Ford Escort Cosworth RS

Back In February, I got sent over to Sheffield for a job at John Holland car sales. I was sent to get some photographs of an extremely rare RUF Porsche 911 Flatnose and this lovely example of a classic Ford Escort Cosworth RS. The weather was atrocious and as these car were both for sale, and had just had a full detail, I was limited to photographing them in the working showroom.

I didn’t let this stop me enjoying my day though. I started with the Cosworth! Released in the early 1990s, The Escort had big shoes to fill, following in the foot steps of its legendary older brother, the Sierra Cosworth RS. The car was designed to be a road going version of the Group A Rally car and a direct competitor to the equally brilliant Lancia Integrale and Subaru Impreza.

The Escort Cosworth RS had a number of big names involved in its development. The striking styling of the car was thanks to the designer Stephen Harper who was also responsible for the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph in 1991 and the Aston Martin DB7 concept design in 1992.

The most recognisable name involved in the cars development though, is obviously Cosworth, a brand synonymous with petrolheads and car enthusiasts the world over. The Escort actually used the same underpinnings as the Sierra, shorted to fit the wheel base of the Escort chassis. It was also powered by the same 2.0: turbocharged longitudinally mounted Cosworth engine driving all four of the wheels.

The true potential of the Escort RS was first seen in the 1993 Monte Carlo Rally, where the car positioned both second and third, but it was the famous Tommi Makinen who pushed the car to victory in the 1994 1000 Lakes Rally and really showed the true potential this car had.

The car finally hit showroom floors in 1994, with two specs available to buy. The Club-Spec or the more expensive Lux version. The Lux was more popular and its not hard to see why, with it including electric windows, heated screen, sunroof and Recaro seat’s.

The car was quoted as having 227bhp but the first batch of cars suffered terribly with turbo lag, but this was later rectified with all the cars after May 1994 coming with a smaller Garrett T25 Turbo producing the same power.

In 1995 the car received a facelift providing it with a new style front grille, restyled bumpers and different alloys. The car continued being produced into early 1996 until emissions regulations killed it off. Just like every fast ford ever produced, the car was an instant classic.

This particular example had only covered a mere 5,300 miles. It even had the original factory fresh tyres fitted and they hardly looked broken in. The car was as perfect an example as you could ever find, yet I found myself feeling sorry for it and it’s last owner!

Here is a car that was designed and built with the intention of driving enjoyment, something people grew up aspiring to own and enjoy and it had spent the last two decades of its life, locked away in a barn, with the sole intention of profit making.

The car eventually sold for a staggering £52,875… lets hope the new owner puts it to good use and clocks some miles under its belt!

 

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