Octagon January, 2017

Stories from the
Stables
1970 FORD ESCORT –
FATHER & SON PROJECT
by Jeff Heslewood
After my retirement, I decided to build
myself a “toy”, preferably a 105E Ford
Anglia. These were extremely hard to find,
and I was directed to an unfinished project,
a 1970 Ford Escort 2 door which may be
for sale. My son Greg was also at a bit of a
loose end, as being newly married and also
buying a house, he could no longer afford
the time or money to continue Kart racing,
an interest that had involved the whole
family for around 20 years.
So off we went to inspect the Escort. The
plan was to build a modified road car that
would fit the improved production criteria, so
that I could use it on club runs and we could
both compete at hill climbs and club sprints.
The “unfinished project” was a bare shell
that had been fitted with a good roll cage,
adapted Commodore/Nissan front cross
member and suspension and Mitsubishi
disc brake rear end. The guards had been
cut out to accept forest flares and there
was also a standard 2 litre 16 valve Ford
Mondeo Zetec engine, Sierra 5 speed
Jeff and Greg with the finished product
gearbox and alloy fuel tank supplied. The
shell appeared reasonably sound although
quite a few minor rust repairs were needed.
The deal was done and home we went, full
of enthusiasm. Six years later, we finally hit
the road and track.
For almost six months we struggled to make
the front suspension workable. It was well
designed, but created ground clearance
problems and the engine was sitting too
high for our liking. We finally bit the bullet
and decided to revert to Ford components.
The retro Ford scene is huge in Britain, and
English companies were able to supply all
the componentry we needed at very good
prices. We were able to purchase a World
Cup cross member and engine mounts,
water rail, radiator, etc that allowed us to bolt
the Zetec engine straight into the Escort.
Now the hard work began.
The only serious rust was in the left front
chassis rail, so we had this corner repaired/
replaced professionally by the late John
Dawson. I fabricated numerous repair
The Octagon - January 2017 13