Description
This lot will be auctioned via Iconic Auctioneers, The Iconic Sale at the NEC Classic Motor Show 2024 - Cars on Saturday the 9th of November, NEC, Birmingham, B40 1NT. The Escort RS2000 was the last car to be introduced to Ford's 'Advanced Vehicle Operations' (AVO) range in June of 1973 and dovetailed nicely with its performance almost comparable to the more complex RS1600, but with the reliability and ease of maintenance of the Mexico. The car used the same Type 49 bodyshell as the Mexico and RS1600, however there was a new engine in use at Ford, the 2-litre overhead cam, 100bhp, 'Pinto' design, which seemed, on paper, ideal for the RS. Ford then had the major problem of persuading the less than slender Pinto engine to fit into the engine bay, which was something it had never been designed to do. The only way of achieving this was by discarding the engine-driven cooling fan and replacing it with a thermostatically controlled Kenlowe unit. The most appropriate gearbox was the German 'E-box', which was totally different to the one fitted to the RS1600 and the final drive was 3. 54:1. The car was launched in England on 11th November 1973 priced at £1, 586. The RS2000 once again proved to be a quick and delightful car to drive, whilst being more accessible to buy and still offering customers a great choice in terms of colours and options.
The car presented here is one of the 5, 334 Mk1 RS2000s made and was first registered in May 1975 by T. C. Harrison of Sheffield. It's finished in the seldom seen, but arguably very ‘current’ colouring of Modena Green and is on offer from an out and out Ford enthusiast who has painstakingly resurrected the car over the last nine years, building it into what you see today. It is undeniable that it has been curated by a true aficionado of the marque who 'knows' their Blue Ovals. Ford did not keep detailed production records broken down by colours, so the exact number of Modena Green RS2000s produced is not well documented, however Modena Green is considered one of the rarer colour combinations as colours such as Olympic Blue and Diamond White were more popular at the time, which only serves to benefit this car.
The car had been off the road since 1994, with someone stripping the car down in order to begin a restoration process, however it unfortunately suffered the same fate as so many projects and wasn’t completed or continued until our vendor purchased it in 2015 and set about bringing the car back to life and finishing it to the highest standard. The restoration has been predominantly undertaken by our enthusiast vendor, with necessary work being undertaken by marque specialists as documented in the history file. The aim of the restoration was to build it to OEM/ OEM+ specification, so the car wears a plethora of original refurbished parts and newer replacements for items such as coolant hoses, fuel/ brake lines, Bilstein rear shock absorbers and Austin Princess front callipers.
The engine has been rebuilt and refreshed, with the car only covering shakedown miles since and is coming to sale having been dyno-tuned and MOT’d purely for peace of mind. With the best RS2000 examples now commanding £100, 000-plus, this is a real opportunity to own a wonderfully restored example of that early Fast Ford magic at a very reasonable price point.
