Chris Rose gazes at his bright white Series Two Escort RS Turbo and says proudly, “You know, this car really is a part of the family.”
Having owned the Escort for 16 years and coming from a proud line of Ford Dagenham workers, it’s not surprising that coachbuilder Chris has a strong emotional attachment to the Blue Oval. “I was born and bred in Dagenham. My grandad worked there for 45 years, and my uncle too,” he says.
Chris’s first car was a Ford Orion, followed by an Escort cabriolet, but of course it wasn’t long before he developed an obsession to own the ultimate Mk4 Escort: the RS Turbo.
Chris explains, “I love the shape, the lines, I just think they’re a great little car. I bought this in 2008 for £1800, which is mad to think now, and it already had a 1.9-litre CVH plus stacks of history.”
The 1.9 American tall-block was a bit of a legend back then, and Chris added a fifth fuel injector, which
