Fit For Purpose

Calvin South’s Mk2 Escort is the perfect tool for fast road thrills and long-range jaunts – a spot-on spec, beautifully put together, and eager to be used.

- Daniel Bevis

It’s no secret or surprise that the values of Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts are at an all-time high. We’re seeing original survivors selling for eye-watering sums at high-end auction houses, vying for kudos with Ferraris and Maseratis and whatnot, destined for a life of stasis in a hermetically-sealed collection somewhere. This scenario is a long way removed from the old 1980s/1990s way of doing things, picking up a cheap and knocked-about rear-drive Escort for beer money, throwing in a hot cam and a set of Billies and chucking it about down some country lanes.

Thankfully — and you’ll of course be well aware of this yourself, being an afi cionado of old Fords — this passion for fi nancial speculation hasn’t permeated every corner of the Escort world. There’s still a hardcore of fans who see these cars for what they are; simple pleasures, uncomplicated engineering that’s easily tweakable for fast road thrills. The idea of breathing a bit of extra power into one of these cars, upgrading the chassis, and then going off on some open-road adventures is as alive today as it ever was.

Calvin South’s 1978 Mk2 is a case in point. When this car came into his life, it was already together in a solid body and ready for action.

“I bought it from a guy named Craig Humphrey two years ago, and drove it home from Surrey to Cumbria,” he recalls. “That was a journey of 350 miles; it took seven hours!”