Design Classic No. 615: The Mk1 Escort RS Mexico

Ah, greetings Design Classic fans. Today we're back in the motoring world for a misty-eyed recollection of Ford's classic Mark 1 Escort Mexico.

The Mark 1 Escort was produced from 1968 until 1974 and replaced the elderly Anglia. The
distinctive 'dog-bone' front grille and 'coke bottle' lines made this car an instant favourite with the public and within six years, two million had been sold in Britain and around the world.

In the '60's and '70's the Ford Works Team were pretty much untouchable in the rallying world and the Escort played a major part. The Lotus-developed 1558cc engine from the Lotus Cortina (essentially an 8V twin-cam head on top of a re-bored 1500, pre-crossflow block from the mk1 Cortina), dropped nicely in to the Escort to make it one of the most successful rally cars of all time. I had a spare pre-crossflow 1500 engine for my early mk2 Cortina, but someone nicked it from outside my flat in Camberwell. They kindly left me the dipstick though.

The Escort's most famous victory came in the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally and from this the special edition road-going Mexico was born.

Powered by the 1.6lt  'Kent' OHV unit from the Cortina Mk2 1600GT (remember that car Tom?), the Mexico had the distinctive split 'quarter' bumpers and side stripes. The versatile engine was easily tuned to 140+ bhp making it a favourite amongst petrol heads.

But just check this advert for style!

A good one can set you back £20k these days, so beware of fakes.

www.SoVibrant.co.uk where staff drink petrol for breakfast

Images from Pinterest. Featured post image from DM Multimedia

Related Links

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50 years of Ford Cortinas

Classic car of the week - Mark 1 Lotus Cortina

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