BVR's

[wayne]

I'm looking at getting another mk2 RS soon, but there is one thing that has put me off a car as soon as I spot it, the one thing that I think is wrong straight away and dont even bother viewing it....

I had a mk2 RS 2000 custom when it was 10 years old and the factory black vinyl roof finished at the bottom of the front screen. Is this correct or have I been wrong in thinking this was correct all this time?

CheeRS

[rsderek]

Hi,
I believe your right. there's a thread here somewere about it I think. I remember clearly reading it,that if the front section comes to the end of the pillar its factory fitted one, if it came to the top of the pillar it was fitted afterwards by the dealer.

cheeRS


Derek

[Aled]

Agree with Derek...both are correct, just fitted at different times.

Certainly no need to be put off from viewing a car though

[dasadrew]

Interesting then that the original Ford BVR ordered as a spare part over the counter goes down to the bottom of the pillar. Why would the dealer have fitted a different BVR?

I had understood that the short ones are non-Ford.

[jimmer]

Are the vinyl roofs waterproof ?
I had one years ago factory fitted but it did seem to fade and I had to treat it with back to black. So it does put me off a bit and they must slow the car down with a greater drag factor. Paint looks better and its a lot nicer.

[Aled]

Paint looks better and its a lot nicer.

Marmite....I love that as well as BVR's

[Andyc]

mr sheen is the best

[Nipper]

Good job we all have different tastes really

Bit like women BVR's

[dasadrew]

bit like women with cellulitis bvr's

efa

[Chesney]

bvr's are a must on a white rsk, love em

[GAZ W]

I read that the original idea of a BVR is to give a car an appearance that it is a convertible and that the front pilars are not covered (as in a convertible car) if you think about it all /most convertibles have body coloured A pillars

[RS2000EXPRESS]

Hi,
I believe your right. there's a thread here somewere about it I think. I remember clearly reading it,that if the front section comes to the end of the pillar its factory fitted one, if it came to the top of the pillar it was fitted afterwards by the dealer.

cheeRS


Derek

Sorry but just don't remember any new Mk2 Escort fitted with a factory vinyl roof that was cut short at the top of the pillars!

Here I have explained my reasons in this thread to back up this theory:

http://bbs.rallyesportescorts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=27312&highlight=short+pillar

To try and clear this up, you have to go back to 12th July 1975 when "Motor" magazine featured a road test for the then new RS1800. The car featured was Ford press car reg mark JJN981N fitted with a vinyl roof which carried on down to the bottom of the front pillars. If you then move on the 5 years to 1980 when the Venetian Red RS2000 Custom was featured in the last RS Mk2 brochure, you will see that the car is also fitted with the factory option BVR which runs down to the bottom of the front pillars, so no evidence of the cut-off pillar here! Fords were pretty consistant on what they did especially were appearance was concerned. They would not have the long pillars for a few months and then decide to have a change and make a few short ones and later when they felt like it to produce a few long ones again, which the varied pictures of various years of RS shown on this forum would suggest!

During the MK2 production run there were numerous aftermarket vinyl roofs about for these cars. Some were of appaling quality which meant different finishes to the leathercloth, glue bleeding through, and loss of colour. Some would use the Ford hockey stick trims which were always expensive, and others would use a cheap alternative to cut costs. To confuse the issue over the last 30 years some of these aftermarket vinyl roofs will have been replaced with better copies of the original v/roofs but still with the vinyl finishing at the top. As an aftermarket fix, the Capri vinyl roof would fit both cars and therefore saved holding additional stock of the correct Escort vinyl roof.


One last point, how many original Ford press pictures have you seen with the Mk 2 Escort fitted with BVR and cut-off pillars? Also how original untouched Mk2 Escort Ghia's have you seen with a standard factory fitted vinyl roof and cut-off front pillars?

Tim.

[RS2000EXPRESS]

I read that the original idea of a BVR is to give a car an appearance that it is a convertible and that the front pilars are not covered (as in a convertible car) if you think about it all /most convertibles have body coloured A pillars

I think the original idea came from this little chap, built between 1945 and 1952. Some images of this car show the vinyl down to the bottom of the front pillars so this is a very old problem! There was also a convertible version of this car.

http://www.rileyrmclub.org.uk/gallery.htm

[wetandwindy2]

bvr's are a must on a white rsk, love em

agree with the sir on that one yellow custom has got a BVR on his signal yellow RS2 and looks very nice

[RS2000EXPRESS]

agree with the sir on that one yellow custom has got a BVR on his signal yellow RS2 and looks very nice

I agree yellow and white look superb witht the vinyl roof. This was my car which I had stolen in 1987 and never recovered. My car was new without the vinyl roof, so I fitted an aftermarket item for a Capri. It looked exactly the same material as the Ford item but required the the front pillar strips stitching on, from excess fabric that was trimmed off the main piece.