car that the British Boreham team ran that year. It was a stunning-looking thing that featured Escort RS1600i-style seats and velour trim on the doors. The first prototype was based on a 1.1S, the second upon a Ghia and this, the third and final car, was purpose-built. The trouble was that it used the Rallye Sport Pack’s twin-carb conversion on the 1.1-litre engine. It had little more power than a 1.3S and — with that wonderful interior and those exterior mods it doubled the price of the basic 1.1S. I directed the artist to draw the third prototype exactly as it was when it was given away as a prize by Auto Motor Und Sport Magazine. Although it looks like an XR2, it’s far more than that: the exotic interior, unique arches and 7 inch wide RS wheels give it its own bold character. It’s like many of the cars in Secret Fords, it deserved to live, but only if it were more powerful — and cheaper.

“THE UNIQUE ARCHES AND 7 INCH WIDE RS WHEELS GIVE IT ITS OWN BOLD CHARACTER”

Escort RS1700T prototype

I have always been fascinated by the RS1700T. Although enthusiasts adore it, the car is a bit of an enigma. I was determined to get to the bottom of the RS1700T story in Secret Fords and worked extensively with its chief engineer, John Wheeler and designer, Thomas Plath. We unearthed the original design sketches, photos of early mules and, for the first time, worked out exactly how many cars were made. It is, to me at least, one of the most interesting chapters in the book and I’m really proud to have finally told the car’s story in such detail using so many unseen images thanks to John’s help.

Most imagine that the RS1700T was only made in white, but that’s not so. The second prototype was painted silver and was followed soon after by a red car that was written-off. This metallic blue car survives though — it’s the 11th car, one of the last ones to be made and a road-spec version.

XR4i/Cosworth test mule

This car was the first Sierra Cosworth aero test mule from late 1983. The British Special Vehicle Engineering team pop-rivetted a set of rough spoilers on the car and then took it to Ford’s wind tunnel in Cologne to refine it. Even in this form, with a regular XR4i 2.8-litre V6, it was several seconds per lap faster around the Nürburgring in the hands of racing driver, Klaus Niedzwiedz. All it needed was the legendary Cosworth engine and the talents of a famous designer to perfect it.

Most early mules look like an after-school project — engineers tend to be less concerned about appearance than what’s

under the skin. But not this car; it’s a fine-looking thing, although it would still need refining by Porsche designer, Harm Lagaay. The original plan had been to use the three-door XR4i shell but when that car struggled the decision was made to use the three-door shell used on the lower-trim Sierras. Lagaay gave me a set of sketches for the book of alternate Cosworth designs. “I’m just surprised they didn’t want me to be more extreme,” he told me. Why does this car have seven-spoke RS wheels not seen on production cars? Harm Lagaay wanted the Cosworth road car to use BBS-style wheels like the race cars.

Escort RS2000 clay model

This orange car is an illustration of the RS2000 clay model from mid 1974 when it was created by designer, Tom Scott. The Mk2 Escort was almost two years away from production, so he worked on the full-sized fiberglass Escort model used to sign off the car — and a lot of clay. The result was a design masterpiece that looked like it had arrived from the future. The model was covered in coloured film called Di-Noc that made the clay model look indistinguishable from the real car. Tom and I spend hours picking over more than 30 photos that show his work, step-by-step, on the clay so that we see it emerging from a rough design to the real thing.

Tom couldn’t remember what colour Di-Noc film was used, “Maybe silver or orange?” he said, so I directed the illustrator to make the car pop on the cover using the fruitier hue. This illustration shows the second front-end design — I rather like it with that coloured nose. The wheelarches were considered unnecessary on the road car, although they widened it nicely. The deep front spoiler shown here was considered at the last moment, but it wasn’t needed — Scott had already designed a car that was already iconic enough.