It's 2....3 years now? How deep in am I?
Maybe I was being looked after, but a really good friend of mine sent me a message with a picture randomly one afternoon, it was an image of a for sale post on Facebook Marketplace. I really thought taking on a second car wasn’t necessary but who would’ve known just a week later I would be in need of an entire car for my project, so I quickly recomposed myself and called the owner made a deal and made it mine.
A younger me wanted a project car, and I happened upon a Ford Escort Mk4. What younger Alex didn’t know, was the headache, frustration, infuriation and immense displeasure fixing a rusty car can be in Barbados. He also didn’t know the immense satisfaction that could be acquired through accomplishment. Whether the satisfaction outweighs the frustration remains to be seen.
A New Hope
The only two articles that I wrote regarding my project car were written with elation. Seeing all that progress happening made me so happy. Unfortunately, my joy was short-lived. The interpersonal relationship between myself and the company that was supposed to be doing the welding and rush repair broke down. Frankly, I’m annoyed with myself for not vetting the business sufficiently. If I had done enough then my car wouldn’t have been left in worse condition than how it was originally. Even now, thinking about how my dream was collapsing still gives me stabs of headache and makes me wonder if my holding on stemmed from hope or from bitterness. Needless to say, my blue Escort MK4 is dead. After brushing the last bits of dirt over the coffin of my dreams, “A New Hope” arose.
Maybe I was being looked after, but a really good friend of mine sent me a message with a picture randomly one afternoon, it was an image of a for sale post on Facebook Marketplace. The picture was of a car on sale and so, of course, the remnants of my lost dream tugged at my heartstrings. Even though I already had a project car, who would’ve known just a week later I would be in need of an entire car for my project? I studied the image and said to myself “get it together!”. So, I took a minute to recompose myself and made a deal with the former owner to make the car my own. It was a late model Escort 1989 and it had definitely seen better days. However, the project was back on and I was back in the game. I was building an escort again and I would learn from the mistakes of the past. I needed to learn from my mistakes and take better steps to make sure things are done the way they needed to be done.
Radio Silence
When the curtain of silence is drawn over a project, sometimes persons may believe that it went quietly into the dark. Alas, that was not the case with this dream! I did realise though, that some things that are so close to the heart are better left out of other peoples ears. Ahead of me was a very difficult journey that needed to be restarted, it even took a whole year before I was able to get the ball properly rolling again. I did my research and then I sent the car off as the engine of my dreams, first to be prepped and then to be repaired. Thankfully, my research paid off and this company handled my fragile dream with the utmost care, taking great interest to do the bodywork the way I wanted it done. I will admit and sometimes I grew quite impatient but like most good things, it took some time. My patience and perseverance paid off and my project felt a little bit heavier and looked a little more colourful.
The car was in dire shape to say the least. Lots of work would have to go into it if it was to go into working condition. I was able to source the replacement panels for the battery tray and a few other parts of the car from on the island. My first attempt, the blue Escort, came to good use and served as the donor car, arming with a variety of parts that helped me push the work onto the car itself. There were also some unexpected events that slowed the progress but the bodywork was able to be completed in about a year of hard work and patience.
My first Mod.
After getting all the welding and repair work done, it was time to change my mindset. These were now uncharted waters and I was no sailor. I was already feeling overwhelmed and confused so I decided to enlist the help of the island’s Escort specialist, Freddie Mapp. There’s nothing he doesn’t know about these retro Fords, he helped me a lot.
The first item on the agenda was test fitting some Sierra 2wd 4pot callipers to the car, with the new rotors. This was a lot easier said than done because the brakes were incredibly worn out. Surface rust and solid rubber seals seized pistons and fused fittings all needed to be deconstructed. I took my time, put in some elbow grease and things slowly started progressing. The second thing to be done was offering up the part and machining the pointing points so everything fit where it’s supposed to be. Feel free to check out the progress photos in the gallery below, the images are in no specific order but it gives you an idea of the before and after quality.
Major Steps
The images in this article span a number of years. Literally around a year and a half to about 2 years counting from the first image of the car. I had underestimated the length of time it would take for this project to take off. During the waiting periods I was still writing articles on other cars and still doing photography but my fledgeling car was still in the back of my mind.
Right now with a global pandemic overrunning the earth, and countries initiating lockdowns and curfews it is really perhaps the perfect time to spend time at home and work on your car. Maurice was in training for about two years at our island’s polytechnic institution. You would never believe what he was learning to do! Bodywork. So choosing him to do the paint job was a no brainer.
It could be of no surprise to any of you readers that being able to work on my car on my own truly made my year. Having the rust removed, leaving the body shop and then having my friend and partner doing a spectacular job with the paint work. These all contributed to my elation with this project so far. I feel so appreciative to my friends and all the people that I have met while working on this project.
So after a rollercoaster two-year journey, my car is finally home. I guess it’s time to change gears and move on to the next aspect of the project. I will keep you posted, until then, happy motoring!
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Freddie Mapp -"Escort Specialist"
A few weeks back we at Sleeper Forest had the opportunity to visit Freddie Mapp's garage. It's interesting how race car drivers never really leave the race track, they just "race" in an another way.
A few weeks back we at Sleeper Forest had the opportunity to visit Freddie Mapp's garage. We never got to meet him as a race car driver, his glory days were before our time in the 80's but we got to meet him as the mechanic. It's interesting how race car drivers never really leave the race track, they just "race" in an another way.
