RS Motorsport :: Classic Speed Restored

Hey guys and girls.
Last week i found a 1972 Mk1 Escort, XL 1300 Auto for sale on ebay. that arvo i went and had a look at it, and by friday put a deposit on. I went today and picked her up and dropped it at my mates place, which is where she will live until i get her registered.
My plans are to just get it registered, and start driving it. I will clean it up.
List of things i want to do:
4spd manual conversion
new door cards
new headlights
Cibie Oscar driving lights
new carpet
Minilite wheels.

Any help i can get would be really good. I will be trying to chase parts for the manual conversion. I also need new tail lights, reverse lights as they are all cracked. I also need some dash switches, but i will find out exactly which ones i am missing when i go over the car this weekend.

just picked her up, about to head back across to the west of the city








at my mates place where it will stay until its got rego





the little 1300CC power plant :)

She looks a good one....

Cheers mate, i was very lucky. it appears to have no rust. this is why i was so keen on purchasing the car. Im new to escorts, so this going to be a lot of fun and a big learning curve. Im in two minds as to whether do a manual conversion now, or wait until its registered, and same as to whether i go a bigger motor or not. I have a spare 1300 with it, but not too sure.

Looks like a decent shell you got there. Nice base for a rebuild.

My 2c is leave it as a 1300 auto. Something a bit different, even if they are as slow as a wet week

a 1300 auto with TOWBAR i love it !
thats is so you can tow the race car with it ??

i would really love to convert it to manual, as much as the auto is a bit different :P but it will come down to the cost of the conversion. Im a little low on money after actually buying the car haha *doh*
The tow vehicle in the first pic, my other baby, XF Fairmont Ghia wagon, i converted to a 5 speed manual, and LOVED the improvement, so doing the actual conversion I'm not too worried about doing.

the tow bar will be the first thing to come out, guaranteed :P cos i don't see the old girl moving much....maybe a motorbike trailer with a couple bags in it? hehe.

well i bought some wheel nuts for it (missing i think 7 out of the total 16 needed) so this weekend when I'm at my mates place, i might take it for a quick spin around the block to see what its like.

Im going to leave the 1300 in, but how much can be done to them to modify them? I have a spare 1300 engine with it that i can play with.

Welcome aboard.
Was this the one in Langwarrin? Looks like a nice little car.
My advice is to get it registered/on club plates asap and start enjoying it.
If you start pulling it apart before its registered, it will end up taking forever.
Something always gets in the way. ie work or women.
Good luck with it.

Hi, yes it is the one from Langwarrin. I saw the ad, called the guy as soon as i finished reading it. went and looked at the car that arvo, and 2 days later had put a deposit on it :P

I don't want to put it on club plates, as it will become the daily (hopefully) as the wagon that towed the esky home, needs a bit of work in the engine department. and because of work, i can't afford to not have a car on the road. I think i will get it registered first before doing the manual conversion, but yer at the moment the key thing is to get it registered and on the road.

Keep your eye out for a bit of a heap that has a manual box and you'll get all the parts you need. You never know, you might even get a 1600 to go with it. You might even be able to pillage a few other parts.

Just wondering if anyone has dealt with "Obsolete Auto Parts" in NSW? I emailed him earlier today, but he sounds a bit suss. i just want to find out if he is any good or not.

Well today I gave the old girl its first wash (since i owned her) and a full cut and polish. it came up like a dream...will post pics tomoro.
I also put new wheel nuts on the front. i didn't know that they had larger size wheel nuts on the front that the rear
the sheep skins came off the seats today, and i gave them quick clean, they are MINT! MINT I TELL U! again, I will post pics up tomoro :)

Tomoro i am pulling the seats out (if i can work out how...i don't have a workshop manual ) and ripping the carpet out to give the interior a good clean.


I have working headlamps, tail lamps, 1 reverse lamp, the dash lights work, but i have NO indicators. but i noticed there are 2 fuses disconnected under the bonnet, but not having any wiring diagrams, i am unsure what they are

well finally i have an update. not necessarily a good one though

i finally got all the interior out, and ripped all the shitty carpet up, only to find rust in the passenger side rear foot well so i am very upset now, as this project just got a heck of lot more expensive to complete.

GOOD NEWS

i did give it a polish, and came up rather nice.

I will post pics tomoro when i have gone through them.

escort floor pan rust...of course.
dont fear its usually an easy fix and shouldnt be too expensive.

by the way first pick of the car at your mates place. is that agoat on the roof behind it...in the background?

Justin

After I gave her a polish last week. needs a wash again now though :(



Max Photobombing...at his best :P



Finally some interior shots

Front seats with sheep skins off...MINT!



The dash in its current state...still has a long way to go



the original dash. needs to be pulled apart and cleaned up...although I'm thinking about doing the RS conversion





rear seats. also MINT!



Now for the rust :(

haha i just spot to my mate on the phone, and the goat on the roof is a plastic hunting dummy. His neighbours do a bit of hunting, and he explained that they sometimes take this goat, and use it as bait, so what ever they are hunting will be attracted to it.

they also have a fake head on a stick...but god only knows what that is used for, but he did say it occasionally appears at the fence haha.

oh and this isn't even in country victoria, its 10 out of melbourne in Altona

See its the 'max power gene' in me. Unless it rides on 20's I loose intrest and go looking for something else to occupy my time. and in this case it was a plastic goat.

The car looks a good base, I havent seen an australian car rust there usually its the front footwells...still a relatively easy fix but looks like more than a patch, probably the whole floor. Get it wire brushjed and that will tell all.

And get some 20's on it! Ok maybe 15's, SAAb steels and lowered 2 inches will look spot on.

Justin