Ross (@rossmcl42 on Instagram) has been in touch to show us his mate's, friend Bruce's Mk2 Escort van! 😃
Ross lives in Brisbane in Australia (although he is actually from Scotland originally) and he met Bruce (and the van) at a local car show. Bruce has kindly given me permission to share the van on here.
This van first rolled off the production line in 1980 but this is a very different animal now and it's worth noting that this kind of build isn't easy to legally register in Australia.
The engine in the bay is a 289 cubic inch V8 lump from a Falcon and the automatic gearbox and differential are also Falcon items. The company that built this van actually wrote to Ford to ask if there were ever any engineering plans made to fit a V8 into an Escort. 6 months later a set of blueprints arrived from here in the Uk. The blueprints showed plans to fit a V8 using a stock crossmember and track control arms, but with the bulkhead moved back to enable clearance. The plans also showed the front struts being further back than stock.
Unsurprisingly, this van has huuuge rear tyres to cope with all the extra ponies under the bonnet BUT there is another modification that is cooler than everything I have mentioned so far. Bruce is wheelchair bound and this Escort van has dual controls fitted, meaning that it can be driven entirely with Bruce's hands. I'm not sure I have the skill required to drive a V8 powered Escort van with my feet AND hands so big respect to Bruce! He must be an awesome pilot! 😃
Iv also included some pics in this post of Ross's son Sam's Hyundai Excel, which is not the usual sort of thing I would post. BUT, Sam is just 14 years old and actually uses the car in competitive racing, after recently progressing from karting, and that is proper cool! 😃
HUUUGE thanks Ross for getting in touch and a MAAAASIVE shout out to Bruce and Sam! 👍
#v8power #v8mk2escortvan #mk2escort #mk2escortvan #australianfords #mhukcars