Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800
The Mk2 Escort in RS1800/BDA form is the definitive historic rally car: 1979 world champion, winner of everything from the RAC to the Acropolis, and today the backbone of historic rallying with a thriving build-and-race industry behind it.
History
Ford's rear-drive Escort formula peaked with the Mk2 of 1975–1980: a simple, strong shell over MacPherson struts and a live axle, powered by Cosworth's 16-valve BDA in capacities up to 2.0 litres. Boreham's works cars — with Roger Clark, Björn Waldegård, Hannu Mikkola and Ari Vatanen — treated the world's roughest rallies as home ground; the car's balance and fixability made it equally lethal on Welsh forest stages and African marathons.
1979 delivered the summit: Waldegård took the inaugural WRC drivers' title and Ford the manufacturers' crown, with Mikkola's Escort second — a one-two for a car already in its final works season. Privateers ran Mk2s at the front of national championships well into the 1980s (Vatanen's 1981 world title in a Rothmans Mk2 came after works withdrawal), and the car never really left: it simply migrated into historic rallying.
Today the Mk2 is a category of its own: FIA-papered historics contest every major retro event, specialist builders construct fresh Millington- or BDG-engined cars continuously, and the model's parts economy — panels, axles, gearboxes remanufactured at scale — makes it the most sustainable serious historic rally choice in existence.
Palmarès
1979 WRC drivers' (Waldegård) and manufacturers' championships; 20 WRC victories including RAC Rally wins across 1975–79, Acropolis, Safari-adjacent marathon success and the 1,000 Lakes; Vatanen's 1981 drivers' title as a privateer entry; plus four decades of historic rally wins from Goodwood-era events to the Roger Albert Clark Rally, which modern Mk2s still dominate.
What to check before you buy
Separate the tiers: genuine works Boreham cars (documented, six figures and up), period privateer cars with history, FIA Appendix K historics, and modern-spec 'clubman' builds. For historics, the HTP papers' engine spec (true BDA vs BDG vs modern Millington) drives both eligibility and cost — a fresh professional shell with a Millington and five-linked axle is effectively a new car at new-car money. Check shell provenance (original Type 49 shells vs re-shells; both accepted, priced differently), axle and gearbox specification (Atlas/ZF vs modern), and insist on the build file: in this market, the builder's name is half the value.
Did you know
- The works Escorts' RAC Rally streak — every winner from 1972 to 1979 was an Escort — remains the event's longest single-model run.
- BDA blocks were originally production Kent castings; today's historic engines often use aftermarket alloy blocks legally homologated for Appendix K — a rare case of historic racing improving reliability.
- The Roger Albert Clark Rally, Britain's toughest retro event, routinely fields over 60 Mk2 Escorts — a bigger single-model entry than most period WRC rounds had.
In the marketplace now
View all →No exact Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800 listed right now — here is closely related machinery on the market.
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