New RSOC concourse class

[bigjohnie]

one of the best shows i have been to is glamis castle there are thousands of cars and lots of other things to do autojumble is huge

[rwdrs]

The problem with a lot of the shows now is that they are struggling to get 1000 people through the gates never mind 5000

Concours is not for everyone but the general public like to see cars prepared to a very high standard and mirrors etc. attract people around these cars.

I never did get these people that stick their cars up on blocks with mirrors jammed under them? That was the beginning of the end, it started with the 3i brigade, trailer queeens and the like, chrome plating everything in sight...

Genuine enthusiasts can (or at least should) be able to appreciate a nice clean car or, even a not so clean example.

Whether or not it's soul destroying listening to planks ripping the p*§§ out of your car, whether it be details that they think are wrong or just the car's general apperance, is another matter.

[Martin]

Yes an unrestored original low mileage car is a rare and beautiful thing, but your 10 year old boy with his dad will more than likely walk straight past to see the gleaming car and hopefully aspire to owning one 'just like it'

I never did get these people that stick their cars up on blocks with mirrors jammed under them? That was the beginning of the end, it started with the 3i brigade, trailer queeens and the like, chrome plating everything in sight...

Genuine enthusiasts can (or at least should) be able to appreciate a nice clean car or, even a not so clean example.

Whether or not it's soul destroying listening to planks ripping the p*§§ out of your car, whether it be details that they think are wrong or just the car's general apperance, is another matter.

The last bit that you left off is the important bit. We need young blood to come through as without them we will end up with only an aging group of owners who's numbers will dwindle year on year.

If the young lad or lass is not excited by what he sees then he will quickly lose interest and go onto something else. Yes he will learn as he gets older about originality and unrestored but at 10 years old most of them want to be entertained and excited by what they can see.

[steven f]

I never did get these people that stick their cars up on blocks with mirrors jammed under them? That was the beginning of the end, it started with the 3i brigade, trailer queeens and the like, chrome plating everything in sight...

Genuine enthusiasts can (or at least should) be able to appreciate a nice clean car or, even a not so clean example.

Whether or not it's soul destroying listening to planks ripping the p*§§ out of your car, whether it be details that they think are wrong or just the car's general apperance, is another matter.

same in the classic bike gang bikes never ridden or some have been shown without cranks pistons valves ect dont get it showing a bike with no engine internals

at uttoxeter the other year to collect your prize you had to ride your bike round the parade ring yes only 40% picked up there trophy

[grum]

going off on a tangent here, i blame Ford for not producing cars that people want anymore - for example, in the past, up to say the mid eighties, road sporty models were relevant to the field of sport they were in, rallying = escorts, racing = cosworth, everything was good for the road user who wanted a sporty RS model

since the inception of the Focus, what have we been offered ?????, a focus in any colour as long as it was blue !!!!!!!!, a jelly mould "car", again in "sporty" blue and finally a 3000bhp fwd, self steering, tyre eater that came to sale just when the company moved to the Fiesta for rallying !!!!!

the old addage of race on sunday, sell on monday totally shot to bits - dont get me wrong, they probably are great cars but their appeal surely is only in the fact that, 'that's all there is on offer' ?

with Fords relative success of recent years, i would have thought they'd have been able to knock out a couple of RS versions of the Focus quite easily, with a tuning kit for the engine, body styling et al, bringing, or shall we say, CONTINUING one of the most famous brands in motorsport ..................... what did we get ? ............. a "ST" Fiesta and Focus immediately alienating a large percentage of people who wouldn't want one all because it was not an RS - just think of the peeps being told there will never be an RS Focus, spending their hard earned on an ST only to find out, ooh, there is going to be an RS afterall im pretty sure that if they'd have been RS versions instead of ST's, they'd have probably sold double the amount if not more

the demand is there, it must be, just look at the RS500 recently, sold out before most peeps had even heard of it ....................

so the reason for this small rant, simple ................... i think Ford has missed the boat in their marketing big time - RS models appeal to success - plenty of people like us grew up to aspire to owning a 'road version' "rally car", many still do, and as said a few times in the other posts, there will soon be a dwindling in the support for the cars, shows and more importantly the marque because despite of their success, they're not cashing in on it - ultimately younger supporters will become less and less interested in the RS brand

can you honestly hearing kids saying in 20 years "my uncle had a RS Focus" with the same aplomb as we've all heard about a mk1 Mexico or mk2 RS2000 !!!!!!

just a few things that been bugging me ............... for ages actually

the RS marque is dead, long live ................................ hopefully

i thank you

[Martin]

Well put Graeme

[grum]

im going for a sleep now, knackered, and my fingers are bleeding !!!!!!!!!!!

[Frosticles]

Bloody hell Grummy, Best post you have ever written son.

