1987 Ford Escort RS | Projects

1987 Ford Escort RS

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The Project

A 1987 Ford Escort RS which came into our workshop in March 2024 for paintwork repair on the roof due to rust.

Updates

7th March 2024: The car has just arrived and work to restore the paintwork on the roof will begin soon.

30th April 2024: Interior has been stripped out and is now ready for work to commence. Spare wheel well and rear floor has surface rust which will be repaired, along with areas of the front floor panels which also have corrosion.

22nd May 2024: Work has begun on the repair of both sills, floor panels and front panel.

4th June 2024: Fabrication repairs have been carried out to the roof, as well as the front and sill body kit panels.

30th July 2024: Work is moving along with fabrication repairs to the roof, front panel and sills nearing completion.

> More updates to follow.

History

Extending the Group A homologation theme to include a turbocharger, Ford followed up the RS1600i in considerable style. For many buyers, the homologation-special RS1600i rather close in both looks and performance to the XR3i, so the addition of a turbo was just the ticket in the fast-escallating hot hatchback war that was sweeping through Europe.

The first RS Turbo was once again a low-volume Rallye Sport offering, and continued the extrovert styling of the RS1600i, but with additional colour keying. It lasted but a year, to be replaced by a new RS Turbo, based on the facelifted car – which this time, was a series production model.

Mechanically, the RS Turbo retained the best features from the XR3i and RS1600i, but included a Garrett T3 turbocharger, which increased power of the 1597cc CVH engine to to a laggy 132bhp for a 125mph top speed. Seven-spoke RS alloys, a bodykit and aerodynamic aids marked out the RS Turbo as the ’80s boy racer’s favourite.

Friendly, helpful, extremely knowledgeable, patient enough to explain the processes and reasons for doing things and highlighted even more how approachable the team are. They tried to accommodate our needs and requests to get our beloved old riley back on the road as soon as possible despite the ups and downs that were thrown our way and into the teams path! We could not have wished to deal with a more personable company after encountering some other teams that really made a botch of stuff, seemed uncommitted and were not professional at all. Carrosserie as a team were totally the opposite . . would we recommend them ? ABSOLUTELY !!! We would not go anywhere else now, THANK YOU TO Steve, Neil, Graham and Nicola . . Oh and Karen who spilled the beans about the the birthday surprised to my partner (whose car it is ) . but made the experience all the more special when a bottle of wine was presented as well as a treat to Simon for his birthday AND made it all the more worth dealing with the team ! THANK YOU AGAIN !!!

My car was the subject of some body and paint repairs here in Spring 2024, to address corrosion plus some substandard paintwork. An annual service was also carried out. There was good responsive communications, advice, and attention to detail throughout, to ensure a high quality, durable result, with the final paintwork being indistinguishable from factory finish, and easily better than any franchised dealership repairs. If you are invested in your classic car, want to make it last, with an exemplary finish to be proud of, then you need look no further.

I can't recommend Carrosserie highly enough, the service was exemplary from start to finish and the workmanship is second to none. I highly recommend giving the team a call for any work you need doing to your classic car, no matter what it is, you will not be disappointed!