The Fast And Furious 6 Escort Mk1

Remember the Fast and the Furious franchise when it first burst onto cinema screens more than a decade ago? Interesting cult films sure, but not exactly within the Classic Ford remit.

That’s all set to change though, as the latest (and sixth) in the series is about to hit our cinema screens, and it features what appears to be an immaculate Mk1 Escort. We were intrigued to say the least, so we tracked down the series’ Car Co-ordinator, Dennis McCarthy to Burbank in Southern California, and picked his brains.

The first question is, why a Fast And Furious 6 Escort Mk1?
Well, if you look at the more recent films in the franchise, you’ll notice that we’ve been expanding the variety of cars in them to include older models. Paul Walker’s character (Brian O’Conner, above) also has a history of driving older or rally style cars, like the ’71 Nissan Skyline in Fast 5 and the Subaru Impreza rally car in Fast & Furious. The Escort just fit with his character perfectly.

What kind of modifications did you make to the cars prior to filming?
Well the cars were generally rally-prepared to start with. We stripped them back to bare shells, tidied them up and fitted a few new parts.

How did the Escorts perform during filming? They must’ve been subjected to quite a lot of abuse.
Yeah, they did suffer, though the cars actually coped really well. If you’ve seen the trailer you’ll know that the Escort jumps off a bridge. That was a drop of almost 70 feet, and the car ended up on its roof, but it still ran and drove afterwards. It turns out Escorts fly real good!

What kind of profile does the Mk1 have in the States? Are Americans aware of the cult following it has in Europe?
Almost none to be honest. No-one but the biggest European car fan knows about them or their heritage. That doesn’t really matter though, the cars look fantastic and that’s what matters.

How’s Fast 7 shaping up? Are we likely to see any more European Fords in that?
Work’s begun on filming Fast 7 and, as ever, we’re trying to get as much variety into it as possible. Hopefully we’ll get some good European cars in.

Thanks for your time Dennis, have a nice day.
Same to you!

Fast & Furious 6 opens in UK cinemas on May 17. See videos and more photos atwww.thefastandthefurious.com

This is an abridged version of the full article which appears in the June 2013 issue of Classic Ford – available now.

(Resourced from  classic Ford magazine website: http://www.classicfordmag.co.uk/2013/05/10/the-fast-and-furious-6-escort-mk1)