Italeri 1/24 Ford Escort RS1800 Mk.II Kit First Look

by Michael Benolkin

First Look

The Ford Escort is known throughout North America as a compact front-wheel drive car that was successful through its production run between 1980 and 2003. What many North Americans don't know is that the Escort started life in Europe with production starting in 1968 and was a very popular platform in Europe, and especially in the UK market. One way to make the car successful was to create versions of the platform that would appeal to the rally enthusiasts. Indeed, the early Escorts were almost unbeatable as rally cars and that didn't hurt car sales. When Ford introduced the second generation Escort, dubbed the Mark II, this series was also pressed into rally configurations. The RS1800 introduced a fuel-injected 1790cc Cosworth engine which lead the car to many victories with rally teams between 1975-1981.

Italeri has reissued the ESCI 1/24 Ford Escort RS1800 rally car which was first released in 1979, and since appeared in Humbrol and Revell boxings as well. As with previous releases, this boxing features a different rally car in decals.

Among the features and options in this kit:

• Nice interior complete with racing seats and roll cage
• Left-hand drive configuration
• Crew restraints provided by decals
• Engine, radiator and front suspension visible under hood
• Positionable hood
• Four-wheel disc brakes
• Skid plate
• Rubber (vinyl) tires

The kit could be built as-is without painting and it would look nice, but you'll want to add the various colors in the interior and under the hood to make this model stand out.

Decals are provided for the Rally of Canada car that won the 1979 World Rally Championship.

Despite its age, the tooling is in good shape with very little flash and is ready to head to your workbench!

Thanks to MRC for the review sample.