The Escort Mark I RS1600 was developed after the success of the Escort Mark I Twin Cam with its Lotus twin overhead cam engine. It was obvious Ford needed to develop their own branded engine rather than use a Lotus purchased one. This engine had to meet the challenges from Ford's rally competitors.

This engine was the Cosworth-designed 'BDA' engine (for Belt-Driven type A). Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth, founders of Cosworth, had been contracted by Ford to produce the BDA, initially with the idea of fitting it to the Capri coupe which was due for launch in 1969.

It was proposed in 1969 to mate the BDA to the Escort in place of the Lotus Twin Cam engine in the MK1 Escort shell.

The new car became the RS1600, with the more powerful 16-valve twin-cam crossflow engine, but otherwise was virtually the same as the Twin Cam. In road trim the RS1600 produced 120bhp at 6500rpm, ten horsepower more than the Lotus Twin Cam's 109.5bhp at 6000rpm. Ford had planned to make over a 1000 RS1600 vehicles but ultimately produced closer to 900 units.

The BDA engine had a nominal capacity of 1599cc, but by utilising the maximum throw of the crankshaft, this was increased to 1601cc in standard form, putting the BDA up into the 2-litre class, homologation rules allowing enlargment in competition trim to a full 2-litres. Capacity was raised progressively from 1601cc to 1975cc in the original iron block engine, before it was replaced with the alloy block 2-litre in 1972.

The BDA engine was mounted longitudinally, with the gearbox attached to the rear of the engine. Power was then fed via a prop shaft to the rear differential and then onto the rear wheels.

The initial batch of RS1600s were constructed at Halewood, near Liverpool, longside the last Twin Cams, which ceased production in May 1971.

Although the RS1600 was a great success it was a very specialised vehicle with the inherent problems of ownership. Ford decided to build a car along the same lines as the RS1600 but cheaper and more practical hence the MK1 Escort Mexico was born.

The ignition system was a standard pre-electronic system using a conventional ignition coil and distributor feeding the four spark plugs. Spark generation was via conventional contract breakers (points) and capacitor. Due to the dimensions of the new BDA engine the battery had to be located in the boot of the MK1 Escort shell.

This BDA Cosworth engine was later over bored and used in the MK2 Escort RS1800.

FORD Escort RS1600 Mark I UK price guide (Sterling)

Condition       Excellent   Good    Average

Sterling          8000      5000     3500

For further details see Vehicle Registration Plate Guide.

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