This Mk1 AVO built Escort Lotus Twincam, affectionality known as Twink has come to us all the way from France.
It's owner John decided to bring the car to us after seeing the Sebring Red RS3100 earlier this year at the AVO show at Stanford Hall.
The Escort is still used to this day as a competition car and enters many rallies in France and the Continent.
It began its competition life as far as we know, very early in its life in Portugal then Spain and now with John in France.
Due to living in better climate's shall we say, the car has faired very well indeed. It had just started to show some signs of corrosion to the
front wings, front panel and A-Posts, so John wisely decided to get the work done before the rust got too far.
First, the car was striped in readiness for the repairs to start. A small area of rust to the top of the offside wing was cut out and a new
piece fabricated for repair and welded into position. Next was to move on to the lower parts of the wings. Unfortunatley these had been repaired
previously and not to the best of standards so this was cut out, some minor repair work to the lower A-Posts carried out and new sections
fabricated to repair the wings as can be seen in the pictures below.
Similar work was required to nearside as this had also been previously repaired, so again the section of wing was removed and some repairs carried out to the A-Post prior to the new fabricated section being welded into position. Once the new sections had been blended into the wings they were treated and sealed on the insides to prevent any corrosion to the new sections in the future. As mentioned this car is used in snow rallies etc as opposed to basking in the sun on a Sunday in the summer at shows, so it is very important to ensure everything is well protected.
So with the repairs to the wings completed it was now time to move onto the A-Posts in the door shut areas. The nearside had some minor corrosion so this was cut out and a new part fabricated and welded into position. The offside had corroded slightly more, so a couple of sections cut out and new pieces fabricated and welded into position. Again the A-Posts after completion were heavily treated inside with cavity wax to prevent any future corrosion problems. A minor corrosion repair to the lower section of front panel was also carried out and the bulkhead striped back to bare metal due to some slight surface rust. All areas were etch primed and then sealed prior to being primed for paint.
With all the repair work to the front completed, the rear wheelarches needed some attention. Not the usual rust issues but just to accomodate the mini-light wheels. The arches had been rolled but the paint on the edges had cracked so suffered some water ingress which led to rust spiders creeping up the face of the quarter panels. Again this was striped back to bare metal and etch primed prior to being primed. The inside was sealed completely to prevent any muck and water getting in behind the rolled wheelarch lips. The complete wheelhouses were striped and etch primed and recoated with a black rubberised undergaurd to protect them for future use. The car was wheeled into the booth for the primer to be applied. It was preped ready for its new paint and then again back into the booth and masked in readiness for the topcoat. It was not a complete respray but both sides,front and bonnet. John was not looking for a concours car as its still used. However I think he may now hold back just a tad when he see's all that gravel in front of him...............or maybe not.
Once the new paint had been applied it was time to refit the various trims etc removed from the car. The front wheelhouses were treated to the same as the rear's with the black rubberised anti chip coating. A couple of wiring gremlins cropped up when checking the front lamps but a new connector soon resolved this issue. One final job was to inject cavity wax into the sills and other areas, again to keep the car as good as it is for many more years to come. A good clean was carried out and a final check before being treated to a coat of wax in preperation for John's arrival to take the car back to France.
John's comments: I am very pleased, thank you.
Update: 24th February 2010 - We had a surprise email from John this week showing us what he has been up to in his Escort Twink since he got it back. We thought the action pictures were fantastic so we thought we would share them with you!
