There are many incredible machines in the history of the Blue Oval, but if you are to ask Europeans what’s their favorite, the Escort would probably rank high on the list. Not only as a small daily, but also, in its more extreme incarnations, for racing purposes.
The Escort was born in the late 1960s, at a time when Americans were still focused on muscle cars. It was intended to rock the sales charts over in Europe, and it kind of did, as until it was discontinued in 2002, it sold in over 4 million examples.
From a motorsport point of view, the Escort is mostly associated with rallying in various forms, with the RS1600 and RS2000, for instance, being featured on the starting grids (and podiums) of many races.
Some of these incredible cars are still around, selling here and there, either for peanuts or for large bags of money, depending on their pedigree, history, and state of (dis)repair. They're not rare, but almost always they come close to stock, as in not customized in some extreme way.
The 1970 example of an RS1600 is an exception from that rule. It’s been intensively prepped for time attack duties, sports the proper paint job, a huge spoiler out back, and a wealth of other minor details that should make it either a valuable museum piece or a track monster.
Only it’s not a real car. It’s not a rendering either, and not even a still of an RS1600 featured in some video game. Even if some of the pics in the gallery above might have you believe one of the above, you’re actually looking at a toy.
That would be a Hot Wheels 1970 Ford Escort RS1600, no longer stock and boring as it came out of the box, but all shiny and potent after it got treated by a talented guy going by the name Jakarta Diecast Project.
The video below shows in detail how the transformation of the toy car unfolded, from it being taken apart and stripped of its paint to getting the final paint job and detailing.
In between those two moments, we witness the RS getting a new set of wheels, a resin body kit, applied over the wheel arches, but also the front and rear, a home-brewed engine made from styrene, a roll cage, and even exterior mirrors, as the original had none.
The presentation of the customized Escort may be long, at 18 or so minutes, but we’re pretty confident both car and Hot Wheels fans will enjoy it thoroughly. So, scroll down a bit and click play...
Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies. Full profile
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