The Ford Escort celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, the Ford AVO Owners Club celebrate their 40th anniversary next year along with the 50th anniversary of the Mexico and RS1600.
As a result, Richard Houguez decided to try and gather as many Mk1 Escorts as he could and have them on display at the motoring festival, to celebrate a model that most people can relate to, having driven, crashed, rallied, learnt to drive in, sold (and regretted selling).
There are a few enthusiasts that have taken their Escorts over to Europe and joined in with the classic Ford magazine continental car tours adventure. Over the years, they have been to France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Ireland to name a few countries.
Competition is another area where there cars excel. They have cars competing all the time over here or UK/Europe. The Jersey rally attracts a lot of escorts mainly Mk2, but they do have a few Mk1’s and also have a previous winner with Dean Le Bailly winning the event in 2002. Dean’s exact words were “only Mk1 and oldest car to win the Jersey and only winner to have built car and engine himself”!
One particular Sunset Red Mexico owned by Graeme Bellee, has been in Jersey since new. This car is currently the 4th oldest known Mexico still alive in the world. Richard has grown up with this car and it deserves all the attention it gets. Another car that will be on display is Dave Brooks’ Daytona yellow RS1600; this car won best RS1600 at AVO national day last year. They will also have another Daytona yellow Mexico with red stripes on display. This car belongs to Gary Quenault and has recently been treated to a full restoration by car SOS. These are just a few of the cars that will be on display. They will have concours cars, everyday road cars, rally cars, 2 rally cars that are running Cosworth BDG engines, one of them has been built to FIA Historic Specification, plus a few rolling shells and current projects that will be on display throughout the weekend.
Hopefully, JIMF 2019 will see a nice selection of Mk1 Escorts on display for the public to come and have a look around. There will also have collecting tins for Jersey Cancer Research as they have helped Gary Quenault out over the last few years.