1997 escort van. Anti-Scene.

top work ,deffo needs more pics

there will be more pics soon, got my wheel issues to sort and a few other little tweaks, then if it ever stops raining ile give it a wash and shoot some more

those questioning the scene/anti-scene merits of this particular build seem to be missing the point. the very fact no one has put together something similar proves its anti-scene credentials.

tbh, i really didnt think id be having to explain this on here, as i though it would be the one place most people 'got it', and indeed if the wiki worked I wouldnt have to as HTW did an excellent post on there (or possibly the blog) a year or so back about this type of thing.

the basic premise is this.
take the base vehicle. its an escort van, and quite late model one at that. show me another one that is modified in a non 'max power/barryboys' kind of way, and ile be surprised. every single one you see modified relies heavily on the use of RS2000 or cosworth bits stuck on, usually with a smattering of 'ripspeed quality' aftermarket parts, and will typically ride on some ford alloys off a sportier model, or a set of dubious halfords alloys. lowering will be limited to whatever off the shelf shock and spring kits are available, so anything over 80mm drop would be unheard of. this is a bit of a generalisation, but I'm yet to see another that falls outside these rules. some are more tasteful than others, but the basic formula is still the same. I'm not neccessarily knocking it, as that is how that scene works, its what they do.

so, I take one of the aforementioned vans, and drop it around 150mm all round using custom coilovers designed to get it as low as practically possible without major surgery. (to go lower I would have to modify the lower arms as the travel on the inner pivots is close to maxed) I them chop up the rear suspension to get it as low without modifying the leafs and thus reducing carrying capacity. granted, ive seen about two other people online do axle flips on these, so I don't profess to be breaking new ground, but thats it. hardly falling over them like you are axle flipped caddys.....
so far, you could say this is purely VW scene influence, and id take that, as in a way it is. it doesnt matter if its slow, as long as its low.

then, I fit a set of rather wide banded steels. stock escort steels, just 8.5" wide instead of 5". I do this as I like a bit of poke and stetch, and I cant get it out of my system on any of my other cars.
in my view banded steels don't particularly come from any one scene, tbh its probably more notable where you don't see them rather than where you do. granted many cars within the VW scene roll them, but so do old school fords, american stock cars, and banger racers. but within the VW scene this is typically done with a square, low profile tyre with a bit of stretch. I don't mind this look, but its not something id go for on this van as I 1.- want the wheels to fill the arches as the rollerskate look wont work here like it would on a polo, and 2.- I want to be able to drive around at more than 55mph, so I want my gear ratios to be vaguely sensible. fitting a tyre with a 9" rolling radius to a car with gearing designed for a 12" rolling radius isnt sensible.

so, I want to run taller tyres, but with stretch. where do I look for examples of this? the retro/classic japanese scene. although you will never see a early skyline or a 240Z rolling banded steels over in japan, they will run small diameter super wide alloys wearing tall but stretched tyres, to tuck them back into the arches, as it seems they like a mixture of show and go, so need their gear ratios to be usable.


so thats my wheels and tyres sorted. only thing is to get the stretch I wanted, ive ended up with a little too much poke. my tyre tread sticks well past the arch, and jonny law wont like that, especially in essex.
so to stop me getting pulled and bummed by the feds every time I go anywhere in it, I need to do something about it. the later model ford scene talked about at the beginning would fit a full wide arch RS bodykit to accommodate wider wheels, but I obviously don't want to do that as itll just be following the standard formula they apply. the Vw scene would roll and flare the existing arches, maybe even widen them with an extra bit or arch welded in to cover the wheel. I don't really have that option either though, as the van is quite flat sided so there isnt an arch as such to flare.
what other options are they? forest/bubble arches, old school ford style? thats an awful lot of work and a nigh on full respray just to get the wheels covered. far more work than id want to do on a cheap escort van really. but hang on a mo, what about those JDM boys again? they like far-too-wide wheels too, so theyve come up with bolt on fender flares that just bolt on to cover the extra protrudance. they're cheap and easy to fit, so a set of those should do nicely!

and there we have it, all the pieces have fallen into place, to give me something thats still practical and legal at the end of it, but definately distinctly different to any escort van anyones put together before.

aspects of at least 3 distinctly different scenes, mixed up in a way that still looks half decent when its all screwed together.

Van looks better than an old builders nail has any right too, Dez.

Where did you get your plastic arches from btw? The chap off of here?

surely by combining so many scenes you are being even more scene?



van looks good though

Who gives a f**k if it's scene or not?! Take it for what it is, a really cool looking Escort van.

10-15 years ago i remember Colchester high street being full of modified ones on a Friday or Saturday night, when was the last time you saw one like this now?.

so, I got the tyre off and investigated this further today.

ive found why it cracked. whatever dullard had made them, had managed to lay his bead of weld on the pee so it was only just catching the outer section for about half the circumference of the rim.

this is the section that cracked-




and this is the bit that didnt. the weld is about 1/8" further outwards on this bit, actually on the join not slightly to the side of it.


so, as the failure was just down to semi-incompetence, I decided they were perfectly fixable, all I had to do was close up the gap then run a good bead of weld around to stick them together properly.

believe me, this fuckers burnt in well!!


they had a light dressing on the outside where it had burnt through(the finish isnt quite as good as I didnt want to flapwheel it much), a sand up to remove burnt paint, some fresh paint and the tyre refitted- surprisingly it wasnt damaged, I just had to replace the tube which had been pinched in the split and had a couple of pinholes in it.


so its all back together and on the van now, hopefully thatll be the end of it. ile still be getting a jamesP set though....

glad you fixed them Dez!
good work!

best stance on an escort van ever. I think.

I still can't see how gas shocks can explode. They still have oil in them aswell, and the gas is nitrogen iirc which isn't explosive. I'm still tempted to get one and weld a big bead up the side of it to see what happens.

Matt