Ford Escort RS2000 Mk6

The Mk5 Escort RS2000 was launched in late 1991 and was intended to be a worthy successor to the legendary MkI and MkII Escorts of the 1970s.

To promote its sporting pedigree, Ford even launched the RS2000 into its own one make motorsport series, hosting rally stages and tarmac events at circuits around the UK. Sharing the same bodyshell as the standard Mk5 Escort, the RS2000 had uprated brakes and suspension, a Recaro sports interior and a beefed up 5-speed gearbox adapted from the one used in the rear-wheel drive Fords.

Power came from a fuel-injected 2-litre DOHC 16-valve engine that produced 150bhp and could launch the car to 60mph in 8.3 seconds on its way to a top speed of 133mph. The Mk6 version came out in 1995 with a stiffer body shell, improved suspension mounts plus various minor styling tweaks and it ran until 1996 when the RS2000 was discontinued after some 6,500 examples had been sold.

This particular Mk6 dates from August 1996 and had just one owner for the first 13 years of its life with another five owners since. The vendor states that the car is in “very good condition throughout with a spotless interior and a very tidy engine bay”. He also rates the Pacific Blue paintwork as “very good” and states that the 15,500 miles on the clock is the genuine distance covered from new but there is insufficient history to warrant this.