new shells,will it ever happen?

[morcheen]

with all the interest in all things mk2 escort,the amount of cars used in all forms of motorsport around the world,and as a result a good few must be getting written off,the time must come when the manufacture of new shells would be financially worth doing.there was talk of making them a while back,but i think ford were against it.i can think of at least 10 mates who would buy a new shell.do we write to our mp or what

[harrier mark 2]

best way is to form a company made up of willing members with the funds and get making the ****ing things,either over here or abroad under licence.

[FOSSIE]

In short, it'll never happen i'm afraid.

Several reasons why - first of all - the cost of tooling up to do this would be massive. OK, to you and I, we just think of it as a bodyshell - but to be able to produce them would take lots and lots of money. This would make each shell far too much to pay for clubmen rally people. There are a few people would buy them - but on the grand scheme of things - a few dozen, maybe even a few hundred people buying them for racing is a really tiny demand.

The other problem is that Ford simply wouldn't allow it. Ford want us to buy Focus and Fiestas - it's not in their interest (and actually not what they'd want) for people to play with escorts. I know of at least 2 different people tried making complete, fibreglass mk1 shells for grass track racing, and Ford put a block on it.

didnt the boss of Ford recently say something about he wished all mk2 escorts should be crushed?

[dasadrew]

here we go again - Christmas must be gettiing close!

http://bbs.fzr1000exup.org.uk/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=41140&highlight=#41140

[lathamescortmk2]

they done it with the mini clubman shells, they managed to pop them out for 2.5k a piece, so wudent be too much for more for an escort one. but there must be good demand, otherwise they would make a loss

[dasadrew]

Mini: built over 41 years. 5,3 million sold
Escort II: built over 5 years. 1,6 million sold

I think the euphoria of a site like this (which is great!) overshadows the fact that "Joe Public" couldn't care a sh1t about a Mk2 Ford Escort.

If you're talking MGB's, TR6, Mini, then you're talking about worldwide public heritage and a lot of Hoorah Henries ready to shell out a few thousand (no pun intended!).

Also, a Mini is a historic relict of a bygone age of British motoring heritage. Despite its popularity amongst our brethren, this can hardly be said of the Escort II. Interestingly, the size of the Mini's panels mean that pressings can be a lot cheaper. Not due to the amount of metal, but the dies and presses used are in a different class.

Maybe a more interesting project woud be a "standard" shell restoration service using any shell delivered and replacement panels but corrrectly jigged, spot welded, dipped etc., in a semi-production line fashion. To tell you the truth, however, I wouldn't pay £5000 for it!

Maybe a new business opportunity for The Custom?

[RS2000CUSTOM]

Maybe a new business opportunity for The Custom?

Agree with the "heritage" numbers

MKII shell will never be available again unfortunately

As for a shell refurb service

I personally would not attempt another shell rebuild unless I had FULL access to every panel before I started

And of course the little matter of having full bodyshop facilities and the staff to do it (not at my cost - lol)

Lepley is doing "new" GP 4 shells for about £7k I think (not sure though)

In the MKII world the saying "Triggers Brush" has never been more apt

[Chrisbo]

here we go again - Christmas must be gettiing close!

http://bbs.fzr1000exup.org.uk/phpbb2...ghlight=#41140

Bahhhhh Humbug!!!

[morcheen]

bring me a new shell santa

i've written to father christmas asking for one anyway :cyclops:

[Dingy]

Who ever built a new shell with no ID and sold it would have a big lawsuit from ford and the governing motor trade if you crash and died in it.

Car aint safe under today's guidelines - hence the ONLY reason LOL...

[GP4]

Lepley is doing "new" GP 4 shells for about £7k I think (not sure though)

I think you'll find that figure is just parts and labour to build a shell Dave. I seriously doubt that it'll include the base shell...

[morcheen]

Who ever built a new shell with no ID and sold it would have a big lawsuit from ford and the governing motor trade if you crash and died in it.

Car aint safe under today's guidelines - hence the ONLY reason LOL...

they could never be made by anyone other than ford,like the mini,mg shells.they don't have any problems with the new guidlines ,as they are a part for an old car. but realisticly it will never happen

[Mex 1t]

it could be done ona small scale looked into it a few times i worked out that a bare shell rot free would need to be about £4000 to offer a exchange (refurbed ) shell in primer all rs bits in right places but i think you need to be a proper company and they only work for profit !!!!!!!

[GP4]

This debate seems to crop up every few months...on every Escort-related bulletin board...

It won't happen because Ford won't allow it to...period. Ford own the copyright to the vehicle design and the name...they're Ford trademarks. Anyone who had enough business noddle and enough funding to actually pull-off building new shells, would have realised as soon as the idea entered their brain that Ford would take them apart in court and sue them for every penny they have or are ever likely to have.

Most of Mark Solloways (Historic Rallysport) customers are multi-millionaires (Richard Gower and Anthony Ward are both worth in excess of £20million each), they'd collectively have no problem putting together a consortium to fund the project...but they wouldn't do it because they're not so bloody daft as to take on the might of Ford.

The only organisation that could legitimately build an new Escort shell is Ford itself, and that won't happen because it's not in their commercial interest.

[dasadrew]

it could be done ona small scale looked into it a few times i worked out that a bare shell rot free would need to be about £4000 to offer a exchange (refurbed ) shell in primer all rs bits in right places

Oh yeah? have you got a good source for cheap retro parts? Let us know, please!

Going by my rough calculations, and using the prices on expressed panels website, All the panels that they have listed that you would need would cost £5737.50 and you would have all the parts to make a shell, Less a bootlid doors and a few of the internal parts that they don't make!!

Doing new repro shells is probably a non-starter. Like I said, a professional "standard refurb" would be the way, but far too expensive for most. Most people here:

"bought a turning jig"
"hired a trailer"
"took the stripped shell to Jim for blasting"
"took the blasted shell to Bill for welding"
"took the welded shell to Dave for powder coating"

and thus spent £3000 anyway.

If there really are between "at least 10" and "about a 100 rally guys" needing this service, then ask each for a £1000 non-refundable deposit on the estimated £10000 per shell. Then take the £100,000 to set up this type of operation. With 4 guys and the boss, you could turn out a shell every two weeks at a profit before tax of about £2000 per shell. After 4 years, you've completed the run and have made £200000 profit before tax. That's £40000 per person for the four years. That's £10000 gross salary per person per year.

Is it still really just Ford that's stopping people from this lucrative business venture?