Starting
with a complete front-end transplant, Darren worked his way back along the RS,
bracing, chopping, and fabricating. “I tried to use genuine panels where
possible,” he says, “but when you’re getting quotes for $2000 on some genuine
floor pans then Expressed Panels’ price of $283 makes sense. I also started out
with a thought to Group 4 the shell and had added a few bits like the Panhard
rod and rear anti-roll bar mounts, but soon changed my mind and decided
completely standard RS was best.”
All-in,
the welding stage took about five-and-a-half years, but that did include a few
breaks necessary to keep Darren’s sanity intact. “There were times I really
wanted to sell it as an unfinished project too,” he admits, “but I always knew
I’d regret not seeing the job through.”
Painting
took place in a mate, Tom Parkin’s spray booth attached to his van sales site.
“I’d already sprayed the underneath, inside and in the boot, then a couple of
weeks with us doing the prep after hours saw the shell ready for top coats,
which Tom laid on,” Darren says. The colour had to be the original Sebring Red,
of course.”
Part
time
All
the way through the body build the mechanics and trim parts were being
refurbished or replaced with new, which Darren sourced during years of trawling
the shows and auto jumbles and through the great help of Graeme at GS Escorts
and Billy at Escort RS.
“I
spent many very early mornings trying to be there when the auto jumblers were
unloading,” Darren says. “Hunting down the rare bits and getting bargains was a
really enjoyable side of the restoration.”
Darren’s
dad, Derick was involved throughout the RS project too. As an ex-racer, he’s
pretty handy at the mechanics and his major input was to rebuild the 2-litre
Pinto, the diff and give the gearbox a refresh. “Unfortunately the engine is
not the original, and a later spec 205-block,” Darren says, “but when stripped
was healthy, so will do for now, though I do intend to track down a correct
RS2000 engine as soon as possible.”
Rebuild
the RS2000 engine is a not easy task
Elsewhere,
all the suspension and brakes were rebuilt to standard RS2000 spec, good
replacement parts were sourced where the rubbish that came with the car had to
be junked and every nut, bolt and fixing was zinc-plated. Inside has been fully
retrimmed in the correct materials and one very special touch is that the tyres
are the Dunlop SP Sports which the RS would have worn straight off the
production line. These had been on a set of Dolomite Sprint rims for years, but
had never done any miles.
“I’ve
learnt the hard way with this Escort,” Darren concludes, “and wish I’d taken
someone who knew more about Escorts before buying. But now the build is
finished, with the help and support of Donna, Dad and some great parts
suppliers, I’m so glad I saw the job through.”
Ironically,
Darren has now learnt so much about Escorts, he’s probably the man to go to as
an expert on the cars.
“I’ve
learnt the hard way with this escort, but I’m glad I saw the job through”
Wired
It’s
hard trying to convey the level of workmanship and dedication in some of the
classic Fords we see. On Darren’s build, the three weeks spent making sure all the
brake lines were perfectly straight, the hours of research to get the correct
colour blue for the dampers, or the eight weeks of prep on the rear quarters to
make sure virtually no filler was needed for a super smooth panel, could be
used as examples... but it’s this RS2000’s wiring loom that does it for us. “I
rang a few of the places advertising new looms,” Darren says, “but no-one does
one for these cars as the connectors were formed with molten rubber being
shaped around the wires and at the major junctions. So I just had to rework my
original loom by heating all the joints, individually releasing each
connection, cleaning and resoldering it as needed, and then heat-shrinking it
all back together.” That little job has about two months of work in it!
