It’s always a treat to get some
special cars together, but when those cars come in the form of three Escort
Cosworths with nearly 1,700bhp between them, well, that’s just the kind of
thing you need to photograph for a magazine, isn’t it?
Rally winner, showstopper and last in the
bloodline to carry the ‘whale tail’ spoiler, the Escort Cosworth had it all. It
was also built during a time of change, a time when everything automotive
started to move into the territory of complicated electronics with chips and
circuit boards becoming the gatekeepers of more BHP. Not only was the Escort
Cosworth an icon in its own right, it was also the last bastion of nuts, bolts
and mechanical power.
The
Escort Cosworth succeeded the fabled Sierra Cosworth in 1992, taking on the
mantle of the supercar for the man in the street.
Now don’t think we have a distaste for
every fast Ford to emerge after the Escort Cosworth, because we don’t. Flick
through these pages and you’ll see equal amounts of love and admiration for the
latter-day STs and RSs. It’s just that, well, the Escort Cosworth has a special
place in PF’s heart, especially when modified, and that leads us neatly to the
three cars you see here. We have Dave’s Mallard Green car, Colin’s Imperial
Blue number and in Radiant Red, Len’s rear-wheel-drive example.
Each one has been honed, tuned and played
with. Each one is a living embodiment of just what could be done to the last of
the old school powerful Fords, before the computers and OBD ports took over –
not one of them runs less than 500bhp.
The guys have all known each other a long
time, and the passion for anything with a Cosworth badge runs deep. These guys
– as we’ll explain – have all had a host of exciting, fast and modified cars.
But in the early ‘90s, whether they knew each other not, they all shared a
moment. They all saw the new Escort RS Cosworth and they all knew they had to have
one of their own someday.
A
Ford Escort RS Cosworth on a stage rally, driven by British driver Malcolm
Wilson.
The Escort, with its YBT engine and huge
spoiler was the perfect way to carry on the Cosworth name. The Sierra Sapphire
RS Cosworth was mad thanks to its massive leap from hum-drum rep-mobile to
out-and-out race car. The 3-door variant was even more bonkers. The first to
carry the huge rear fin, it made the Cosworth name a household noun for those
of us into cars. Nobody thought there would ever be anything better, especially
in the grey, dull, early ‘90s. But Ford went and proved everyone wrong and
fired the Escort RS Cosworth out into the world, inspiring petrolheads the
globe over. One man who embodies this ethos via a pretty solid Ford-filled car
CV is Len Cole, the owner of the red car.
His passion started a while ago, with Mk1
Escorts and a 2.8i Capri becoming long-standing driveway occupants. Those cars
didn’t just start a lifelong love of cars with the blue oval though, no, they
also cemented Len’s interest firmly in the rear-wheel-drive camp.
His
passion started a while ago, with Mk1 Escorts and a 2.8i Capri becoming
long-standing driveway occupants.
The Capri gave way to a house eventually,
though it was an unconditional must that the new house had a garage. When the
boxes were unpacked, Len bought himself a Sapphire Cosworth, 2wd of course. And
then, a few years later, he traded it for a Skyline of all things. It was a
fleeting romance that proved more troublesome than one would have hoped,
especially with so-called Japanese reliability in mind. A switch had to be made
back to Ford, so a deal was done on a rwd 3-door Sierra Cosworth – a car that
stayed with Len until late last year when, you guessed it, he bought the
Cosworth
