The Hard Way

In hindsight, it would have been much easier to build this from a standard, unmodified car,” muses Jamie Gilmour, as he casts a doting eye over his divine Cosworth-powered creation. But that’s always the risk with buying someone else’s project, isn’t it? Sometimes it goes well and sometimes it, er, doesn’t.

Obtaining this Escort was a bit of a gamble from day one; with Jamie living in Scotland and the Mk1 on sale in London, the purchase involved a short flight down and a very long drive back, all the while questioning the logic of his decision. “It was advertised on Pistonheads back in 2011,” he recalls. “It was in excellent condition, the previous owner