"Real" Escort Twin Cam

[aeronca65t]

"Real" Escort Twin Cam

Saw a <span style="text-decoration: underline">real</span> one ~Last Weekend~

....not a crappy American one like my Red Pig.

 

[AngliaGT]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

Those are just too cool!

- Doug

 

[racingenglishcars]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

engine

 

[vagt6]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

So, what are the characteristics of the twin cam engine? Is it a Lotus engine??

Anyone have the lowdown on the power?

Absolutely cool car. I saw a few at the regional Brit car shows this year, seems they're making a comeback. Probably because of the price.

 

[swift6]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

That one appears to be a BDA. Ford roots (just like the Lotus engine) but with some heavy Cosworth development. Over 200 ponies in race trim. Easily too. Add a turbo and things can get stupid scary right fast.

 

[aeronca65t]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

The stock Twin Cam Escort makes about 110 HP...same as a Lotus Cortina.

The later BDA 16-valve made a few more; about 120 HP.
This doesn't sound like much considering an ordinary Hyundai can make 140+ HP these days.

But these cars were <span style="text-decoration: underline">light</span> and had better handling than many other cars of the day.

As mentioned, a modified BDA could make <span style="text-decoration: underline">big</span> horsepower. The Formula 3 BDA engines made 235 HP out of the crate from Ford.

 

[vagt6]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

Thanks for the input, guys.

I really like the rally gauges in the middle of the dash, and a console. Really sporty car.

I like.

 

[waltesefalcon]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

I always have wondered why Fords American cars never took any cues from their over seas cousins.

 

[Steve]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

Apparently we are going to see our first true "world car" Ford on these shores fairly soon. The new Ford Fiesta will be the same as is available in Europe. About time too!

My theory as to why Ford never did that before is that it is due to management underestimating the American driver. Part "they will never miss what they never had", and part "they don't want responsive, communicative, sporting and smaller cars".

Well maybe the full-size-rear-wheel-drive land yacht brigade wouldn't want cars like this, but there were many who did, and as a result cars such as the BMW 2002 did extremely well over here. Imagine if Ford had brought the Escort over from Europe and had left it alone, it would have ushered in something of a revolution. Much cheaper than the 2002, it would have been immensely popular.

 

[healeynut]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

That Bernie Ecclestone quote about the Singapore F1 is classic. I was there in Singapore - great race.

:lol:

 

[john_j]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

Cars badged as Twin Cam had a Lotus / Ford engine.

The cars with the BDA were badge RS1600 and RS1800. I think some of the works cars had a 2000 BDA, but I'm not certain about that.

(Cars Badged as RS2000 had the Pinto engine and didn't have the same performance as the RS16 and 18)

My recollection is that 120bhp is correct for the road going RS1600, they were de tuned to 120 to make them sensible enough to sell as road cars; the rally cars were tuned up a bit from there!

In the 70s, one of my friends had a Mk1 Escort van with a blown up engine and a 'left over' BDA lying about, so put them together which gave a few other drivers a shock at the traffic lights!

 

[john_j]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

Apparently we are going to see our first true "world car" Ford on these shores fairly soon. The new Ford Fiesta will be the same as is available in Europe.

I though you had the Focus over there - is that different from the european one?

 

[drooartz]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

It wasn't at the beginning, but while the European Focus has been improved and looks nice, the US one has gotten stagnant and a bit ugly.

 

[Steve]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

It wasn't at the beginning, but while the European Focus has been improved and looks nice, the US one has gotten stagnant and a bit ugly.

Didn't the US version have different engines from those in Europe?

 

[swift6]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

Both had ZTEC's

We also had the Ford "Contour"/Mercury "Mystique" for a short period. Which were first gen Mondeo's I believe.

 

[Roger]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

Both had ZTEC's

We also had the Ford "Contour"/Mercury "Mystique" for a short period. Which were first gen Mondeo's I believe.

I think they were Mondeo platforms, but uglied-up for the US market.

 

[70herald]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

Both had ZTEC's

We also had the Ford "Contour"/Mercury "Mystique" for a short period. Which were first gen Mondeo's I believe.

I think they were Mondeo platforms, but uglied-up for the US market.

Uglied up and dumbed down. To bad, the Mondeo is a rather nice car. So is the Euro version of the Focus.

 

[healeynut]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

I was in the Czech and Slovak republics earlier this year and rented a Ford Focus wagon (they call it a combi). It had a diesel motor.

It had tons of power (very fast, actually) and while not being too particularly careful of how I drove, I got something around 40 mpg. And this was a car full of kids, wife and bags. I'm sure I could have pushed 45 mpg without too much effort.

Very comfortable to drive, and the dash and instruments were very nicely done. A handsome car as well.

I have no clue why they don't sell this car in the US. The US car manufacturers deserve to go bankrupt.

 

[JPSmit]

Re: "Real" Escort Twin Cam

I have no clue why they don't sell this car in the US. The US car manufacturers deserve to go bankrupt.

apparently they can't afford to. even though they already have the designs, they can't afford to increase capacity there, or set up factories here. spectacular lack of foresight I suspect