Mk2 Escort RS2000
Reader’s restoration: His lifelong love of Escorts convinced Robert Delaney to undertake the three-year quest for only genuine Ford parts to restore his very rusty 1980 RS2000…
Take one severely rotten Escort and do your damndest to make sure it returns to the B-road again...
Like many of us Robert Delaney’s love of classic Fords began when he was a child. “I’ve been into rallying my entire life,” explains Robert. “Around 1976 I saw my first RS2000 — there weren’t many of these cars in Ireland. I was 11 years old and my dad was delivering building materials to a guy in Cork who had an RS2000 on his driveway, I got to sit in the car then had wanted one ever since. During the 1980s the insurance was too high; it was 2008 before I finally owned one.
“I was after a project car,” continues Robert, “and spotted this 1980 RS2000 in the Irish equivalent of Exchange & Mart. The seller imported it from England in 1996 then it sat untouched in his Dublin garage for the next 12 years. He was asking 2500 Euros and we agreed on 2100 — which sounds very cheap now. Of course the first thing I’d checked was that it was a genuine RS2000.”
It was fortunate Robert wanted a project since the Escort certainly needed work. “It wasn’t running although I got the engine going before I began the stripdown. Then I started taking reference photos as I pulled it to pieces. There was rust from all those salty English winters along the inner wings and around the spare wheel well. The front half, basically the engine bay and bulkhead, were rotten. I built a jig using Ford’s measurements and when I mounted the body it fitted perfectly, so I knew at least it wasn’t twisted.
“After blasting it back to bare metal I cut off the entire front then welded in a replacement from an Australian bodyshell and new chassis legs — all sourced from EscortTec. I put in everything from the base of the A-pillars and joined it the way Ford did, using the full lower length of the original A-pillar and the complete top surface of the new one so it had solid metal sandwiched together. You see people cut the pillars halfway up the screen but you can’t be sure of a solid join doing that.”
Only the best
Robert’s metalworking was far from over. “I scoured the world for genuine Ford new-old-stock panels, the front wings were found in the UK, the rears came from Greece and Scotland, the doors from Germany. Fortunately the bonnet, bootlid and roof were usable, as was the plastic nosecone. I welded in new spare wheel and tank wells in the boot. Complete new interior floors — they were only available in two halves back then — came from Ex-Pressed Steel Panels, as did the sills. I didn’t want to go the easy route and reshell the car; I wanted as much original as possible.”
Robert then delivered the primered bodyshell to his friend John Butler of Butler Garage Crash Repairs for painting. “John really knows Escorts; he’s done countless cars so he knows how to paint it just like the original, even down to exactly where the factory overspray ought to be.” John had the bodyshell for several months getting it perfect then adding the Signal Yellow in Two-Pack. Meanwhile Robert was busy with the mechanical side of the RS2000.
“It’s the original engine block,” explains Robert, “which I stripped completely then sent away to be bored. I put in new pistons, bearings, crank — everything internal was replaced. I fitted twin IDF carburettors but then it ran quite lumpy. I spoke to an engine builder who explained it was getting too much air for the stock head, so I swapped it back to the original 32/36 twin-choke Weber and it’s been great ever since.” The original four-speed gearbox was rebuilt but Robert later made one of his few other deviations from standard: “It currently has a Sierra Type-9 five-speed purely because I do drive the car and I found that when I did the Lakes Tour the four-speed was a little undergeared on modern roads. It’s a bolt-in swap so doesn’t affect the originality of the car and I’ve kept hold of the four-speed.”
The brakes were replaced throughout and then Robert got a great deal on a virtually new stainless-steel exhaust. “The seller had replaced his original exhaust with the stainless one, then just two weeks later put in a Cosworth engine so these pipes were brand new. I then rebuilt the back axle and replaced the three-leaf springs with genuine Group One single leafs, up front I fitted Capri 2.8i Bilstein struts and it’s got heavy-duty bushes all round including in the front anti-roll bar, the ride is stiffer but still comfortable.”
“I was able to reuse the original bumper and fitted Altissimo tailights, but finding the four correct Cibie headlights took a lot of effort — they eventually came from four different places. The boot spoiler had been dented where stuff was piled on it, I’d stored it in my loft and when I took it down two years later amazingly it had regained its original shape. It was on the car for five years but then started getting a bit rough. John put me in touch with a chap with a genuine new-old-stock one still sealed in the bag. It’s incredible what people have, and once they see that you’re putting it on a car and not just selling it on for profit they’re usually really helpful.”
In trim
The interior had suffered from the Escort being sat unused and was mouldy. “The seats were re-trimmed by Mark Spencer of Quicktrim in Yorkshire. The doorcards had been cut about for speakers, the passenger one got replaced by a left-hand-drive
“FINDING THE CORRECT CIBIE HEADLIGHTS TOOK A LOT OF EFFORT THEY EVENTUALLY CAME FROM FOUR DIFFERENT PLACES”
doorcard meaning it had the hole for the remote driver’s mirror. I made a plug to fill it with and so far no one’s noticed. I managed to save the carpet, fishnet headrests and headlining by hand washing and repeatedly scrubbing them in the bath — a previous owner was obviously a smoker…”
The dashboard top also responded well to cleaning but during the interior work the Custom sticker tore off. “There are reproductions available but I wanted an original,” remembers Robert. “It became a holy grail for me. One day I came in from work and there was one on eBay listed 3 minutes previously for £10. I knew it was an original because of the backing paper — you pick up such knowledge restoring these cars — so I bought it immediately. That made my day.”
Robert then fitted an optional sports steering wheel, retrimmed from black to brown to match the seats. “I got really into adding little details; I even made the correct tag labels for the seatbelts.” Optional Ronal
7 inch-wide wheels completed the car when the rebuild was finished. “I’d originally planned to just patch up the rust and just thrash it about,” laughs Robert, “but once one part was perfectly finished I didn’t want to cut corners so it all became high standard using only genuine Ford parts even though this was my first complete restoration. I’ve done over 12,000 miles in the car, even winning a few show trophies. I managed to track down a couple of the nine previous owners.” If you owned this RS2000 when it was registered AFR846V Robert would love to hear from you.
“One day kid threw a brick through the passenger window so I ended up buying all new tinted glass since the originals were scratched and had the previous English numberplate etched on them, but that’s been the only bad experience. It drives perfectly, there’s no rust and no paint fading. I’ve had a lot of offers but I’ve no plans to sell — I’ve put too much into this car.”