Back in the seventies, hairy chested macho policemen needed hairy chested macho transport - at least they did on the telly.
The Professionals was a series that featured a couple of coppers called Bodie and Doyle working for an organisation called CI5. My memory is a little shaky about who was who but I think Doyle was the curly haired one who drove the classic Mk2 Ford Escort RS2000 Custom while Bodie cruised around in a Capri 3 litre.
The RS2000, by modern standards isn't anything special performance wise. It's about as quick as your average repmobile today, but with rear-wheel drive and an aggressive look it did it in far more style. And for those hairy chested coppers it fulfilled the need for lots of smoking tyres and screeching brakes.
It was, of course, based on the standard, modest and rather boxy Ford Escort Mk 2 which, although essentially a dull family car, was actually quite fun to drive. I never got to drive an RS2000, but I did have a spin in the Escort Harrier which, although only a 1600, was a lively little motor with smart Recaro seats, a slick gear change (like all Escorts) and RS2000 style alloys. It was a whole heap of fun and I can only assume that the RS2000 was the same but more so.
The RS2000 was probably the last of the great Escorts which were not only practical family cars, but remarkably successful in racing too. In the early eighties Ford introduced a front drive hatchback Escort and Ford's family favourite was never the same again.
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