By the time the Escort first came out in 1968, Ford were already firmly wedded to the marketing strategy of ‘Win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ and were keenly aware that they would need a race/rally version to take over from where the mighty Lotus Cortina had left off.

To this end Ford’s Boreham-based competition department had been quietly beavering away on a Lotus-powered Escort that was ready to roll as soon as the standard models hit the showrooms.

Called the Twin Cam, the hot new Escort immediately excelled on the international race and rally circuits, winning countless events and securing Ford the coveted World Rally Championship manufacturer’s trophy in its first year of production, a feat which it also repeated the following year.

Externally there was very little difference between the Twin Cam and its tamer two-door sibling, the Escort GT, but the reinforced Type 49 body shell had wider wheel arches, quarter bumpers, uprated suspension and front disc brakes as standard.

It wa...