9th Jun, 2010 14:45

The Pavilion Gardens

 
  Lot 34
 

1969 Ford Escort Twin Cam Rally Car


Lot details
Registration No: FEV 5H
Chassis No: BB49JC39549
Mot Expiry: Aug 2010

The Ford Escort is the most iconic rally car. Not just because of its attention-grabbing sideways attitude, but because its reputation was forged on solid results, from Roger Clark's first International rally Escort win, in a Twin Cam in the 1968 Tulip Rally (after Ove Andersson's debut third place in San Remo), through thousands of subsequent successes including eight RAC victories. Legend has it that the Twin Cam came about by the usual inventiveness and chicanery at Ford's Boreham-based Competitions Department, before Advanced Vehicle Operations had even been thought of. Near the end of 1966, Ford's Competitions Manager Henry Taylor and his Chief Mechanic Bill Meade spotted early Escorts being track tested, whereupon Meade apparently mused: "One of those things would go like hell with a Twin Cam in it!" - Taylor thought so too and the work was on to cram the engine previously used in the Lotus Cortinas into the smaller, lighter Escort bodyshell that shared the same mechanical layout. The Twin Cam was launched early in 1968, costing £1,162.78, and was the ideal base on which Ford could mount its world-dominating rally effort, beginning a 40-year winning spree that continues in historic rallying today.

Perhaps the most famous rally car in the world is another in the 'FEV' series - FEV 1H, the car that won the 1970 London-Mexico, the 16,000-mile 'toughest rally of all time', and which Ford still owns today. That was actually powered by the more lowly pushrod engine, but this, its Twin Cam sister, is also an important ex-Works car, with a long and interesting history. Licensed by the factory on October 1st 1969, and first used by the works on the 1970 Monte Carlo Rally with Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm, it subsequently won the 1970 Circuit of Ireland with Roger Clark and Jim Porter, and later won the 1000 Lakes rally with Mikkola and Palm, the crew that had conquered that historic London-Mexico enduro. Mikkola reminisced of that white-knuckle drive in Finland: "The Escort was one for my tastes from the very first made. It was a pleasure to drive and a joy to jump with. Mind you, I did jump them like mad - it was good fun. In the Rouvesi region there was a stage where the road drops sharply, after a plateau. I'd always been braking to that spot, but decided to take it flat in the dark. The car took off and when it started coming down I vividly remember how the beams grew shorter and shorter - lastly I saw just six round, small spots of lights in the road. It bounced twice back into the air, and in the next corner we knocked down a stretch of fence with the Escort's rear corner, but somehow stayed on the road. At the stage finish the marshals were wondering why our faces were so white. I looked at Gunnar and promised I wouldn't overdo it again!"

But what makes this car even more interesting is that it was effectively the first RS1600, as on that Circuit of Ireland win with Roger Clark, it ran with the potent new Ford-Cosworth BDA engine, in Group 6. The Belt-Drive type A was a far more effective powerplant than the Twin Cam, with more aggressive port and valve sizes, (it's a close relative of the FVA, which has been described as 'half a DFV'), and would happily run to 8500rpm. Historian and former rally manager Graham Robson, who made his first visit to Boreham in 1965 "and was in and out of the premises for the next 40 years", confirms: "It was absolutely THE first BDA-engined Works Escort to be built at Boreham, under the guidance of Bill Meade, the first to go rallying, and the first to win a rally". It became a Twin Cam again for that epic 1000 Lakes rally, and other events that season included the Austrian Alpine Rally (Jean-Francois Piot/3rd) and the Acropolis - (Jean Francois Piot/4th). By the TAP rally (Portugal) it ran with a BDA again as the RS1600 had been homologated, but did not get Roger Clark to the finish. For the Tour de Corse it was back to being a Twin Cam and finished sixth with Piot. It won its last event with Ford, the 1971 Midco Rally in Kenya with Roger Clark and Henry Liddon, and after that it was used in various East African events by various crews including Vic (Junior) Preston.

Arch Escort collector Dave Watkins discovered the car in Preston's back yard in Kenya in 2000, and spent the next five years restoring it for historic rallies, which included building the car up in a new Gartrac bodyshell with current-spec rollcage. At first, he enlarged the existing Twin Cam engine to 1800cc, as per the Works cars, and later fitted a 2-litre BDA, mirroring the developments carried out by the Works on this car. Of course it boasts all the usual Works car type features, such as seam welded and strengthened shell, Atlas rear axle with five locating links and vertical dampers, disc brakes all round and a ZF five-speed gearbox. Left-hand drive like most of the Works cars, it sports the double-cowl Works dashboard with extra instruments, but now has a plumbed fire extinguisher system plus hand-held, as per current historic rally safety regulations. More recently the Escort has reverted to Twin Cam power, as per its debut specification, and, following appearances on the Goodwood Festival of Speed Rally Stage, driven once again by Hannu Mikkola, it is presented in the livery in which it took that memorable victory on the 1970 1000 Lakes.

As a result of its extensive Works career not to mention Dave Watkins' restoration, the vendor is unsure whether the current incarnation of 'FEV 5H' has any material / 'concrete' link to the car that retired from the 1970 Monte Carlo Rally. Describing the Ford as being in "good" condition with regard to its engine, gearbox, electrical equipment, interior trim, bodywork and paintwork, he adds that it will be supplied with four used spotlamp covers and two new Perspex wind-up windows. The Escort is also accompanied by both a RAC MSA Historic Rally Vehicle Identity Form, which documents its engine changes, and a MSA Competition Car Log Book. In August 2008, the Ford AVO Owners' Club inspected and priced the modern day 'FEV 5H' at £85,000, pointing out that values "have been increasing quite considerably over recent years". This is an almost unrepeatable opportunity to acquire an important ex-Ford Works car with continuous history, which has the added advantage of being eligible for historic stage rallies.

PLEASE NOTE: Since the catalogue went to press we have been unable to find any photographic or documentary evidence among this lot's accompanying paperwork to substantiate the claim that it was discovered in Kenya during 2000. Furthermore, there appear to be various gaps in the vehicle's timeline and as such the opinion that it possesses "continuous history" would seem to be based - at least in part - on unprovable hearsay and rumour.
 

All successful bids must be paid in full by midday the day after the auction at the latest.

You can collect your new pride and joy from our venue until 1pm the day following the sale or our partners are on hand to help arrange safe transportation:

               

Auction: The Pavilion Gardens, 9th Jun, 2010

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