RS Motorsport :: Classic Speed Restored

would like to hear from you guys if you have something organised , as i live here on the nthn end of the gold coast , so is my car not far away , bring yur cameras & give me a call if you like .. steve king 0421209766
mk 1 rs 2000 gen ex bathurst "olympic blue "
ps i spoke to a guy in perth who has a good list of these 25 genuine aus mk 1 rs 2000,s chasis no,s etc .
I Think we should all get together & get a national register going ?
you are welcome to give me a ring & discuss the finer points of gettin an escort sideways the way it was designed to be driven

I know the guy in Perth your talking about, young Liam. Many years ago I bought another one of his project cars off him, a brilliant yellow SUndowner Van....was one of my favourite cars and i REGRET ever selling it now. Liam's RS MK I is a bloody nice car, I have drooled over it at heaps of shows around Perth. I think its a good idea to get a registry going, not only of RS MK Is but of all RS and limited Escorts.

RE liam & glenn t
how about a post on the spec,s of some of these cars huh ?
mine is as follows (i think some of the stuff in the car when i got it was not strictly legal or homolagated , but " its was a pretty quick mk1 in its day !
2100 big bore - "bruce garland & bob riley " bottom end , nitrited crank & ford comp rods , TRW rockers , hi vol oil pump , alloy sump & bellhousing with starter motor provision both sides , & hyd clutch option . , sasch,s clutch , rocket box ,pommy diff with 4,4 + 4.1 + 3.9 + 3.5 (bathurst diff} lsd not to mention a few CIG lockers , gp2 floating ventilated frnt discs,with alloy hubs , tripple pedal box - ex IYK.OOO, te cort vented discs rear , bilstein world cup struts , rose jointed adjustable sway bars & panhard rod , big valve head , 48mm sidedraught webbers , 2 & a .quarter exhaust , 3 sets of wheels, sixes, eights & tens ! only just fit under the rear gaurds , hence the panhard rod ,ex colin bond tapered front coils , etc etc ---
ps
i need a world cup Xmember , 4 spot calipers , 5 link rear end , magnesium sump gaurd , & maybe a 2 litre piper twin cam head complete with the big bore extractors , ----- the list just goes on & on huh ?

Any photo's Steve?

Hi Steve,

I am pretty sure your car is the ex- Ian Messner, ex Terry Daly car, which competed in a heap of ATCC, Semperit Series and also at Bathurst. I do have quite a few pics of the car mainly under Terry Daly ownership and one pic from when Ian was selling the car. They are all black and white in old magazines and i will need to scan them.

Don't get me wrong, but i think it would be a mistake to go modify your car with turrets, world cup cross member etc. Group C cars never ran with any of this, they were allowed to run most Group 1 parts as can be found in the CAMS homolgation papers for this model. Rear discs were also not allowed and only certain other modifications outside homologated parts were allowed depending on the year the car ran in. As your car has a lot of history and is the genuine article it is eligible to race in historic Group C - no replica cars can be built for this category, only genuine cars that competed in the day can compete now. Value wise your car would be worth a lot more if it was returned to it's as raced mechanical spec and livery, than if modified for fast road, hillclimb or track day use.

In the end it is up to you what you choose to do with your car, you own it, but consider that you do own a piece of Australian Touring Car history. Just like Nevilles car.
Consider too, that of the 25 MK1 RS2000's less than half made it onto the race track. A lot of cars that competed as MK1 RS2000's during the period were actually Twin Cams and 1300xl's fitted with 2lt engines, very few were the genuine article. And not all cars competed at Bathurst, and many only competed for one year. Your car was active from 1975 to at least 1978.

I have just spent 5 years correcting the damage that 2 previous owners had done to my car - a December 1974 build Vista Orange car. And that has got me as far as a fully painted rolling shell with a lot of parts to put back in. One of the previous owners decided to take it drag racing posting an impressive 10.6 1/4 mile with a turbo 2lt. Unfortunately in the process he caused enough damage to the body for my panel beater to have to change rear quarters, rear wheel tubs, front panel, rad support, trans tunnel, floor sections, part of the inner wing and repair nearly every other panel on the car.

Why did i bother which such a massive job? Firstly because it is a genuine MK1 RS2000, secondly because after buying it as a rolling shell (no engine or box) plus a heap of parts i found out that it had Group C history.

Knowing a few people who compete in this historic class and helping out at events for a number of years i quickly realised how much support and love of these old cars there still is today. I also realised just how many old touring cars a locked away in garages or museums and i think that is a waste. I would rather see them doing what they did all those years ago - race!

Anyway, they are my thoughts and as i said before what you do is up to you. For me i can't wait for the day the number panels go back onto mine and roll it out onto the track once again and hopefully give Nev, Bob, Derek, Eddie, Justin and the others some stick.

