460 hp, 302 cu. in. OHV V-8 engine with a Holley four-barrel carburetor, four-speed manual transmission, independent front suspension with upper A-arms, lower transverse arms with drag struts, coil springs, tube shocks, and an anti-roll bar, rear live axle suspension with multi-leaf springs, upper trailing arms, Watts link, and an anti-roll bar, and four-wheel disc brakes. Wheelbase: 108 in.
The final Kar Kraft Bud Moore Boss 302 Trans Am racer
Completed under the supervision of Bud Moore and sons to 1971 BME specifications
Certificate of Authenticity signed by Bud Moore
Eligible for HSR/SVRA events and a FIA Historic Technical Passport
“The 1970 season was the year that all of the stars would finally fall on the Trans Am series. With a serious racing effort from all four major automotive manufacturers—Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, and American Motors—and their backing of top-notch teams running Mustangs, Camaros, Javelins, Dodge Challengers, Plymouth Barracudas, and Pontiac Firebirds, the entry list was a spectator’s dream. With the factory teams fighting to contract the best available driving talent—including Parnelli Jones, George Follmer, Mark Donohue, Peter Revson, Sam Posey, Jim Hall, Ed Leslie, Vic Elford, Dan Gurney, Swede Savage, and Jerry Titus—it was truly a year in which at least 11 to 15 different drivers could potentially win any race on the 12-race schedule.” – Dave Friedman, Trans-Am: The Pony Car Wars, 1966–1972
Bud Moore Engineering became involved in the Trans Am series in 1967 with Lincoln-Mercury and the newly introduced Cougar model. Thanks to Moore’s long-time experience as a NASCAR crew chief and team owner, it was a natural connection. The two-car Cougar team under Moore’s leadership came within two points of winning the manufacturer’s championship. Unfortunately, the Mercury program lasted only one year, as Ford realized that its two teams (Mustang and Mercury) were equally competitive and running both was not cost effective. This success, however, led to the Ford Motor Company’s support, with Kar Kraft supplying Mustang Boss 302s for the 1969–1971 seasons.
With the intention of supporting a winning effort for 1969, Bud Moore was brought back to form a team that was based on the Boss 302, and he pulled out all stops by hiring Parnelli Jones and George Follmer as drivers. The 1969 season would become the hardest fought in the series’ first four years. The Bud Moore Mustangs, driven by Jones and Follmer, and the Penske Sunoco Camaros, driven by Mark Donohue, Ronnie Bucknum, and Ed Leslie, brought out record crowds, causing the series to be vaulted to instant stardom and resulting in some of the most anticipated races on the North American calendar. But alas, by the end of the season, Chevrolet won its second manufacturer’s championship in a row.
However, things changed in 1970. Penske (and his drivers) switched to AMC Javelins, and the remaining factory-supported Chevrolet teams were managed by Jim Hall. Fords, which were arguably the fastest cars in Trans Am, were further dialed in for 1970, with further development being made to the initial Boss 302 Mustang configuration. Bud Moore’s Ford Mustang team fought hard and emerged as the victors of the Trans Am Manufacturer’s Championship in 1970.
Bud Moore Engineering had been first provided with four serialized Mustangs by Kar Kraft in 1969, along with three more for 1970. At the end of 1970, in preparation for 1971 competition, Kar Kraft provided four additional “bodies in white,” identified as chassis numbers 11971–41971. Once in possession of Bud Moore Engineering, these last cars were christened BME 1–4 and have been identified as such ever since. As the 1971 season approached, the Ford Motor Company discontinued support for the Trans Am program. Bud Moore Engineering ran a shortened schedule, using two of the four “bodies in white” that were previously provided.
