pikespeakgtx Wrote:
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> Ok, thanks... I recognize Malcolm Wilson's name, I
> always thought he was a team leader who worked for
> Ford, didn't know about Msport or that he owned
> it.
>
I had the opportunity back in Jan. 1994 to tour the Ford Motorsports "works" department in Boreham. This was where they built all the factory rally cars for years before the program finally got outsourced to M-Sport. This was shortly before that happened. I think Malcolm Wilson took over the following year. We were meeting with the principals there because we were embarking on a project (that never happened) and would be buying parts from them. Ford Motorsport was under pressure at the time to be more profitable so they were keen to sell parts. It was kind of funny, they had nothing good to say about Malcolm Wilson. The one head honcho described him as "a bit of a junkyard guy", whatever that meant. I think the M-Sport deal was in the pipeline by then and they suspected they were on their way out so there you go. But we got to tour the whole place. They were doing the final preparations on the Escorts for the Monte Carlo rally and we got to check those out. And the parts warehouse was unbelievable. Bins and shelves full of 909 parts everywhere. Racks of 9" diffs, stacks of square tube crossmembers, group A uprights and calipers, etc.
They were very forthcoming and even gave us shell prep blueprints, the real deal! Wish I still had those. For Safari Rally spec cars they did extra strengthening using the underfloor frame rails and the inner front fenderwell reinforcements from the American spec Merkur. (European Sierras didn't have those pieces, the bottom of the car was totally smooth, no frame rails.)