[ian parker]

just to add to this, i think times have changed. I think the 70, and 80,s were the golden age for RS,s. This obviously coincided with most of us being 18 to 25 years old. All we wanted was an RS car. Today its different, my son is 18, drives a Toyota Aygo. Ask him what an alloy is, he doesnt know. I think insurance is a big player today, in our days, we insured through daddy and others. Simple, The insurance companines today are far more switched on. You simply cant do it. So putting a positive spin on this thread. We must consider ourselves very lucky that WE were and are the ones that have owned these very special cars.

[76mex]

dont need a paint gauge if you know what your looking plus you can tell the difference straight away of the quality

[Tim]

following on from what grum said,part of the problem ford arent making the right cars and also people are buying the cars then after a few years moving on to the next thing,its just a phase there going through.


ford ****ed up in the mid 90s,they stopped the Escort Cosworth, they wasn't interested in the Rs brand anymore and followed the yanks with the Racing Brand with the Racing Puma which is more an RS then the Focus RS will ever be,Boreham built, special 909 part number, closet thing to a rally special, there was even a 1 make rally series using the Puma,so everything an Rs should be and at the time there was the Ka rally championship so 2 cars that could of carried the RS badge, might be only a ka but it does look good to me

[rsjohn1]

This I have to see, and the stories to authenticate

John

[specialbuild]

For " unrestored " cars

2 classes ,

pre 81 and post 81

anyone fancy it ?

Well I dont own a mk 2 but thought id put me two peneth in.

Personally I dont think that a paint job constitutes a restoration.

After reading this thread it seems that the class you are talking about should be for the most 'Original' car.

but . . ..

to include the other more general car owners there should be 'something else' as an incentive - another class or category . . .

course this has been debated for the past 20 yrs or more!!!

[rwdrs]

going off on a tangent here, i blame Ford for not producing cars that people want anymore - for example, in the past, up to say the mid eighties, road sporty models were relevant to the field of sport they were in, rallying = escorts, racing = cosworth, everything was good for the road user who wanted a sporty RS model

since the inception of the Focus, what have we been offered ?????, a focus in any colour as long as it was blue !!!!!!!!, a jelly mould "car", again in "sporty" blue and finally a 3000bhp fwd, self steering, tyre eater that came to sale just when the company moved to the Fiesta for rallying !!!!!

the old addage of race on sunday, sell on monday totally shot to bits - dont get me wrong, they probably are great cars but their appeal surely is only in the fact that, 'that's all there is on offer' ?

with Fords relative success of recent years, i would have thought they'd have been able to knock out a couple of RS versions of the Focus quite easily, with a tuning kit for the engine, body styling et al, bringing, or shall we say, CONTINUING one of the most famous brands in motorsport ..................... what did we get ? ............. a "ST" Fiesta and Focus immediately alienating a large percentage of people who wouldn't want one all because it was not an RS - just think of the peeps being told there will never be an RS Focus, spending their hard earned on an ST only to find out, ooh, there is going to be an RS afterall im pretty sure that if they'd have been RS versions instead of ST's, they'd have probably sold double the amount if not more

the demand is there, it must be, just look at the RS500 recently, sold out before most peeps had even heard of it ....................

so the reason for this small rant, simple ................... i think Ford has missed the boat in their marketing big time - RS models appeal to success - plenty of people like us grew up to aspire to owning a 'road version' "rally car", many still do, and as said a few times in the other posts, there will soon be a dwindling in the support for the cars, shows and more importantly the marque because despite of their success, they're not cashing in on it - ultimately younger supporters will become less and less interested in the RS brand

can you honestly hearing kids saying in 20 years "my uncle had a RS Focus" with the same aplomb as we've all heard about a mk1 Mexico or mk2 RS2000 !!!!!!

just a few things that been bugging me ............... for ages actually

the RS marque is dead, long live ................................ hopefully

i thank you

Yes Grum old chap you're right, I know many on here won't like it, but the day the last RWD Escort left the factory is the day that the RS "brand" was killed off. The RS turbo sort of rekindled the RS idea, when Ford realised the RS1700T was going nowhere in a hurry and being desperate to have some of the reflected glory of motorsport success.

As for the current model line-up, I think you're looking at Ford Motor Company through UK-tinted glasses. In most other markets they are just "another" manufacturer and I suspect that the RS programme (especially the Avely adventure) was an expensive PR exercise and nowadays Ford cannot risk spending money on expensive engineering and type approval for a model that will be popular in a couple of countries but otherwise (worldwide) a money looser.

Ford spent a lot of time building a customer base (in the 60s, 70s and 80s), only to loose contact with them and concentrate more on what their rivals were offering than what their customers wanted

[steven f]

this is also why the RS OWNERS CLUB is crap its full of new cars that are not really RS,s