BUD MOORE ENGINEERING NUMBER FOUR
Due to the truncated season, chassis number 41971 (BME number 4) was never completed in period and had passed through a series of owners, all of whom are documented, until it was acquired by its current owners in December 2008. They also acquired a majority of the original Trans Am components that were required to finish the car. One of the owners recounts the following story: “The excitement in finding and obtaining the last Bud Moore Kar Kraft Boss 302 Trans Am Mustang has turned out to be only a chapter and not the book. Immediately, the question came to mind, ‘How to finish what Kar Kraft and Mr. Moore had started 40 years ago?’ The significant historical nature of this last car led to contact with Bud and Greg Moore and the soliciting of their opinion. Without hesitation, they said, ‘Finish it.’ When asked if they would guide the project, their response was a resounding yes!” It was decided that the car would be completed precisely as they would have done it back in 1971, had they pressed it into service. The result of this effort by the owners and Phoenix area restorer Phil Roberts is what Bud, Greg, and Daryl Moore wanted this last car to look and perform like.
There is only one “last” Bud Moore Trans Am Boss 302, and today, it is essentially as fresh as when delivered to BME, but it is now completed for the current owners and has never been raced. One of the owners elaborates: “Of the eleven Bud Moore Mustangs, it appears that the last two were not completed by Bud Moore or raced in Trans Am back in period, with only mine left unfinished until now. Over a period of approximately five years, under the direct supervision of Bud Moore and his sons, chassis number 41971 was built to accurate 1971-sepcification BME 4 form, with the upgrade including the installation of Bud’s notorious, specially engineered heads for the engine. Moore has since authenticated the car and the build (a certificate is included). In addition, Moore was insistent that the car be liveried with his championship colors and numbered with his famous ‘15.’”
A piece of history heretofore unfinished is now complete and ready to come alive at vintage events, where it will entertain not only those of us who remember the Trans Am series but also a new generation of fans. As the car has been built to original period specification, it is properly configured to run in HSR/SVRA and is eligible for a FIA Historic Technical Passport, opening the door to European racing events as well.
The world we live in today is a very different place than the one we lived in exactly 20 years ago. Back then, Group A homologation ensured that some of the most iconic performance models of our era were in constant supply on showroom floors, and low prices at the pump meant they were actually affordable to run. Unless you had a state-of-the-art Nokia 2110 on your hip, and therefore possessed the magical power to send an SMS, organising a meet with your friends still required picking up the phone though, and you’d have to wait a month, maybe two, to see coverage from an event in your favourite car magazine.
How things have changed now, huh? Day or night, the world is never far from our fingertips, and finding out about that crazy build on the other side of the planet that you had never heard about until it turned up in one of your news feeds, is only ever going to be one click away. Considering the amazing lead shot above and the unquestionably-cool subject matter framed within it, that could be the very reason why you’re reading this now…
On the flip side, there’s also a very good chance that you already know exactly what and who you’re looking at before specs are revealed and names are mentioned, because as far as internet-famous Ford Escorts go, this one is right up there with the cream of the crop…
For reasons that don’t require explanation from me! Just your attention for five minutes and 59 seconds while you take in this video.
In Irish tarmac rally and hillclimb circles, the name Simon McKinley certainly needs no introduction – something that’s easily understood if you followed my cue and watched the video above. But not only has Simon been competing and winning at national-level for a long time, he’s done so in the very same car – a 1980 Mk2 Ford Escort he began building in in the front yard with his father Peter, at the age of just 13.
According to Simon, school homework took a back seat to the build while the pair transformed the GL-grade 1.3L grocery-getter into a formidable tarmac rally toy; and when it emerged out the other side in 1994, there was 200hp worth of tuned-up Pinto motor between the front struts and a driveline built to take every bit of abuse the motorsport-mad family could throw at it.
