Behold Tolman’s stunningly restored Escort XR3

We all have our favourite fast Ford Escorts, be it a Mexico or an RS2000, an RS Turbo or a Cossie. Hard to forget the XR3i, too, back when hot hatches were kings of the road. But the keen will also remember that before the fuel-injected car there was a carb-fed performance Escort, the XR3. It was a popular little pocket rocket, selling more than 11,000 in its first year, only to eventually fall by the wayside as so many cool classics now have. But not this one. This XR3 has been restored by Tolman Engineering – the people who make those fantastic 205 restomods – over the past 18 months and many hundreds of working hours. The result is staggering. 

If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. So when a customer came to Tolman wanting them to make their XR3 into one of the best in the world, only one thing was going to result. It arrived as a part-finished resto project, in fact – a bodyshell and two pallets of parts to go with it. So that’s more than a thousand bits and bobs, unlabelled. The restoration effectively had to start again, beginning with an audit of what they actually had in the car, pallets and bags. 

By the sounds of it, stripping Escort back to the bare metal, improving fit and finish, then respraying in the original Sunburst Red was probably the easy bit. Where things became tricky was sourcing the right parts to make this a faithful restoration. When improving and upgrading in the restomod style, new items can be made if required to achieve what’s desired – it doesn’t have to be original.

Clearly, this restoration did have to be, which meant setting up a lot of search alerts, scouring every corner of the internet and being very, very patient. Some new old stock seat trim turned up in someone’s loft, a driveshaft came from Germany, and somehow an original Feu Vert air freshener was also found. Every single detail has been sweated, though where you find a packet of Embassy cigs from the ’80s we’re probably happy not knowing. 

Tolman has had the chance to demonstrate its engineering expertise with this car, however, and not just its eBay prowess. The original glass was cut and polished, the sun-damaged plastics were repaired, the brake lines and exhaust were redone using better materials, the dash needles were airbrushed (!) to make them orange again and they reverse-engineered the heater controls (double printed to show blue and red in dark and light) as it’s ‘typically too complex for restorers to recreate’. Those are the lengths Tolman has gone to for this XR3. And for those looking to restore a similar car, the new Escort details will be available in its shop soon. 

Special thing, right? Even by the standards of rare ’80s pocket rockets, the XR3 is seldom seen, so it’s heartening to take in one that’s had such time and care lavished on it. And be reminded how good the Mk3 Escort – which maybe didn’t always have the best rep – can still look. There’ll be a chance for fast Ford fans to see for themselves, too, as the owner plans to take their XR3 to concours events this year – you certainly won’t miss it, that’s for sure.