Ford Escort RS2000 with 17,000 miles locked up for fear of theft

The original owner put the car in storage after he encountered a man in the early 1980s and was convinced he wanted to steal the Escort.

Prices for vintage Fords have skyrocketed over the past 15 years, like vintage BMWs and Porsches, with many being resold for a profit. That’s not the case with this Mk2 RS2000, though. It’s never been restored and looks like it just rolled out of the showroom, but there’s a sad story behind its incredible state of preservation.

The owner took possession of the car in the summer of 1979, but sealed it just a few years later because he was convinced thieves wanted to steal it.

MORE: Iconic Mk2 Escort returns to production, but not by Ford

One day in the early 1980s, he returned to his parked RS to find it surrounded by three men, and although he managed to get in and drive away, he was convinced he was being followed. When he finally got rid of the thieves, he garaged the Escort, where it remained for 36 years.

In 2021, an RS Owners Club member found the car, covered in thick dust, with its black paint and fishnet-style Recaros intact. It’s now for sale at KGF Classic Cars in Peterborough, England, but it’s no longer the blue-collar sports sedan it was when new. KGF is asking £94,195 ($121,000).

If you’ve been following the retro tuning scene over the past few years, you’ll know that for the same price you can get an MST Mk2, a brand new vintage Ford Escort built in a new shell and registered as a 2024 car. MST’s Mk2 looks like it escaped from a 1970s rally race, with a bulged body and a modern 2.5-liter Ford Duratec stuffed under the nose, good for around 200 horsepower (203 PS).

Like a spiritual successor to the 1979 World Rally Championship-winning, BDA-engined RS1800, this car is rarely seen on the streets. This black RS2000 was bought by British Ford fans after watching Escorts slide around rally stages or watching The Professionals on TV (see the video above).

There’s no exotic twin-cam Cosworth BDA under the bonnet, just a single-cam 2.0-litre Pinto engine hooked up to a four-speed gearbox. carRegular testing by indicated that the 109 hp (100 PS) RS2000 street version accelerated to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 8.6 seconds, while the 113 hp (115 PS) production RS1800 needed 9.0 seconds, and unlike the rally-spec RS1800, the latter was only mildly tuned.

Only the RS2000 has that famous slanted plastic beak. The original owner, in order to save a bit of money, chose to remove the four-spoke RS alloy wheels and replace them with a set of 13-inch RS Mexico steel wheels, the spare steel wheels still wearing the original Pirelli Cinturato CN36 tires, and marked with red chalk.

It’s undoubtedly a top-tier price for an old Escort, far exceeding the same price we’ve seen for the prettiest examples of its contemporary rival, the Mk1 VW Golf GTI. But Ford enthusiasts are a fanatical bunch. Would you choose this time-warped original or MST’s retro rally-style flathead RS?

Image: KGF Classic Cars