Readly RF Feb 20

ALMOST MADE IT
ROYSTER TOWNSEND
TAUNUS 20M RS
This one is mine! Yes, in-between working and writing,
I have been somehow shoehorning in time to work on this
Estate. Rescued from a barn where it had sat since 2013
when the previous elderly owner sadly passed away. The
ethos for the build was to prove Sierra Estates are cool,
and you can still build something different on a low budget.
Starting with a 79,000 mile from new 1.8i LX. The engine
ran like a swiss watch and is rare with its single-point
injection. Damn it’s slow though! It is now sitting much lower
on chopped springs over a set of re-drilled Landrover steel
wheels, 7” wide on the front and 8” wide on the blunt end.
DIY tints, wider front arches, and an OMP steering wheel are
the mods so-far. Then, there is the elephant in the room the
‘Woodie’ style vinyl wrap… love it or hate it, you can’t deny
it is not different. There are loads more wacky ideas going
through my head for this car, so watch this space, and I’ll
report back in a later issue!
COREY SHIPLEY
MK1 ESCORT
Lucky old Royster has got himself a super rare Taunus
here! A 20M RS built under licence from Ford Germany in
minimal numbers at the Port Elisabeth Factory in South
Africa. Its RS stripes and an Air Scoop on the bonnet give
clues to its sporting demeanour! Many years later the
SA car then made its way to Norway, where Royster got
his hands on the virtually rust free but tired example. A
full strip-down and rebuild commenced with a lot of red
dust removed, and a respray in the original red with new
stripes. Then it was onto the rough running 3.0L V6. The
car had only covered 52,000 miles, but the V6 turned out
to have an oval port head one side, and a ‘D’ shaped port
head on the other bank! After a full rebuild and correct
cylinder heads it’s back to rude 138 BHP heath, with
maximum torque coming in at 3000RPM! Royster tells us
that these cars are very sought after, and it’s easy to see
why when you see this example!
ROB CHEESMUR
FORD SIERRA ESTATE
Le Mans green has to be one of our favourite
colours here at Retro Towers! Especially when it’s
draped over the bugling arches of a Mk1 Escort.
Propulsion for Corey’s green mean machine comes
via an old skool 1740cc X-Flow with twin 40
Webber carbs for induction. On the other side is an
HPE 4 branch manifold, and In between all this is
a BF3 Cam twirled round by Duplex timing chains.
Corey reckons this combo plus well for a 40-yearold
Crossflow engine.
A quick-shift mated to 5-speed type-9 does the
cog swapping, with the English rear axle housing
a Blackline 3.89 LSD to help put the power down.
Corey has rose jointed the suspension where
possible, and the rear end is 5-linked. Bilstein coilovers
are on all corners, and Corey says the ride is
hard, to say the least! This Escort is quite a piece of
kit, and the fact that it has discs all round will come
as no surprise. Top workmanship Corey! n
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