HIGH-CLASS ESCORT

DAVOR PRIBICEVIC'S ESCORT HAS BEEN A LONG-TERM AFFAIR. THANKFULLY, HIS FAMILY DOESN'T MIND AT ALL!

- DAVE CAREY

UNLIKE some of us, Adelaide's Davor Pribicevic's shed isn't full of a multitude of half-finished projects. His focus is honed on just one — a 578hp, SR20-powered Ford Escort RS2000 - and while it's had the odd nap since 1999, it's been turning the tyres longer than it hasn't been.

There was a time when Escorts were everywhere, starting out as venerable second cars for the household, then demoted to P-plater runabouts, and usually followed by the wreckers. Naturally, Davor went through a few of Ford's finest small car during his misspent youth, and for every one of those, there were at least a couple of busted rear ends.

"That's how I found this," Davor explains. "I had just blown the diff in my yellow Escort - 1 went through 12 of them back in the day - so I got the Trading Post, and there this one was under 'Wrecking'." A quick phone call later and Davor was at a dodgy unit complex looking at an Escort RS2000, which, despite the listing, was complete right down to the slant polyurethane nose and squishy black boot spoiler.

"He wanted two grand for it, because he'd just put these gold wheels and new tyres on it, but they just didn't work for some reason. We came to $800 without the rims, and I'm like, 'Sick!'. Then I realise I'm 17 and don't have $800," Davor laughs.

Still, Davor's desire for the R2000 must have won out over his lack of funds, as the deal was done. "It must have been pranged in the front, because the nosecone was white and the driver's door didn't shut properly," he says of the Esky's condition. "But I planned to rebuild it on my apprentice wage."