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Sorry for the over dramatic start to the thread fella's and i apoligise now if this is a little long winded but i just wanted to tell you how i came to find this site. 
So here Goes.
My brother law has been looking for a MK1 or MK2 for a while. First one we went to look at was in Wales bear in mind we live in Southend in Essex. A 510 mile round trip to view a car that was not a GCAT chassis so not an RS2000 as advertised o well.
Second car is a Mk2 X-pack in Aberdeen (1250 mile round trip ), I dont think we could have found one further away
. So a car journey to Gatwick 4:30am ( Sister inlaw drops us off ). Then a flight straight to Aberdeen first problem was customs on the way out wanted the in's and out's of a cats back side as why the two of us are armed with nearly 7 large in used twenties on aone way flight to northern Scotland.
Land at Aberdeen finally previous owner of the vehicle met us at the airport then took us to the car. After a lengthy look round and a decent test drive a deal was done, all happy now 11:30am we we started the 586 mile drive home. During the sale conversaion i ask the owner does the car have a cigar lighter what i should have asked was does it work ?
( For TomTom ). Cigar lighter in op . Doh !
After much rumaging around the back of the dash a dashboard illumination bulb was found ( To use as a test light ). Located an earth and live wired into the socket promtly blew the sat nav wired in the wrong way round DOH !!!! Wired up correctly and sat nav plug in charge socket stripped and repaired with a spare bullet fuse out of Escort fuse box. All whilst i drove through the suburbs of Aberdeen the brother inlaw was in passenger footwell upside down arm wedged up the back of the dash.
Pretty much plain sailing for the next 280 miles except for enjoying ourselfs on every roundabout and junction grining like a couple of teenagers.
Whilst crusing about 70 a new noise appears a pull into the next services proves that in all the enjoyment of previous roundabouts we had managed to break the exhaust manifold ( 4 Branch ) at one of the y sections DOOOOHHHH !!!!!!!!! So into the garage shop for an exhaust bandage ( No we are in the worlds most up its own back side services its has a Deli outdoor BBQ area and a farm shop ).
Onto the next services in the hope of a bandage; exhaust is now getting worse back box has now broken off. As we pull in spot a couple of likely looking AA men
.
After confirming we are in the AA one of them attempts a repair without an exhaust bandage and with chemical metal WHAT ????? was he thinking drying time alone is 12 hours plus the pressure and the movement with torque bless him. He rings a pal of his who owns a garage two junctions down the motorway who might weld it for us. Time now is 17:50 on a saturday night and the owner of the garage was walking into the pub during the phone call; there is no way someone is going to do this for a couple of southern monkeys this far north at this time on a saturday night.
We drive to the garage postcode supplied by the very nice AA man. We arrive ( now 18:20 ) garage shut we stand there talking about what we are going to do now ??? after about 10 mins the owner arrives with his wife/girlfriend. He spots the lovely X-Pack Mk2 makes a phone call unlocks the garage takes a couple of cars out puts the Mk2 on the ramp and starts to weld the exhaust while taking the mickey out of us southern shandy drinkers 
.At this point three more lads turn up a couple of them RS2000 owners who all think we are slightly mental to go that far for a car and give me the web site address for this site . Thanks Fella's......
The welding done as best as possible and a personnal garanteee that it will hold and the princely sum of £40 handed over ( Now 19:00 on a saturday night ) what an absolute legend
We continue the last leg of the journey just the three hundered miles to go with a light exhaust blow. Every services we go to the car draws a small audience. We finally arrive back in sunny southend 00:30 sunday morning. Nice Escort safely back in Essex and no recovery insight.
EPIC is the only way i can describe the journey it was like being in a Top Gear special just wanted to say thanks to everyone we met and who helped and for the web address.
So here Goes.My brother law has been looking for a MK1 or MK2 for a while. First one we went to look at was in Wales bear in mind we live in Southend in Essex. A 510 mile round trip to view a car that was not a GCAT chassis so not an RS2000 as advertised o well.
Second car is a Mk2 X-pack in Aberdeen (1250 mile round trip ), I dont think we could have found one further away
. So a car journey to Gatwick 4:30am ( Sister inlaw drops us off ). Then a flight straight to Aberdeen first problem was customs on the way out wanted the in's and out's of a cats back side as why the two of us are armed with nearly 7 large in used twenties on aone way flight to northern Scotland.Land at Aberdeen finally previous owner of the vehicle met us at the airport then took us to the car. After a lengthy look round and a decent test drive a deal was done, all happy now 11:30am we we started the 586 mile drive home. During the sale conversaion i ask the owner does the car have a cigar lighter what i should have asked was does it work ?
( For TomTom ). Cigar lighter in op . Doh !After much rumaging around the back of the dash a dashboard illumination bulb was found ( To use as a test light ). Located an earth and live wired into the socket promtly blew the sat nav wired in the wrong way round DOH !!!! Wired up correctly and sat nav plug in charge socket stripped and repaired with a spare bullet fuse out of Escort fuse box.
All whilst i drove through the suburbs of Aberdeen the brother inlaw was in passenger footwell upside down arm wedged up the back of the dash.Pretty much plain sailing for the next 280 miles except for enjoying ourselfs on every roundabout and junction grining like a couple of teenagers.
Whilst crusing about 70 a new noise appears
a pull into the next services proves that in all the enjoyment of previous roundabouts we had managed to break the exhaust manifold ( 4 Branch ) at one of the y sections DOOOOHHHH !!!!!!!!! So into the garage shop for an exhaust bandage ( No we are in the worlds most up its own back side services its has a Deli outdoor BBQ area and a farm shop ).Onto the next services in the hope of a bandage; exhaust is now getting worse back box has now broken off. As we pull in spot a couple of likely looking AA men
.After confirming we are in the AA one of them attempts a repair without an exhaust bandage and with chemical metal WHAT ????? was he thinking drying time alone is 12 hours plus the pressure and the movement with torque bless him. He rings a pal of his who owns a garage two junctions down the motorway who might weld it for us. Time now is 17:50 on a saturday night and the owner of the garage was walking into the pub during the phone call; there is no way someone is going to do this for a couple of southern monkeys this far north at this time on a saturday night.
We drive to the garage postcode supplied by the very nice AA man. We arrive ( now 18:20 ) garage shut we stand there talking about what we are going to do now ??? after about 10 mins the owner arrives with his wife/girlfriend
. He spots the lovely X-Pack Mk2 makes a phone call unlocks the garage takes a couple of cars out puts the Mk2 on the ramp and starts to weld the exhaust while taking the mickey out of us southern shandy drinkers .At this point three more lads turn up a couple of them RS2000 owners who all think we are slightly mental to go that far for a car and give me the web site address for this site . Thanks Fella's......The welding done as best as possible and a personnal garanteee that it will hold and the princely sum of £40 handed over ( Now 19:00 on a saturday night ) what an absolute legend
We continue the last leg of the journey just the three hundered miles to go with a light exhaust blow
. Every services we go to the car draws a small audience. We finally arrive back in sunny southend 00:30 sunday morning. Nice Escort safely back in Essex and no recovery insight. EPIC is the only way i can describe the journey it was like being in a Top Gear special just wanted to say thanks to everyone we met and who helped and for the web address.
, bet you got plenty of waves and thumbs up throughout your journey! lol 
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