This is a terrific looking, sounding and driving machine – we absolutely love it! So, we’ve done a lot of homework considering it’s nearly 50 years old and like all race cars it’s common to see them modified or altered depending upon their track history.

According to our research – backed up in its history file with a receipt – the car was purchased in 1997 as a rolling shell from well-known Ford competition aficionado and amateur rally driver Ian Harwood. His firm, Ian Harwood Competition Cars & Parts in Ellesmere Port, shut up shop in 2004 but was known in Ford circles as a one-stop-shop for all things fast Ford. In fact, many of the UK’s enthusiasts and AVO owners can trace their parts/cars back to Ian, who often sold off discarded Ford competition cars. Incidentally, the firm Ian started lives on (sort of) as GS Escorts (gsescorts.co.uk), who took over Ian’s concern and now operate from a unit just down the road in Widnes, Cheshire.

This Escort has the correct ‘BFAT’ beginning chassis plate and 20-stamped engine (this one was converted to a racer a while ago). Decoding its chassis plate reveals figures that tell us it belonged to the 187th Escort built in March 1973 at Ford’s Aveley plant and was first registered on 21st March’74. That aforementioned large ‘20’ stamped on the engine block also indicates that the correct RS2000-spec engine remains present.

The other physical clue to the car’s authenticity – other than its badging and rear window vents – is the word ‘Olympic’ printed on its chassis plate, which refers to the car’s eye-catching RS2000 shade of blue. It’s hard to believe, but for a long time these machines weren’t worth the sums they now command. Incidentally, we suspect the car’s last competitive outing was at a BARC race at Snetterton in 2019. We don’t know, maybe it has been raced in anger for many years, but it’s clearly been maintained exceptionally well, and has just been comprehensively brought back to its former glory by competition specialist SGS Services.

1974 Ford Escort RS2000

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