The mk1 Escort Begins

Why would a young man who already owns two cars need another? A few years ago a colleague of mine began talking about something he'd seen on Top Gear and then paused and asked me 'Are you into cars?' as if he needed my consent to continue with his story. The reply I gave seems silly to me now. I said 'Yeah, a bit.' Almost instantly I realised that what had come out of my mouth wasn't actually accurate. I was into cars but up until that moment I hadn't really considered myself a 'car guy.' My enthusiasm for cars, bikes, engines and all things automotive had always been present. The trouble is that as a hobby it requires lots of time, money and space. Those three crucial elements, until quite recently, had never presented themselves at the same time. If truth be told, space is still an issue, there's not an abundance of time and the money involved in joining the mk1 Escort game is alarming to say the least... but no great thing ever starts with 'so there I was in my comfort zone...'

So with prices on the rise and only going one way I took the plunge. I bought this mk1 Escort recently and had it trailered to its new home.

For a car from 1972 it doesn't need much welding. Mostly because a whole lot of welding has been done prior to my purchasing the car. All in all it's really a pretty good, clean example with minimal work required to the body of the car.

The main areas I've been tackling so far are small pieces on the bulkhead. Underneath where that new plate is being welded in there was a copious amount of filler. Getting back to bare metal took a while. The plate will be shaped further and all the welds ground back and smoothed.

Under the arches all looks good and the car came with these 8 inch wide Alley Cat wheels.

This is perhaps the worst area on the car. The strut tops have been plated at some point, but there is currently a bit of a mess underneath which was hiding under a fair bit of filler. There's an area approximately 4 inches by 3/4 inch which all looks a bit like a rusty mess (covered in weld-through primer in the above photo). I plan to plate it. If the rot had been more extensive it might have been time for new inner wings but given the relatively small area of instability caused by the rust a sturdy plate should be sufficient. 

With the bank account recovering now and parts deliveries trickling in it's shaping up to be a fun project...

More soon!