Assume this is the same car
Abridged from
http://www.heroncars.co.nz/template....les_rossbaker1
FIRST ROVER V8 ESCORT
On one of our trips to Perth to see Bev's family I bought a Rover V8 motor for $250-00 and shipped it back to Rotorua in parts. I thought I could fool the custom's man into believing it was only parts, but he was no fool, I ended up paying full duty but still it was a very cheap motor. I then bought a written off Mk1 Ford Escort and cut the damaged front off it and built a subframe from the bulkhead forward to fit the Rover motor, five speed Fiat gearbox and front suspension from, you guessed it, a Triumph Vitesse.
The Escort was a beautiful little car painted in black. Bev drove it to work during the week and I hill climbed it or raced it at the weekend. I remember when working at Bob's farm after my accident which was on the way home to Parkcliff road, we used to hear Bev approaching. As she got closer to the gate the revs would drop off and then once a couple of hundred yards past the gate it would be full on again. She didn't realise we could hear the exhaust as she went past. I reluctantly sold this car after my jet boat accident. Graham Barker bought it and fitted a turbo charged Leyland P76 before righting it off in a hill climb. A very sad end to a beautiful little car.