Had to share this beauty as a nice distraction :)
Spotted in Thailand today! A very rare gem indeed ...
from the web ... "The Mk. I Ford Escort was introduced in the UK at the end of 1967, making its show debut at Brussels Motor Show in January 1968 and replacing the successful long running Anglia. Escorts became successful as a rally car, and eventually went on to become one of the most successful rally cars of all time. The Ford works team was practically unbeatable in the late 1960's and early 1970's; arguably the Escort's greatest victory was in the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally being driven by Finnish legend Hannu Mikkola. This gave rise to the Escort Mexico special edition road versions in honour of the rally car. In addition to the Mexico, the RS1600 was developed which used a Kent engine block with a 16-valve Cosworth cylinder head. This engine was essentially a de-tuned Formula 3 engine designated BDA. Both the Mexico and RS1600 were built at Ford's Advanced Vehicle Operations (AVO) facility located at the Aveley Plant in South Essex. As well as higher performance engines and sports suspension, these models featured strengthened bodyshells, making them ideal for rallying. Ford also produced an RS2000 model as an alternative to the somewhat temperamental RS1600, featuring a 2.0Litre Pinto (OHC) engine. This also chalked up some rally and racing victories and pre-empted the hot-hatch market as a desirable but affordable performance road car. Like the Mexico and RS1600, this car was produced at the Aveley plant."
In this case, we appear to have what looks like a quite original example of the rare RS2000 Mk1 Escort. A little rally car for the road, and the affordable, practical performance car before the era of the hot hatch.
To see this in Thailand is a very rare sight indeed! There are many classics here however, so you do see rare cars around. Whenever I spot them I try to get some snaps, this time I made a post whilst the event was fresh.
Now being a Thai car, and without seeing under the hood, who knows if a little toyota twin-cam was under there. Wouldn't surprise me. Shame I never managed to catch the owner - maybe I'll see the car around again ...
How you like the high contrast look? Continuing to play in photoshop and extend my skills there - in this case mostly just tight crops, and doing some burns on the background, adjusting levels until I was roughly happy with the results ...
What a beauty, such a shame they don't come in small lightweight rwd packages like this anymore ...