It’s been a work in progress for the last 20 years, with Simon resigning himself to making at least one improvement, be it major change or a minor alteration, before every event he competes in. It’s thinking like that that’s led him to create one of the coolest old school Escort rally cars anywhere in the world. So cool in fact, that I just can’t help but draw parallels between Simon’s car and the way he drives it on tarmac, with the iconic MCD Black Escort RS1800, as campaigned by Finnish rally god Ari Vatanen during the 1982 British rally season. That’s a big call I know, but given the success this little car has had, and the company it often keeps honest on race day (think purpose-built single seaters and WRC machines), I’m pretty sure it’s totally substantiated.
Time then for a closer look at what makes the McKinley Motorsport Escort tick…
Built to Ford’s works rally specification of the late ’70s/early ’80s era, the Mk2 body shell has as much going on where you can’t see, as it does where you can. But there’s a host of other metal modifications too, including extensive gusseting for strength and some major reforming of the floorpan around the transmission and rear axle tunnels.
It absolutely looks the part too, thanks to exterior mods designed to enhance performance without compromising the Escort’s original identity – something Simon tells me he’s always been very particular about. Then there’s the quality aspect as well; the extended arches for example were hand-formed from alloy rather than moulded in fibreglass.
A Mexico spoiler with a custom added splitter has found its way onto the front end of the car, along with factory-type corner bumpers and their brackets which have been reimagined in carbon fibre. In an ingenious backyard wind tunnel-type test that involved thin strips of tissue paper, an industrial fan and a camera with its shutter set slow, Simon was able to see exactly where air was getting caught up around the Escort’s flat front face, and then help remedy the problem with a pair of cut-down aero winglets from a Williams F1 car.
Apparently the custom rear wing doesn’t have quite as much effect on the way the car handles as the F1 add-ons do, but according to Simon, it’s still a noticeable enough difference to warrant its addition. To keep weight in check, the rear bumper is in carbon, the boot lid – like the bonnet – has been constructed from Kevlar and the factory steel doors have been heavily gutted and their glass replaced with with polycarbonate – the latter extending to the rear three-quarter windows as well. The paint was not only applied thinly to begin with either, but only three layers of Ford Diamond White have been laid on ever since.
As much as I love the way Simon’s Mk2 looks, it’s the rarely-seen powerplant lurking beneath the bodywork that I really wanted to learn more about…
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The Warrior name has been associated with fast Escorts for a long time, and using the famed DOHC 16-valve cylinder head on top of a Pinto four-cylinder bottom is a guaranteed way to make power and all the right noises. So when Simon decided he needed to piece together the mother of all naturally aspirated four-pot motors, he didn’t need to look much further than Connaught Competition Engines (CCE) – one of the UK’s leading competition engine builders and now owner of the Warrior brand.
At the heart of the CCE/Warrior build you’ll find a Pinto 205 block; bored to 93mm and fitted out with Warrior-spec JE forged pistons, and rods and a narrow pin crankshaft from Arrow Precision. Apart from adding strength to cope with high rpm loads, the increased bore and stroke lifts capacity from 2.0L to 2.4L.
The cylinder head is where the power is made and for Simon’s engine, CCE went over and above the catalogue specification, flowing the twin cam casting to its utmost limit and decking it out with big valves, big cams and anything else deemed necessary to achieve the desired output of 300hp.
That included 11.7:1 compression and a quartet of Jenvey 48mm IDF throttle bodies fitted with tuned-length velocity stacks on a special Warrior intake manifold. Fuel is supplied via a CCE/Warrior rail and MM 058 high-flow injectors.
From the 4-1 tubular headers to the tail pipe, the Escort’s exhaust system – like many facets of this car – was entirely homemade, with ping pong balls used to ensure that each one of the manifold’s four, full-bore primary branches were perfectly equal in length. Neat trick, huh!
Pulling the pins and lifting off the boot lid reveals a Sierra Cosworth fuel pump feeding from a custom cell behind the rear bulkhead, plus the reservoir for the Titan dry sump system that’s employed to alleviate oil starvation issues – a critical component in a car that gets flung round as much as this one does.
