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Rare twin-cam Escort in the deep south

10 March, 2017

 

If you enjoy classic racing, then this car could be a great start for you in the healthy South Island classic racing scene. Southland racer John Abbott has a passion for collecting some exciting cars, and his collection includes some notable rarities.

Currently sitting in a corner of his shed, and now offered for sale to free up some garage space is a very rare example of Ford’s mighty twin-cam Mk1 Escort racer.

“Just a handful of genuine factory Escort twin-cams came with rectangular headlights, and this 1968 version was one of four cars bought into New Zealand by Ford,” John said.

Originally intended for Australian racer John Warden, the car was destined for Aussie tracks until Warden’s untimely death, and it was then offered to New Zealand driver Jack Nazer. 

At the time Nazer was well known for his exploits in a quick Ford Anglia, and the Ford Escort was a welcome addition to the racing scene.

“It was originally powered by the Lotus twin-cam engine. In 1969 it possibly raced fitted with a Cosworth FVA, and then, under ‘Cossack’ sponsors colours, a Cosworth FVC engine was fitted,” he said.

Jack Nazar premiered this twin-cam Escort with Dave Simpson’s similar twin-cam at Bay Park on October 5, 1968.

John has owned and raced the car for the past 20 years, and it was now fitted with a Dennis Lyon–built two-litre engine, dry-sumped, and with 48DCOE Webbers, although that engine bay has experienced a variety of engines.

“Jack had it from about 1969–’70, he then sold it to Malcolm Coffey who crashed it in his one and only race at Levin. It then went to Danny Lupp, and I think he had a BDA in it before it was sold to Kevin Ryan, who raced it with a pushrod 1600 Ford motor.”

John then purchased it from a Pete Blomfield and today the car is still in its original shell and relatively rust-free.

“It would be great to see someone put it back to its original specification as it’s got a lot of history. I regularly managed one minute and 12 seconds at Teretonga, and it was always a very reliable car. It will be sad to see it go,” John said.
 

Almost mythical pony

25 July, 2024

The Shelby came to our shores in 2003. It went from the original New Zealand owner to an owner in Auckland. Malcolm just happened to be in the right place with the right amount of money in 2018 and a deal was done. Since then, plenty of people have tried to buy it off him. The odometer reads 92,300 miles. From the condition of the car that seems to be correct and only the first time around.
Malcolm’s car is an automatic. It has the 1966 dashboard, the back seat, the rear quarter windows and the scoops funnelling air to the rear brakes.
He even has the original bill of sale from October 1965 in California.

Becoming fond of Fords part two – happy times with Escorts

17 July, 2024

In part one of this Ford-flavoured trip down memory lane I recalled a sad and instructive episode when I learned my shortcomings as a car tuner, something that tainted my appreciation of Mk2 Ford Escort vans in particular. Prior to that I had a couple of other Ford entanglements of slightly more redeeming merit. There were two Mk1 Escorts I had got my hands on: a 1972 1300 XL belonging to my father and a later, end-of-line, English-assembled 1974 1100, which my partner and I bought from Panmure Motors Ford in Auckland in 1980. Both those cars were the high water mark of my relationship with the Ford Motor Co. I liked the Mk1 Escorts. They were nice, nippy, small cars, particularly the 1300, which handled really well, and had a very precise gearbox for the time.
Images of Jim Richards in the Carney Racing Williment-built Twin Cam Escort and Paul Fahey in the Alan Mann–built Escort FVA often loomed in my imagination when I was driving these Mk1 Escorts — not that I was under any illusion of comparable driving skills, but they had to be having just as much fun as I was steering the basic versions of these projectiles.