This week has had a small low and a massive high:
LOW
I found an immaculate 1982 Audi Coupe GT 5S for sale in Wales. Wanted it badly and was planning to hitch a lift with a mate’s microlite and get over there to buy it. Unfortunately the day after I enquired it sold, for 60% less than the £1200 asking price. Bollock porridge.
HIGH
Never mind, it could be worse. Besides, if I’d got my wallet out and fired up the non Quattro, it would have meant flogging the Mercedes estate – which could be a foolish act. 24 hours later I got a text from a local woman who had been left two mk1 Ford Escorts in her uncle’s will. One is a 2-door under a tarp on her drive. It’s been there 5 years and I’ve been sniffing around it for 4.5 years. She asked if I wanted to see the other car. “It’s hardly been used”
She wasn’t wrong. After unseizing all the garage locks, we pulled the doors open to reveal a 4-door 1974 Mk1 Escort 1300 XL draped in old curtains. Tugging the curtains off was like that moment at the end of Pulp Fiction when they open the suitcase. A light shone straight into my retinas and made the jaw somewhat slack.
Sat before me was a car smothered in protective oil, with plastic seat covers still on the seats. Bright blue and not a scratch, dent or patch of ferrous oxide in sight. We opened the leather fob to find the keys and carefully sat behind the wheel. I was in a brand new Ford Escort. It has 966 miles on the clock. It was never really used.
I have purposely not taken any photos because we will be doing a full photoshoot on this spectacular piece of mothballing for a future mag feature. I’ve seen 29,000 and 30-odd thousand milers before, but this is an entirely new ball park. In fact, it’s a ballpark from Life On Mars. I’m still in disbelief that a car could be pampered and squirreled away for so long. It’s all thanks to Cheryl’s uncle, who had a huge appetite for Mk1s. The 2-door under a tarp was his daily runner, while this 900 mile XL was his weekend weapon. I’m guessing he didn’t go far at the weekends.
Ironically, I had been jogging past the garage on one of my routes for the past year or so. It just goes to show that there are STILL hoarded gems lurking out there in the hundreds of garages and lock-ups across Britain. And I wouldn’t want it any other way…