Glenn

i am still having computer problems dowloading them
but just as soon as i figure out the tappet clearances on this camera i will post a few pics , & impart any further info you guys wanna ask me about them good ole days .
ps
its great to be back in the ford family after so many years .
20 years ago i thought i was the only escort driver left after , gregg carr , bondy , ari & maybe neil allport & malcolm wilson .
maybe i was mistaken ??? lol

hay glenn t
that was a very heart felt response you just sent me & yes i do listen
but given the car it is etc i feel as though i wanna keep tradition & i have had a bit of trouble with CAMS when i campaigned it at club level , they gave me probs running it in production touring class , so i got put in sports sedan category , it was the only road registered sports sedan at the time , after that i made full kevlar & carbon fibre , boot bonnet , doors , etc , but kept all the original panels for it wich are back on it now ,
given the history of the car & may not be strictly legal . it never was anyway , but its a bloody ball tearer of a thing to drive just short of a decent bda ,
if i ask the scrutineers for a special dispensation ?
do you think ? frank lowndes or kris kitzen might find me a set of magnesium 4 spot calipers ?? and a set of mini lites ??
Untill the rod stevens electrolux car is found ? i think i still might have one of the quickest gen mk 1 rs 2000,s with most definitly the lowest kilometres on the clock genuine
around thirty thousand kilometres
only ever road going for 1 year (mae-348) nsw
i would rather spend the same amount of money getting it back to race trim rather than a bog standard shitbox with high mileage ,
that would mean removing the original ok scrutineering stickers still on the rear quarter windows ,
dont get me wrong , i still wanna keep within the "spirit" of things
its just that its that sort of car wich makes it truly unique ?
even before i ever owned it , it was that kinda car & i think i should try to keep it that way !
after all these years its been stored away & not realy changed is why i think it should remain as a classic example !
it was never realy a road car , it left the show room floor to go to the race track , that was the whole purpose of getting 25 of them here to satisfy the cams rules , then roughly half of them that got used for road use were written off rallied or stolen or stripped etc and copied & imported inferior pommy versions .
its realy only the competition cars that survived , albeeit a few did not !
pps
hope you guys understand !
kingy -----full noise wth a big handfull of opposite lock .

Hi Steve,

Err.. not sure i do understand actually. Does that mean you are considering returning it to its 1975-78 race trim or going to leave it as i is now and modify it further?
Either way i am sure you obviously are pretty passionate about and will enjoy driving it.

The Rod Stevens car is safe and sound, and still exists in its as last raced condition. It is rumoured to be making a return to the track in the near future, possibly even with Rod behind the wheel.

As for the specs of the cars, back in the day they were all based around the Group 1 kit. As you could only run homologated manifolds either the early 2 x Solex or later 2 x Weber manifold was used with either downdraft carbs (Weber or Solex) or sidedraught carbs on adaptors (anything after the manifold was free). See pic below.

Valves were Group 1, head porting was not allowed, camshafts were free as were pistons and rods. Rocket gearboxes, LSD's and all the other Group 1 mods were employed along with a lot of suspension tuning - stritcly within the rules of course!


Each year as CAMS allowed more freedoms e.g. for cars that ran in 1980 dry sumps were allowed, and MK2's were allowed to run wheel arch flares.

Of the 25 MK1 cars around 10 or 11 competed. Nearly all of these have now been accounted for and still exist. Most are making a return to Group C, though some like mine a little more slowly than others.

Cheers, Glenn

Here is some more info on these cars -

MK1 RS2000 - 6/1975

Colour/Quantity imported/(found)

Stardust Silver 3 (2)
Diamond White 1 (1)
Olympic Blue 6 (3)
Modena Green 3 (3)
Sebring Red 1 (1)
Daytona Yellow 2 (1)
Vista Orange 9 (6)

Total 25 (16)

As i mentioned in an earlier post, there are a few more cars known to exist but have not yet been verified so actual number could be 19+ cars still existing.

I haven't posted chassis numbers on here as i do not want to upset any owners of these cars.

I will post the German cars colours & numbers soon as well.

Cheers, Glenn

Thanks for that glenn , sounds about right those existing numbers , i will ask around my contacts & see if i can find a few more & would be good to know what hapened to the ones that didnt survive . if i could track down ian messner ? he should be able to fill a few gaps
I apreciate the non publishing of body no,s .
it would br good to know how many in each state ? for a get together maybe ?
ps the pic is of another one i found on the net
pps i found a few vid clips of blue mk 1 rs 2000,s on youtube.com
oh i forgot to ask ? did only the aus cars have cibi;e twin reflector headlights ? as my car has, i am sure they are standard on my car . was it part of the aus conversion ?