Kelvin brought us his immaculate duo of retro Fords for a dyno health check before promptly being tuned. On initial glance we thought we were seeing double, however delve a little deeper and the differences quickly become apparent. 

A side profile view reveals the first obvious difference between these pair of Fords; one being an Escort Cabriolet – RS Turbo conversion and the other a genuine series 1 Escort RS Turbo.  Whilst a walk around of the cars yields no other notable differences, the series 1’s number plate eludes to the keen eye, that things may not be as they appear… Those three letters – RWD 
The front wheel drive has been ditched in favour of a rear wheel drive (RWD) setup with the power being supplied by a Cosworth YB engine, complimented with an up-rated Garrett turbocharger. The cabriolet however still houses a showroom condition, show winningly clean CVH RS Turbo engine.

When tested on the dyno the cabriolet made 166.9 bhp at the flywheel. A nice healthy number to put through the front wheels without stressing any of vehicle’s original components. 

Moving onto the series 1, initial testing on the dyno recorded 267 bhp. With tuning wizard Alan Jeffery at the helm accompanied by his ex-apprentice Ben Sturgeon, the dynamic duo got to work setting the mixture, increasing the boost and checking the timing. After the Midas touch, the Escort left the dyno with a lively 290.9 bhp thanks to some Enginetuner magic.

Whats is clear to us is that they are both equally as loved! The question begs… which set of keys would you reach for?