Classic FWD.....XR3i
Growing up and spending my youth in Australia some might think (in the UK) was a joy, but Australia was somewhat deprived, particularly when it came to Small Fords and hot hatches that the UK adored.
Australia's history with fast Fords was mainly limited to V8s and later on, the excellent turbo-charged "Barra" motor of the XR6 Falcons. As a country, we never saw any of the FWD fast Fords from Mk3 Escort onward. The fast Focus and Fiestas were limited, we never got any of the Sierras, no Cosworths or Tickford special Capris....any later model Capris at all as a matter of fact.
Ford Australia was very much committed to re-badging Mazda-based Fords for many years until the Aussie car culture swayed away from the big 6's and the V8s were pretty much dead in the water.
The only fast Fords that saw Australian roads were all personal import, brought in by Ex-pats who hadn't totally embraced the Aussie V8 lifestyle. Very few exist as they were just not on the radar of your average Aussie motorist.
One such car was the XR3i Escort. This particular one popped up on Gumtree (I believe) and one of my fellow "antique" dealers picked it up for practically milk money. As always, I was looking for the next "track-day" project and this seamed to fit the bill but I hadn't fully committed to the idea and wasn't really in a position to buy it. I was about to head over to the UK for a holiday, and I had a bit of cash set aside to tie my over when I returned.
Being self-employed at the time, (legally) I had an obligation to the Australia Tax Department to keep my business funds separate to my "car cash" as I liked to call it. On this occasion the water was muddied slightly and the XR3i changed hands just before I jumped on a plane back to the UK.
I few weeks later I returned to Melbourne, broke, behind in my work and in need of funds to eat and pay my mortgage so my hobby was very much on the back-burner. All I was able to do with the XR3i was to start it up and play around with ways of making it go faster with no access to performance parts other than the internet and a credit card (with nothing on it)
Suffice to say, I went for the budget racer option and tried to make the car "look" faster by fitting bonnet pins and a 2nd hand race harness. Neither of which would improve the performance but in a "Fast and Furious" way added street cred with the impressional youth in my neighbour hood.
I think this was around the time of the 40th anniversary celebrations of the Capri so the hot topic of conversation at my local club was "Capriciation" in Wagga. I was talking with our Club Prez at the time who was looking for a project with his son. The XR3i fitted the bill so a swap was made - car for paint job and both my main track day "effort" - Perana replica, and the XR3i both got a few coats of paint and the latter found a new owner.
Australia's history with fast Fords was mainly limited to V8s and later on, the excellent turbo-charged "Barra" motor of the XR6 Falcons. As a country, we never saw any of the FWD fast Fords from Mk3 Escort onward. The fast Focus and Fiestas were limited, we never got any of the Sierras, no Cosworths or Tickford special Capris....any later model Capris at all as a matter of fact.
Ford Australia was very much committed to re-badging Mazda-based Fords for many years until the Aussie car culture swayed away from the big 6's and the V8s were pretty much dead in the water.
The only fast Fords that saw Australian roads were all personal import, brought in by Ex-pats who hadn't totally embraced the Aussie V8 lifestyle. Very few exist as they were just not on the radar of your average Aussie motorist.
One such car was the XR3i Escort. This particular one popped up on Gumtree (I believe) and one of my fellow "antique" dealers picked it up for practically milk money. As always, I was looking for the next "track-day" project and this seamed to fit the bill but I hadn't fully committed to the idea and wasn't really in a position to buy it. I was about to head over to the UK for a holiday, and I had a bit of cash set aside to tie my over when I returned.
Being self-employed at the time, (legally) I had an obligation to the Australia Tax Department to keep my business funds separate to my "car cash" as I liked to call it. On this occasion the water was muddied slightly and the XR3i changed hands just before I jumped on a plane back to the UK.
I few weeks later I returned to Melbourne, broke, behind in my work and in need of funds to eat and pay my mortgage so my hobby was very much on the back-burner. All I was able to do with the XR3i was to start it up and play around with ways of making it go faster with no access to performance parts other than the internet and a credit card (with nothing on it)
Suffice to say, I went for the budget racer option and tried to make the car "look" faster by fitting bonnet pins and a 2nd hand race harness. Neither of which would improve the performance but in a "Fast and Furious" way added street cred with the impressional youth in my neighbour hood.
I think this was around the time of the 40th anniversary celebrations of the Capri so the hot topic of conversation at my local club was "Capriciation" in Wagga. I was talking with our Club Prez at the time who was looking for a project with his son. The XR3i fitted the bill so a swap was made - car for paint job and both my main track day "effort" - Perana replica, and the XR3i both got a few coats of paint and the latter found a new owner.
….More on the Capri, later.
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