Lot 060: 1971 FORD ESCORT RS 1600 WORKS RALLY CAR

The last of twenty-one Ford Escort RS1600 Works Cars to be road registered during 1971 (and one of just eight that are reputed to have survived to the present day), 'PVX 400K' was one of three 'PVX' cars specially prepared by Ford's Boreham Competition Department for an assault on the 1971 RAC Rally. Allocated to Timo Makinen (PVX 398K), Hannu Mikkola (PVX 399K) and Roger Clark (PVX 400K) respectively, the trio were sponsored by Wills Tobacco and wore a distinctive red and white Embassy cigarettes livery. Hamstrung by various gearbox maladies and a faulty fuel gauge (the latter causing the pair to run out of fuel) Clark and co-driver Jim Porter could only manage 11th place overall. A tale of woe and frustration, their gruelling RAC ordeal was vividly captured in the Barry Hinchcliffe produced but Wills commissioned feature-length film 'From Harrogate it Started' (copies of which are still available). An indication of its true pace, 'PVX 400K' set fastest times on both the Bradford Sewage Works and Great Orme stages and surely would have finished closer to its fourth and fifth placed team mates had mechanical gremlins not intervened (after all Clark went onto win the 1972 RAC Rally aboard 'LVX 942J'). Returning to Boreham for the winter, 'PVX 400K' was upgraded from Ford four-speed to ZF five-speed transmission (and had its shell modified accordingly) before being used by Timo Makinen as a recce car in advance of the 1972 Monte Carlo Rally. Taking in the Serre-Chevallier ice race en route, Makinen used 'PVX 400K' to score a resounding win ahead of Jean Luc Therier's second-placed Alpine 110 and Bjorn Waldegaard's third-placed Porsche 911. Part of a three car Ford Team entered for the 1972 RSAC Scottish Rally, 'PVX 400K' was sponsored by The Scotsman newspaper (hence its adoption of a blue and white colour scheme). Piloted by Andrew Cowan and Brian Coyle, it finished in a highly credible 6th place overall (despite a succession of intermittent and elusive electrical faults). However, the RS1600 faired less well next time out when it was rolled into retirement during the third stage of the 1972 Olympia Rally by Dieter Glemser and Klaus Kaiser. Helmed by Timo Makinen and Henry Liddon on the 1972 RAC Rally, 'PVX 400K' is thought to have contested the event with one of the newly homologated alloy block 1977cc engines (in place of its usual 1800cc BDA unit). Despite Liddon's valiant digging efforts - the result of an off-road excursion - the reliveried Embassy Escort faired no better on the RAC second time round eventually retiring with wheel stud failure. Making its last Works outing in the hands of Hannu Mikkola, 'PVX 400K' served as his recce car for the 1973 East African Safari Rally. Remaining in the UK while its 'PVX' siblings were supposedly despatched to Hong Kong, 'PVX 400K' was sold into private ownership. Believed to have run on the 1974 Mintex Dales (or so a handwritten note on file would imply), it had migrated to Scotland by August 1975. Returning to England in June 1983, the forlorn Escort is said to have undergone a sympathetic restoration during the mid 1990s. Treated to a new cylinder block as part of a ú5,138 rebuild carried out by Terry Hoyle in 1994, its 1800cc BDA engine was subsequently found to produce 205.8bhp @ 8,000rpm and 144.2lbft @ 6,800rpm. The subject of a bodywork refurbishment by Gartrac at around the same time, 'PVX 400K' returned to the Surrey based specialist for a new 'Atlas' type back axle assembly in November 1999 (complete with rear disc brakes). Further benefiting from a reworking of its five-speed ZF 'straight cut' gearbox by BJW Transmissions (ú559, January 2000) and the installation of a new cambelt by Anderson Racing Engines (ú201, February 2000), the car undertook various historic events that same year. Seemingly little used since, the current ownership is nevertheless understood to have seen the engine and gearbox receive further attention. Although at present the car is bedecked with a host of period items including: seats, dashboard, plastic head lamp covers, Lucas spot lights, Heuer timing clocks and so on, it could be made ready for competition by fitting modern belts, seats and fire extinguishers etc. Boasting a known ownership chain from 1975 to date and a nigh-on continuous history, 'PVX 400K' will forever be associated with some of the most important names in Works Escort folklore. Described by the vendor as being in "excellent" condition with regard to its engine, gearbox, electrical equipment, interior trim, chassis, bodywork, paintwork and wheels / tyres, it is offered for sale with RAC / MSA Historic Rally Vehicle Identity documents, copy FIA Homologation papers, MOT certificate valid until June 18th 2007, historic class (free) road tax valid until April 30th 2007, numerous period photographs, magazine articles, 1971 RAC Rally programme, 1972 RSAC Scottish Rally programme and Andrew Cowan signed picture etc. Gracing the front cover of 'Classic Ford' magazine earlier this year (a copy of which accompanies the car), this historic Escort is worthy of close inspection. PLEASE NOTE: PVX 400K is thought to have been re-shelled during its Works career as a result of various incidents (namely the Olympic and RAC rallies of 1972). Indeed, the last bodyshell that it wore during its Works career is rumoured to have been abandoned in Nairobi. Thus, it is presumed that Ford re-shelled PVX 400K before selling it to the public. Photographs on file suggest that PVX 400K metamorphosed into a right-hand drive car during its post-Works rally career. By the early 1990s, PVX 400K existed only as a right-hand drive rolling shell and a V5 registration document. Conscious of the history behind the number plate, the owner at the time decided to create a facsimile of PVX 400K as it appeared during its Works heyday. To this end, he sourced an early left-hand drive Ford Escort MKI bodyshell and had it fitted with an 1800cc BDA-type engine, five-speed ZF gearbox, replica dashboard and new identification plates etc. Therefore, like many surviving Works Escorts, the link between PVX 400K and its past is the registration document rather than any Works components.