On the engine management front, a DTAfast E48 EXP system is used; final tuning revealing a crazy 316hp and 235ft/lb to boot. That’s a fair whack of grunt from a naturally aspirated 2.4L four-pot engine, and a perfect accompaniment for a well-sorted chassis that tips the scales at just 810kg.
Considering the regular punishment the car is dished out, I wasn’t surprised to learn how much work has been put into the Mk2′s rear end in an effort to get the power to the ground both as efficiently and reliably as possible. There’s a Quaife five-speed H-pattern dog box running an AP Racing twin plate clutch and Warrior flywheel for starters, followed by one-piece driveshaft leading into an Atlas/Ford Motorsport rear end with Quaife Group 1 two-piece half shafts.
The gearing is perfectly matched to the engine’s characteristics and a 2.04:1 first gear ratio allows the Escort to reach 63mph (101km/h) at its 8850rpm limit before needing to make a shift. It’s dependent on the day and set-up of course, but the sprint from standstill is generally achieved in the low 3-second range, which should given you some idea of just how quick this little car is when Simon drops the hammer.
Engine and driveline aside, the suspension system has been perfectly tuned to make the most of every last drop of power that finds its way to the Escort’s rear wheels. There’s a heavy duty six-link arrangement in the rear and Bilstein coilover struts at all four corners, plus adjustable control arms, a Watts link, and modified Ford Fiesta XR2 Mk2 front sway bar with rose-jointed links. In the steering department, a quick rack offers 2.2 turns to lock and faster inputs, which is handy for hill climb work.
The brakes too have seen considerable modification, and although they’re hard to see behind the spokes of the 13×8-inch Alleycat alloy wheels up front, there’s an AP Racing Group 4 brake package consisting of four-pot ‘Monte Carlo’ calipers and 260mm rotors. At the twitchy end you’ll find Escort XR3i discs, and wider 13×10-inch Compomotive ML wheels wrapped in 10.0/22.0-13 Avon A15 soft-compound slicks for every condition. Wets are simply not needed as far as Simon is concerned…
On a damp track at least, you’d think that’s the reason why the Escort appears to be driven in an oversteer state almost as often as it’s going straight. But as it turns out, when Simon’s behind the wheel and on the limit, he prefers the car to be unsettled to lessen the chances of it biting back. Essentially, slightly sideways is the quickest way to drive the car.
Like the rest of the Escort, the interior space has been designed with pure function in mind. There’s a Safety Devices six-point roll cage in the mix, plus a custom Motordrive seat and a Willans harness for Simon.
A 10,000rpm Elliot tachometer keeps an eye on the revs and a digital bicycle speedometer is used to accurately track speed and distance, but it’s the homemade LED sequential shift light – just out of shot above the cluster – that Simon mostly relies on when #MaximumAttack mode is engaged.
Offset to the left there’s a custom panel sunk into the centre of the dash used to house additional gauges, switch gear and the battery cut-off, plus a warning light for low oil pressure.
There are many aspects I love about Simon’s creation: the aggressive stance, that Warrior engine, and a chassis that’s been honed over 20 years to deliver Escort performance on an unprecedented scale. But the real appeal – for me at least – is the car’s homegrown underpinnings.
Sure, there are some pretty desirable and expensive parts in the mix, but they’re just a by-product of a 20-year project – there’s never been a big budget to play with. Simon told me that on more than one occasion, he’s even had to slap black paint on his slicks to breathe justenough ‘visual’ life back into them to get through scrutineering on the second day of a weekend-long event.
