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Nik's car history
| I have owned way too many cars since I started driving and back in the day I didn't really care enough to take any photos, so I will start with more recent vehicles that I have owned. |
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Ford Fiesta RS Turbo (1991)
This was the first proper turbo charged car I bought. She was in fantastic condition. I broke the original gearbox so replaced it with a gearbox from an Escort RS Turbo with LSD. This totally transformed the little Fiesta.
The engine eventually let go on me. I was tempted to repair the engine and go for some mad power, but not really being a FWD fan I decided to move on to something else... |
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Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth (1989)
My first Cosworth. I bought this in December 2002. It was by no means a minter, but it had no rust and was a good, reliable stage 1 producing around 270bhp.
This car kept me happy for a few months until I had the chance to buy another Cosworth with a much tidier shell. However, a lot of the goodies from this one such as the leather, silicon hoses, alloys and suspension were transferred to the next Cosworth. |
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Ford Escort Mk2 RS2000 (1980)
I bought this whilst I still owned the Flint Grey Cosworth. I used to drive by it and kinda dream of owning it. I heard it was up for sale, so I knocked on the guy's door and a week later it was mine. This car was fun, fun, fun! She had quite an impressive spec including a 130bhp 2litre Pinto. I prayed for rain, and when it did out we went for fun!
With this being quite an old car, it suffered from the dreaded rust underneath. I felt that it needed a bit too much doing so she ended up on eBay and went to a guy in the North of England. |
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Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth (1988)
I paid peanut money for this car and bought it just in time for Ford Fair 2004. This photo was taken the previous day just after a few hours of cleaning. This Cossie was the only one of mine to see any track action at Silverstone, which was fun!
Unfortunately, this poor ol girl was put into a roundabout barrier by my own brother! But she lived on in the shell of another Cosworth, sort of...
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Ford Escort RS Turbo S1 (1985)
Once I sold the Flint Grey Cosworth, I was offered this little beauty and couldn't say no! She had done approx. 50,000 miles and was very clean all over. After a couple of weeks ownership I sent her to Harvey Gibbs of SCS, Peterborough for a stage 1 upgrade and set up. I was very impressed with the outcome. She came out running approx. 175bhp which isn't a great deal these days, but Escort's weigh as much as a biscuit tin, so it did feel pretty quick!
Even though insurance was cheap for both this S1 and the white Cosworth, running costs weren't! So I had to make a choice and decide which one to get rid of. It was a difficult choice, but the Cosworth had to stay because it was more fun. The S1 is the only car I regret getting rid of. In my opinion, the S1 was probably one of the best looking cars Ford has ever produced.
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Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth
This was by far the best Cosworth I had out of the 3! My brother had to supply me with a new shell (as he fooked the white one up!) and it just so happened I had a friend with a magenta shell sitting in his garage. The running gear was ripped out of the white one and bolted in this. A couple of friends and I did that on a very cold Winter's day. I took my time with this car and decided to go to Stage 3. I purchased a t34 turbo, 4x4 intercooler, new injectors, Ahmed Bayjoo chip and a WRC type head gasket. I had a few teething problems with the ignition system, but was quickly solved with thanks to the advice of Bob Tickner of Rallye Spares in Peterborough. I was quite proud of setting her up myself and ran 26psi of boost which proved to be very reliable. Harvey Gibbs of SCS in Peterborough ran her on his rolling road and checked everything out. He gave a guestimate of 350-360bhp (his rollers would only read up to approx. 310bhp). I ran her like that for about 2 years with no major problems, who said Cossies were unreliable??!!
By the end of 2005 the novelty of owning Cossies kinda wore off, so I decided to break her up and sell the parts. Winter is a bad time to sell Cosworths for good money and they tend to be worth more in bits anyway. This may have been the end of Cosworth ownership, but certainly not the end of old skool Ford ownership...
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Ford Capri 3.0S (1977)
I saw this monster advertised on a local cruise forum - www.borocruisers.co.uk - and was tempted right away. Once I had spoken to the owner I had to have it as the spec was quite impressive. It wasn't a quick car at all, but the sound of the 3 litre V6 was pure porn to the ears! This had spent years in a garage and recently had a full respray. The shell had been seam welded, battery relocated to the boot, coilover suspension, anti-dive kit, polybushes, etc. Technically, she is a Mk2, but at some point has had the Mk3 face lift kit fitted.
I only owned this Capri for a couple of months. I didn't intend on keeping her long because after Cosworth ownership I decided to go Jap in 2006. So, I sold this to one of the Turbo-Nutters committee members who is currently having a 2.9 V6 Cosworth engine installed. This Capri should become quite well known and is bound to appear on TV and magazines at some point this year because she is taking part in the Cannonball Run 8000 from London to Budapest.
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