Ford Escort RS2000 4-Door - Reader Ride

By: Guy Allen, Photography by: Ben Galli

Date: 21.12.2017

Gareth Walker didn't start out as a Ford Escort fan but he soon discovered it's habit-forming

Gareth Walker's Ford Escort RS2000 4-Door

Australia was the only country in the world that made RS2000 in four-door form. I wasn’t really into Escorts at all, but about 16 years ago I came across an RS2000 that had been sitting in a garage for years and I bought it cheap. I bought it to make some money.

As I got involved, I joined the RS Owners Club of Victoria. So when I sold the car, I decided it was a good club, and went and bought another one! Now I’ve had about 10. We sort of say that once you’ve got two Escorts together it quickly becomes four, then eight and then it gets a bit out of control.

A friend of mine bought this car in 1997 with the intention to wreck it. The situation changed and he needed to put the car on the road, which cost him about $200 to get it roadworthy, and it became his Monday to Friday car for the next 14 years! I bought it off him five years ago, really to use it as my club cruiser – I also had a Mk1 race car at the time – and just intended to fix it up bit by bit.

| Buyer's guide: Ford Escort RS2000

So I went in to do the engine bay and found a bit of rust that required the guards coming off. That was the beginning of the story – it spent three years on a body trolley. A few things distinguish an RS. In the UK it was the only model available with a two-litre engine, but in Australia you could get a two litre in any model. The most obvious is the four headlight nose cone, and the different rear bumper. Inside they had factory-fitted Scheel seats and a three-spoke steering wheel.

Ford MK 2 Escort RS2000 Specs

BODY 2 or 4-door sedan
ENGINE 1993cc SOHC inline four cylinder
POWER & TORQUE 70kW @ 5200rpm, 148Nm @ 3800rpm
PERFORMANCE 0-100km/h 10.9 seconds
Top speed 175m/h
TRANSMISSION four-speed, all synchromesh manual
SUSPENSION Front – independent MacPherson struts, telescopic shocks Rear – live axle with semi elliptics, telescopic shocks
BRAKES disc front, drum rear power-assisted

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