That said, finding a sponsor before the start of the 2014 Naylor Engineeing Irish Hillclimb and Sprint Championship which kicks off in April is now high on Simon’s priority list; as is getting to the 2014 FIA Hillclimb Masters event in Luxembourg, in October. For the time being though, he’ll continue to evolve the Escort the same way he and his family have been doing for the 20 years, and I’m sure – the next 20 too…
Simon McKinley’s 1980 Ford Escort Mk2
Numbers Max Power: 316hp, max torque: 235ft/lbs, weight: 810kg
Chassis Bodyshell prepped to Ford rally spec, fully braised, Safety Devices six-point roll cage modified with gussets and tags to shell, custom transmission tunnel, custom diff tunnel
Engine Ford/Warrior 2.4L inline-four, Ford Pinto 205 block, bored to 93mm, Warrior-spec JE forged pistons, Arrows rods, SPS rod bolts, Arrows 8mm small pin crankshaft, Warrior DOHC 16-valve cylinder head, flowed by CCE/Warrior, Warrior FA2 camshafts, Warrior-spec Piper cam gears, 1.402″ inlet valves, 1.250″ exhaust valves, Warrior valve springs, modified Cometic MLS head gasket, Warrior-spec cam belt, 11.7:1 compression ratio, Jenvey 48mm throttle bodies x4, Warrior inlet manifold, custom 4-1 mandrel bent and equal length headers, custom made exhaust system, custom fuel cell, Sierra Cosworth fuel pump, Weber adjustable fuel pressure regulator, CCE/Warrior fuel rail, MM 058 high-flow injectors, Magnecor/Warrior ignition leads, Titan dry sump pump and pan, Mocal 12-row oil cooler, AOK radiator, DTA E48 engine management system
Driveline Quaife five-speed H-pattern dog box, AP Racing 7.25″ twin-plate clutch, Warrior flywheel, one-piece driveshaft, Atlas/Ford Motorsport differential, Atlas axles, Quaife GP1 2-piece half shafts
Suspension/Brakes Bilstein coilovers with alloy hubs, 320lb springs (front), Bilstein coilovers, 185lb springs, roller bearing top mounts, custom adjustable track control arms, heavy-duty 6-link rear end, Watts linkage, modified Ford Fiesta XR2 Mk2 front sway bar with rose-jointed links, race ratio steering rack 2.2 turns to lock, AP Racing Monte Carlo Tarmac-spec rotors/calipers (front), Ford Escort XR3i rotors/calipers (rear), Ferodo DS3000 pads, copper/braided stainless steel brake lines, modified factory pedal box, twin master cylinders with bias bar
Exterior Ford Escort Mexico front spoiler with custom splitter, cut/modified Williams F1 winglets, carbon fibre front/rear bumpers with custom alloy brackets, custom rear spoiler, lightened factory Escort doors, alloy-widened arches front/rear, Kevlar bonnet, Kevlar boot lid, polycarbonate side windows, Ford Diamond White paint
Simon Thanks Peter McKinley (father), Margaret Bell (mother), Richard Bell (step father), Deirdre McKinley (wife), Connaught Competition Engines and many others for their help and support over the years
It's never really occurred to us to aspire to an apartment in Monaco, or a Cabana in some bond-villainish kind of tropical island, full of bikini-ed Amazons and dodgy Lotharios, with digits and teeth made of aerospace materials. But if we ever would have done we would have fantasized about installing a salmon pink cutie like this Fiat 600 Jolly by Ghia.
But this was no bond villain's island runabout: rather the chairman of Fiat's yacht tender. The result of suave and loaded Gianni Agnelli’s desire, this piece of automotive camp was offered to the public in limited numbers from 1957. Based upon the standard Fiat 500, the Jolly came with reinforced bodywork with a byzantine 'Surrey' top, wicker seats straight off the patio and no doors. It was built by Ghia - before Ford bought up the brand and debased the noble Carrozeria into a trifling trim level - and so it boasted excellent build quality and an appropriately high price tag, more than double the cost of a standard 500. That's erm, Jolly pricey. Sorry.
RM recently off-hired this particular little beauty for over £100K: so we wonder what sort of yacht-owner would have the oligarch-like audacity to snap this up.
Whoever it was, you have to salute his jaunty steeze.
