Mk 1 Maize Mexico Needing a bit of TLC

[mike77cos]

Very nice time warp car

[CEARACING]

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

God, i never saw an escort with double petrol tank!

[Mexicomark]

shame as i have 2 mk1 escorts and cant get on the avo site but its there rules to have a closed shop what happened to the try before you buy ???

The AVO website can be veiwed by anyone Steven.
It's just the forum that is members only. It's just one thing that the club gives it members in return for them joining.

Don't get me wrong I have been in the same position as yourself, a non member with no access to the forum.
As I owned AVO cars I joined the club, as I thought I could help move the club forward I then took a position on the committee.

You obviously feel you want to be part of the club otherwise "no access" would not bother you.
You can even download the membership forms without being a member so no excuses for anyone who let there renewal lapse either.
Look I'll even post the links here http://www.avoclub.com/avosite/membership.pdf

http://www.avoclub.com/avosite/vehicle.pdf

I thought folks only moaned when they had paid for something & were not receiving what they expected.

Go on give it a try, you never know you may even like it.

[jdrally]

My favorite colour. Wish I still had mine. Anybody seen it lately.

[MexInTheForest]

OTK is still alive and well according to the DVLA site.

I used to hate the Maize colour at the time, and it was only popular around 1970 / 71 with a lot of Minis, Stags, MGBs and of course Capris and Escorts. Lotus used it on Elans for a short period and called it Bahama Yellow.

But I like it now, especially in the sea of black, silver and grey cars that seems to be the only colours modern cars are available in!

Mark

[jdrally]

OTK is still alive and well according to the DVLA site.

I used to hate the Maize colour at the time, and it was only popular around 1970 / 71 with a lot of Minis, Stags, MGBs and of course Capris and Escorts. Lotus used it on Elans for a short period and called it Bahama Yellow.

But I like it now, especially in the sea of black, silver and grey cars that seems to be the only colours modern cars are available in!

Mark

Sure, I have seen the dvla site, plus I have heard it is in Brighton. I sold it in 1990. My biggest regret as it only had 89,000 miles and 2 previous owners.
If I sell my rally car will look for another Mex.

[John Savage]

hi mark any up dates yet?

[Aaron P.]

i want them maize mexico's.........lovely machines...

[MexInTheForest]

Well, it's been a while but finally the Mex has gone off to have it's 40th birthday body renovation....one year late!

The car has gone to Stuart Bird, in Highbridge Somerset, who may not be known to many of you. He is well known in Cortina circles being a whizz fabricator and panel man, and has a few Lotus Cortinas and 1600Es under his belt. He has a Lotus Cortina, and an Escort that he's building up as an RS2000 rep. His mate in Weston-Super-Mare runs a paintshop, and produces stunning work as well, and he's another Lotus Cortina and Escort man! So I'm happy that this special Mex is in the right hands.

All I have done in preparation is to strip out the interior, which I was a bit nervous about in case some horrors lurked beneath. The only real nasty was the fireproof wall that had been installed in the car in the early 70s, under a huge mat of fibreglass which went right along the rear of the seat, over the wheel arches and down into the rear of the sill area.

This picture shows the last bit to get out, the offside rear wheel arch...



A real pig to get out without damaging anything, and in the end I used Nitromores and a heat gun to soften it up, and a chisel. Lots of opportunities to bleed, which I took.

Eventually it all came out....



And not a spot of rust underneath! The inside of the rear panel and the rear arches had been liberally coated in Ziebart wax which prevented the fibreglass to stick in most of the awkward and inaccessible places...luckily!

The rear panel is just about perfect, and for the originality buffs, note the small area of satin black blown over the air vents along the bottom of the screen, so that the body colour couldn't be seen through the air vents in the millboard rear shelf.



I think there's meant to be a bit of millboard between the back of the rear seat and the panel....anybody got one I can buy?

The floors and inner sills are just outstanding, with a tiny bit of surface rust on the inner sill where some damp had been stuck under the rubber mat. A hard poke with the screwdriver revealed it's all solid, with a tiny pinhole at the very front of the floor, where it meets the front wheelarch...





Note on the floor pan where the satin black has been waved over the bits that stick up through the rubber mat!

The car went off to Stuart's a couple of weeks ago, and he's now stripped it down to a bare rolling shell and taken the front wings off to see what's what. There are some bits that need doing around the wing rails and the slam panel to inner wing area, but it doesn't sound too bad..... I'm off down there tomorrow with camera, so I'll post more pics up then....

Mark

[mk1GTstu]

I really like this car, nice original condition. keep the pics coming!

[Hoonabator]

What a car! Very very similar to my 2000. Mine was mothballed in the early Eighties, has a moody 70's front wing replacement and the liberal application of black crap all over the engine bay. Will be interesting to see how they go about sorting yours. Are you going to try a keep in the original paint on the exterior?

[grum]

Dolly Sprint lurking

[MexInTheForest]

Has to be a Dolly Sprint lurking! And it also has the magic 'Ziebart' shield on the back screen, so is also a pretty rust free car...unheard of I know! Still a cheap way into motorsport as well if you can find a straight car. Bits are free with a packet of cornflakes, and for what I paid to have my BDG built, I could have had 10 Sprint engines with the same power!

As for the paint on the Mex, it's not original on the outside. It had a pretty cheap blowover in the 90s to 'tidy it up'....which it didn't! The old girl deserves a proper bare-metal paintjob now.
Mark

[Hoonabator]

Shame it had a cheap paint job. Original
Paint cars are thin on the ground I'd imagine.

I dabble in the air-cooled VW splitscreen world and the guys on
there will painstakingly remove blow over paintjobs to reveal the original paint.

[Mark Harper]

Agree original paint is lovely, if in good condition.
My Later Mex Still wears the original Sebring paint, and purchased at the same time as Marks, when being for sale in the same HAVOC mag.

There are some touch up areas which were done at the factory as slight over spray on the revering light seals.
The Original owner went to see the car on the factory merry go round and talked to some of the AVO work force.
The paint chap said the shells were inspected and paint thickness measured in micros. If too thick or thin the areas were rubbed down and repained for an even finish.
Still looks stunning and people always say, "nice respray" they can never believe me when I reply " No, still factory paint"

Regards,
Mark.