Making memoriesHaving participated in the most beautiful historical rally’s been on your wish list for a long time? Enjoying motorsport together with good friends, good hotels, good food and having a good time together. Many car enthusiasts we meet think this is great. Making memories so to speak. But… it all starts with a good car. Building one yourself is often too high. On the one hand there is often no time for it, and on the other hand you are guaranteed to run into the biggest stumbling block: the lack of experience. And you need that to build a reliable and suitable car. Nothing is worse than having to fall out on niggling defects that could have been avoided. Experience is the best teacher, they say. But is also often costly and irritating. Leave that to others is our advice. Buy a car that has been proven and built by people with experience. And then not in general ”car experience”. No, one must have actually driven many rally’s and serviced cars’s under difficult conditions to know what one is talking about. How a car should be put together and especially how not to. And then, of course, there must have been a generous budget for the car in question. Often people are mistaken about what such’a rally project costs. From the people who have already gone through everything once, paid learning money, and finally built a beautiful car, of which you can quietly buy.That is the general story as far as the purchase is concerned. But now which car...? That of course depends very much on your personal preference in terms of make or model, but the common denominator in our eyes should be a historically sound car, easy to maintain and repair, good availability of parts, there should be the necessary experience in big races with this type, a bit of comfort should be there, safety not to mention, but above all a very good handling should be the deciding factor. See here: the Ford Escort 1600 GT Mexico.Palmares abound in terms of brand and type, and all the just mentioned “requirements” can be ticked off. The basis with the Escort we offer now is an original AVO body, that is, the car comes from the special series of vehicles produced between 1968 and 1975 by “Advanced Vehicle Operations” (A.V.O) of Ford Motor Company. These are the Twin Cam, RS1600, MEXICO and RS2000 versions of the MK1 Escort, along with the RS3100 Capri. An AVO body is a must for the enthusiast and purist.This original 1600 GT Mexico comes from the country where the greatest rally drivers had their cradle: Finland. Here the car was registered on July 8, 1974 and has always had a particularly good life there. Purchased by a Dutchman who knows the ropes when it comes to cars’s very well, the car was completely tackled, improved and made suitable for historic rally’s in 2020. At first, the intention was just to make the car drive well, but as already described, things soon ran out of steam in terms of wishes, and during the building process the complete list was checked off. An additional engine (the original is included) was purchased and the 1600 cc, 4-cylinder was prepared by the well-known specialist Zomer Motorsport from Holten to produce over 100 hp. Not much? You have to see this in relation to the car's very low weight of only 950 kg. And then the fantastic handling comes around the corner. Improved to the extreme by suspension specialist Madeno Racing. Using their shock absorber brand Ohlins and specifically adapted for this Escort it gives a handling that we haven't often come across. You can really drive the car on the centimeter and for this you really do not need a lot of hp’s. What a delight!The interior also exudes the necessary rally experience. No hard tight around the body sitting bucket seats, but real Recaro ’s, custom made and in style with the color of the car in black and yellow tartan upholstery. Perfectly seated, and very comfortable to cover many miles. The driver has a great seating position behind the original RS steering wheel and by dropping his right hand exactly on the gearshift of a wonderfully shifting 5-speed gearbox. Via a limited slip differential, the horsepower’s are brought to the rear wheels.The navigator has a view of his perfectly positioned instrument cluster from behind the double bubble dash panel and with his feet firmly on the aluminum footrest. A safety roll cage protects the occupants from worse, as do the 4-point seat belts.The list of modifications is long, everything is very well documented and all invoices are present. All modifications are serious, real-world issues that really benefit you. Wonderful right? Because now you do have a car that is “on point”. A car that has proven its reliability in several rally’s and rides and to which, apart from a few personal preferences, nothing can be improved. This Ford Escort MK1 1600 GT Mexico offers an excellent opportunity to get in and drive right away. Oh yeah, maybe sign up for some high-profile races first like the Wintertrial is one, for example.