Archival footage from the "The Barbados Rally Club" & Kaieteur News
Our friend "Sicky Back", gave us the invite.
We got the invite to tour the garage from friend of ours, you may have seen pictures of his 1jz swapped Toyota Cressida on some of our Instagram post, it's pretty great.
We got to see just few of the cars on the outside, they were works in progress. We deemed it the inline 6 alley, every Toyota with the space, received the inline 6 treatment. Some twin turbo, some single turbo, these machines were being built for drift, they were definitely not lacking in power.
Among these cars was something a little different and special but that's a secret...for now.
Once on the inside we were greeted by the smell of oil and metal. The garage wasn't much different from any other garage except for the six pieces of Caribbean automotive history laying around in the form of six ford escorts. They were just taking a rest from the hard work they put in over the years, catching some dust, winning races is hard work you know.
Way in the back of the garage was this blue escort shell it once carried a single cam engine, however it was modified to be a twin cam engine.
The engine started with a single over head cam, that was driven via a push rod method from the crankshaft, but with this conversion, the first cam, spun a second cam via a gear, and this allowed more airflow into the head, more air = more power, and more power = more fast. This was automotive magic and ingenuity.
Further to the front of the garage, we found more Escorts, one MK1 with the Cosworth 2.0L 16v turbocharged engine, makes around 300hp as well as his Mk2 Escort, the one he used consistently in rally. They were covered in tools and parts.
This really reinforces the fact that we need experienced persons to be able to carry on the passion and love for Motorsport to a younger generation, so it can continue grow. As Freddie stepped away from racing his mechanic shop continued to grow, taking the time to work with clients and help those he can.
We really appreciated the tour, and the chance to be able to photograph these amazing machines.
- Sleeper Forest Team
Vintage Car Show
The open field in Content, St. Thomas came to life one Sunday afternoon filled with Vintage cars from all over the World. This is the first event for Vintage car owners this year.
The open field in Content, St. Thomas came to life one Sunday afternoon filled with Vintage cars from all over the World. This is the first event for Vintage car owners this year, I believe. They spend hours tinkering and cleaning and getting their cars ready for display.
There were so many cars to see and photograph, but a select few really stood out to me, and I wanted to share those with you.
Making my way around the cars this Lotus Elan really stood out from the rest of the MG's it was parked next to, those cars were already pretty small, but this was even smaller. It was tiny ! I started photographing it and met the owner, he gave me a history of the car. The history was definitely bigger than the car itself. The designer of the car Colin Chapman, believed in achieving peak performance through low weight, and boy was he serious about this.
This was the first Lotus to use a "monocoque" chassis and a fiberglass glass body, it weighs in at about 726 kg. In fact the current owner doesn't trust anyone as yet to paint it because the materials for the body are so different, so it has the original paint job from the factory. This design actually influenced Formula 1 design.
The engine makes about 126hp, from a DOHC layout, it was pretty advanced for its time period. On paper it's said to do 0 - 60mph in about 7 seconds. It really is a special machine.
E- type ! Classic car hype boys assemble ! I don't think there's really any other car that gets as much, hype, admiration and love like a Jaguar E - Type V12 at classic car shows. This iconic machine has actually had the pleasure of being owned by just one person, since it was bought, it was daily driven, but as the years rolled on, it's kept more as a show car now. The owner knows its value.
Seeing this car up close is really spectacular. It's like one of those really old houses, that are well maintained, old furniture, and intricately hand crafted objects that just tells you it was from an era we lost and probably will never see again. The long swooping lines of the body all the way to the tail, showed a streamlined design. The funny thing about this car, at the front, most of the front is basically engine, a V12 is pretty enormous in a car of that size.
The AE-86, or Hachi-Roku it depends how you want to call it is a staple classic for persons who want something they can daily. This one isn't from Japan though. It's a GT-S from the US Market, but the owner replaced the internals with JDM parts. It's still a work in progress but it's well on it's way to being finished, with just an engine map left to do.
The 16valve 4A-GE makes about 160hp to the crank and 150hp to the wheels, it's actually pretty refreshing to see someone interested in restoring an 86.
It's clean, simple and works.
Yes, this is also an 86, in a sense. I have heard persons call them the 86's ugly cousin, coming off the same production line as the AE-86. Daihatsu made the Charmant, the parts were interchangeable, it uses the same 4A mount configuration in the front and the car is also RWD.
The owner replaced the original engine with the 16V 4A-GE which is a pretty common occurrence, apart from this, the car is pretty much the same from the factory.
This build is also really simple and clean.
This Ford Shelby Cobra, although it was a kit car, it's still pretty amazing to see one here. The Shelby has a pretty long history itself, even how it became so iconic. This car uses the 5.2 liter 302 BOSS V8, and it sounds absolutely amazing. The owner still wanted to make sure that the car stayed period correct in terms of specifications.
Across the Atlantic, Ford in England was making another icon for a totally different market. The Escort, although this one was a rally car, it really made me realize how much markets affect the design of cars. Both were icons but you could say in a sense they were polar opposites. 4 cylinder vs V8, economical car vs low mileage high power just to show a few.
Can you believe that's a Nissan ? This car was actually very intriguing. Made me do some research.
Its called "Le Seyde". Originally Nissan made about 500 of them, in 1990 and they were all sold out, it was based on the S13 Silvia Chassis, they did a another run in 2000 that was based on the S15 Chassis. This one in particular though, was from 1990, on inside of the engine bay the chassis tag said S13.
- Alex signing out till next time.
Some other cuts from the show.
