Modifying cars really took off in the 1970s with iconic magazines such as Custom Car and Cars and Car Conversions outselling the mainstream motoring titles in the newsagents, and a whole industry was born from the concept of taking a factory car and improving it yourself.
Not to be outdone, Ford very quickly realised it could cash in on the trend by offering factory tuning kits. Its ‘Series X’ modification kits for the Cortina, Capri, Fiesta, and Escort arrived in 1977, taking Ford back to its ‘race it on a Sunday, sell it on a Monday’ marketing strategy that had served it so well in the late ’60s.
Adverts throughout the motoring press were endorsed by Escort-flinging rally driver Björn Waldegård, and soon afterwards Ford launched its own ‘factory’ X-Pack cars, which left the factory already modified.
This is one of the first – it left Ford’s Cologne factory in late 1977, with wide arches, sports seats and that distinctive polyurethane snout that marked it out as something a bit different from your grandad’s Escort Mk 2 Popular.Ford Escort RS2000_Francisco Godinho (23).jpg9.64 MB
THE HISTORY AND PAPERWORK
Lots of bills and invoices
Portuguese roadworthiness certificate valid to 2026
Collector owned and stored indoors
The RS2000 has been part of a private collection for many years and has only been used infrequently, but has always been kept in roadworthy condition.
It has been kept in a temperature-controlled indoor environment and comes with all official documentation including an ownership certificate and a few bills and receipts documenting its maintenance. tr6 bill.jpeg66.57 KB
THE INTERIOR
Sports seats
Sparco rally steering wheel
Supplementary dials
Modified pedals and gear knob
The cabin makes a gentle nod to being a competition car with a Sparco rally steering wheel, drilled pedals, billeted gear knob and extra bank of dials, along with a fuel pump cut-off switch.
The Escort certainly looks the part with its X-Pack styling features - front and rear spoilers and fat arches, along with that unmistakable front end. It's in very good condition throughout and the white paintwork is in very smart condition, with no signs of any visible rust.
Under the bonnet you’ll find Ford’s familiar 2.0-litre Pinto engine, though in X-Pack form it has a fruity air filter and sports exhaust system, so sounds a little more vibrant than it would have done in a sales rep’s Cortina.
The vendor has upgraded the rubber parts to silicon – namely the hoses and HT leads – making them more efficient and less prone to deterioration.
Mk 2 Escorts are getting to be increasingly collectable and this one’s the real deal – a genuine piece of Ford history, a proper RS2000 X-Pack and a very early one at that. It’s not the kind of car that hits the market very often – indeed, it has been part of a private collection for several years.
It’s very close to standard with some light, tasteful modifications, and will make an incredible addition to any Ford collector’s stable of the brand’s best-loved performance models.
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