Lot details
Registration No: JLP 77K
Chassis No: 1CBA67226
Mot Expiry: None

That the Escort is one of the most successful rally cars of all time - and the most sought-after car to have in historic rally competition today - is a given.

What we have here is an Escort that has been a rally car all its life, ever since it was built up from new as a Works Replica by the renowned Clarke & Simpson dealership, and re-liveried a season later in AVJ Developments colours. Yet more unusually, it is reputed to have retained a number of original components. After two RAC Rallies and a privateer rally history, it was purchased as a restoration project during the late 1980s. The vendor embarked on a restoration using the battered bodyshell it came with, which he believes but does not warrant to be either the original or a period replacement.

Once it was back in circulation during the early 1990s, several people came forward and identified the car as an ex Clarke & Simpson machine including David Sutton, whose letter on file confirms that `JLP 77K' was built as a Works Replica rally car in 1971, then crashed on the 1971 RAC Rally.

It was reunited with its original registration number, now non-transferable, in 1993 thanks to research conducted by arch Escort collector Dave Watkins. The file includes programmes from rallies in 1972, and a cutting from the 1972 Manx Trophy rally highlighting Malcolm Patrick and Roger Rhoderick-Jones' performance. There is a results sheet from the Bass Charrington Tour of Lincs in 1972, which it won, and a 1973 programme from the following year showing this car on the cover. In later years it finished a highly creditable seventh overall on the 2007 Agbo Stages Rally at Weston Park (behind a clutch of turbo-charged four-wheel drive Subaru Imprezas), while its last historic outing was on the 2010 Bill Cammack Memorial Trophy Rally.

The current specification is reportedly as follows: Bodyshell: steel with fibreglass bonnet and bootlid; Engine: 1700 Atlantic specification BDA recently overhauled by Racing Fabrications of Cambridge (with an accompanying dyno sheet showing 219bhp @ 6900rpm); Gearbox: Brian Wildman direct-top ZF five-speed with brass forks and steel baulk rings; Rear axle: ex-works single-bearing Atlas 5.1 with ZF LSD; Brakes: AP four-pot `forest' callipers and vented discs front, AP twin-pot callipers with AP handbrake callipers on the rear; Suspension: Bilstein WX front with compression struts, coil-over five-link rear; Fuel system: alloy tank with twin Facet redtop pumps; Electrical/interior equipment: Dave Wild pro wiring loom, Peltor intercom, Cobra seats, FIA harnesses. Other desirable parts include big-bearing alloy hubs, Aeroquip hoses, magnesium sumpguard, bias pedal box and Minilite-style alloys.

Supplied with MSA Competition car logbook, this is a fantastic survivor with continuous history, on the button and ready to go out and rally. An incredibly rare opportunity.

PLEASE NOTE: The chassis number quoted for this lot in the catalogue and on our website is the one which appears on its V5 registration document. The number visible on the car's chassis plate is BBATLU67226 (the same plate gives its original engine designation as 'L5' which we understand to be correct for a RS1600 model). Both chassis numbers end in '-67226' but we do not know why they carry differing prefixes. Prospective purchasers are invited to examine the car's history file for clues to this anomaly.