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I thought I’d better put the Maize Mex up here so that you can see what I’ll be on about in the next few months!
I wanted to buy an early battery-in-the-boot Mexico because I had a really nice engine to pop in. I had acquired a BDG from a mate, a guy who specialises in twincam and BD race engine building, and it needed a home.
After going on the AVO forum (before it became closed) and enquiring about getting an early Escort, I was kindly shown over one by one of the members and started to get to know what to look for. I joined up, got the first newsletter, and there was a Maize Mexico for sale in Preston. The magazine was 2 weeks old, but nobody had talked with the seller, so I went up to Preston the next morning and did the deal.
I had a long chat with the owner about the history of the car. He bought it in June ’71, but had to wait ‘till September to pick it up….that way it came on a ‘K’ plate, which is what he wanted.
Before picking it up, he had the car Ziebarted, which in those days was pretty drastic. Everything, but everything was covered in the stuff….you’ll see the pictures of the engine bay later on. He found the seats uncomfortable, so after a week, consigned them to the loft and installed a pair of Contour Recliners. He wanted to go touring Europe, into Yugoslavia and the edges of Turkey which had unmade roads, and installed a Magard sumpguard and twin petrol tanks. A pair of spare wheels and a set of Cibies on the front completed the ‘touring’ mods he wanted.
The car was used up until 1978, and then mothballed, always garaged. Then in 2003, he decided to get the car going again. This entailed rebuilding the engine, a couple of new tyres and a bit of work with the brakes, and the car was back on the road. It needed a bit more than that, and reading between the lines, it was probably a bit unreliable, and he lost confidence in the car, laid it up again and sold it to me early in 2008.
When I picked it up, it really was a time warp car, pretty much in the same condition as it was last used properly in 1978. The car was still all original (with the period mods), including the rubber carpet and the front seats that had only been sat on for a week. She was not running, with the petrol pump and air cleaner in the boot, no brakes and a dead battery. She was fired up within a couple of hours, brakes temporarily fixed the next day, and I was covered in horrible Ziebart muck after working on her, so that had to go.
It didn’t take long to decide that the car was way too original to rip out the Kent engine and install the BD, so those plans were abandoned for a while.
So apart from getting her running and deciding to keep her all original, and spending weeks getting all the Ziebart from the engine bay, I’ve done little else and now feel guilty! There is a little bit of bodywork to be done, including taking the N/S front wing off and putting it on properly (it’s brazed on after being bumped in the 70s) and a small amount of repair to the slam panel / wing area, where a tiny amount of rust has got hold after the repair I guess. The driver’s door also doesn’t look too clever, after the skin was replaced, also in the 70s, and probably by the same blind / drunk git that did the front wing! I have a really good original door to replace it.
So I am looking for someone who can do ‘invisible’ repairs, and repaint small areas (leaving the engine bay in its original paint) in cellulose….any recommendations?
Oh, one other thing I did was to replace the water pump. I’ve worked on Lotus Twincams for years so I figured this would be a walk in the park…didn’t even have to get the engine out to replace the pump. Unfortunately, the small bolt sheared, leaving a small stump, so some proper heat is required to get that out as well.
Once those little jobs are done, I’ll go through the hydraulics and sort them out properly, and get a few cosmetic jobs done (like the servo, which just looks like solid rust at the moment!). Then it’s on the road at last.
Here are a few more pictures, some being cut downs from the ‘Factory Original Sporting Mk 1 Escort’ book photoshoot.
The extra fuel tank is pretty obvious from this angle.
Here you can see that the door isn’t too clever.
She came with the Contours, which are very comfy for my 6ft 5 inch frame!
But I do love the original seats.
This is what the engine bay looked like….40 years of crud stuck onto the sticky underseal stuff.
The result after a few weekends of warm air, plastic scrapers and about 5 gallons of petrol. Paint that hadn't seen the light of day since September 1971 was revealed, and even the stickers were still intact under all that muck.
