SIERRA COSSIE
Dropped over a set of gorgeous gold OZ mags, Benny’s 350bhp three-door sits ready to pounce…
Unfeasibly clean 3-door with a set of super-rare OZ mags.
It’s the wheels that do it. They give your eyeballs a squeeze and divert them directly towards this car. These four gold hoops transform a classically familiar shape into nothing short of a hardcore, fire-spitting rally monster.
The choice of wheels will make or break any Cossie’s appearance, but on a three- door it’s especially crucial. You can’t have a set of three-spokes hiding under the wheel arch extensions. And cheap, blinging eBay alloys simply won’t do.
No. If you’re upgrading the original cross-spoke 15s, you must go with the flow – from gorgeous ( but predictable) splitrims, to tough motorsport MOs, only a handful of designs can really cut it.
And here, on these pages, is the unequivocal proof. In each photograph, and from every single angle, Benny McCafferty’s Sierra looks
simply stunning. The ride-height is bangon, and the stance is perfected by the way those 18in Yokohamas muscle into every inch of the arches. Even the colour of the 8.5in-wide OZ mags (a mid-gold BBS shade) hits the perfect spot.
So it’s not exactly surprising to hear Benny bought the wheels before he’d even purchased his car…
Like many of us Blue Oval addicts, Benny was brought up around Uncle Henry’s finest machines; when your dad and his mates are running around in Mk1 and Mk2 RS2000s, it’s impossible not to get slightly excited about travelling sideways in a fast Ford.
serial tuner Before long, Benny had trained to be a car mechanic, and was soon behind the wheel of a Series 1 Escort RS Turbo; all it took was a trip to Ford Fair, and he simply had to own one.
The S1 made way for a J-reg Series 2, but it wasn’t as good, so Benny swapped to Cosworths. Three rear-wheel drive Sapphires (a couple with big specs) were followed by two, stock three- doors in Moonstone Blue. Next came an Escort Cosworth, which was stripped, resprayed and rebuilt. Benny recalls, “I drove it once or twice but it wasn’t for me. Fourwheel drive is not as much fun, and I didn’t feel at home. A mate made an offer on the Escort, and it was gone” he adds.
So, armed with cash and a Sierra-shaped craving, Benny started searching for a black or white three- door. The trail led him from Dundee to London, where a supposedly all- original black machine sounded ideal.
“It was an absolute nail!” Benny groans. “I kept looking, then found this white Cossie half-an-hour away from my house! Where had it been hiding?
“It had been owned by an older guy who was into Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts, and he said it was too powerful. As soon as I saw it I