Mark
I wanted to buy an early battery-in-the-boot Mexico because I had a really nice engine to pop in. I had acquired a BDG from a mate, a guy who specialises in twincam and BD race engine building, and it needed a home.
After going on the AVO forum (before it became closed) and enquiring about getting an early Escort, I was kindly shown over one by one of the members and started to get to know what to look for. I joined up, got the first newsletter, and there was a Maize Mexico for sale in Preston. The magazine was 2 weeks old, but nobody had talked with the seller, so I went up to Preston the next morning and did the deal.
I had a long chat with the owner about the history of the car. He bought it in June ’71, but had to wait ‘till September to pick it up….that way it came on a ‘K’ plate, which is what he wanted.
Before picking it up, he had the car Ziebarted, which in those days was pretty drastic. Everything, but everything was covered in the stuff….you’ll see the pictures of the engine bay later on. He found the seats uncomfortable, so after a week, consigned them to the loft and installed a pair of Contour Recliners. He wanted to go touring Europe, into Yugoslavia and the edges of Turkey which had unmade roads, and installed a Magard sumpguard and twin petrol tanks. A pair of spare wheels and a set of Cibies on the front completed the ‘touring’ mods he wanted.
The car was used up until 1978, and then mothballed, always garaged. Then in 2003, he decided to get the car going again. This entailed rebuilding the engine, a couple of new tyres and a bit of work with the brakes, and the car was back on the road. It needed a bit more than that, and reading between the lines, it was probably a bit unreliable, and he lost confidence in the car, laid it up again and sold it to me early in 2008.
When I picked it up, it really was a time warp car, pretty much in the same condition as it was last used properly in 1978. The car was still all original (with the period mods), including the rubber carpet and the front seats that had only been sat on for a week. She was not running, with the petrol pump and air cleaner in the boot, no brakes and a dead battery. She was fired up within a couple of hours, brakes temporarily fixed the next day, and I was covered in horrible Ziebart muck after working on her, so that had to go.
It didn’t take long to decide that the car was way too original to rip out the Kent engine and install the BD, so those plans were abandoned for a while.
So apart from getting her running and deciding to keep her all original, and spending weeks getting all the Ziebart from the engine bay, I’ve done little else and now feel guilty! There is a little bit of bodywork to be done, including taking the N/S front wing off and putting it on properly (it’s brazed on after being bumped in the 70s) and a small amount of repair to the slam panel / wing area, where a tiny amount of rust has got hold after the repair I guess. The driver’s door also doesn’t look too clever, after the skin was replaced, also in the 70s, and probably by the same blind / drunk git that did the front wing! I have a really good original door to replace it.
So I am looking for someone who can do ‘invisible’ repairs, and repaint small areas (leaving the engine bay in its original paint) in cellulose….any recommendations?
Oh, one other thing I did was to replace the water pump. I’ve worked on Lotus Twincams for years so I figured this would be a walk in the park…didn’t even have to get the engine out to replace the pump. Unfortunately, the small bolt sheared, leaving a small stump, so some proper heat is required to get that out as well.
Once those little jobs are done, I’ll go through the hydraulics and sort them out properly, and get a few cosmetic jobs done (like the servo, which just looks like solid rust at the moment!). Then it’s on the road at last.
Here are a few more pictures, some being cut downs from the ‘Factory Original Sporting Mk 1 Escort’ book photoshoot.
The extra fuel tank is pretty obvious from this angle.
Here you can see that the door isn’t too clever.
She came with the Contours, which are very comfy for my 6ft 5 inch frame!
But I do love the original seats.
This is what the engine bay looked like….40 years of crud stuck onto the sticky underseal stuff.
The result after a few weekends of warm air, plastic scrapers and about 5 gallons of petrol. Paint that hadn't seen the light of day since September 1971 was revealed, and even the stickers were still intact under all that muck.
Mark
...Keep the pics coming..Adrian
paul
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