Period Drama

There’s been no end of drama in the lifetime of Glenn Shute’s Saph Cossie. But today it exists as a pristine and period-perfect ’90s survivor…

- Dan Bevis

There are a lot of sepia-tinted memories swirling around the Fast Ford office lately. Between us, we can’t even count the number of years we’ve collectively been in the scene, and of course we love how the movement’s evolved and how modders and tuners are pushing the envelope with showroom-fresh Fords – but there will always be a nostalgic part of us that’s yearning for the sort of builds we saw when we were fresh-faced and new to it all. The stuff that’s retro and old-school now, but in our minds-eye is exactly where it’s at: the XR3is with tiger stripes, the S2 RS Turbos with Power Engineering motors and Morettes, the Cossies on three-spokes burning out on the seafront. So Glenn Shute’s Sapphire RS Cosworth really flicks our switch: sure, it’s not the most mould breaking or heavily modified car to feature on these pages, but it carries a few small details that add up to a glorious whole. List them out, and you get a microcosmic snapshot of the 1990s: the Laguna splitter, the vast Scorpion pipe, the white dials, the Koni adjustables with Bayjoo springs, the stereo install with 6x9s and custom door-pods. It’s so nineties. The motor’s running greens and a modded T3, it’s got the black leather Recaros and the three-spoke wheel inside… with the exception of the new-wave Focus RS wheels, everything about it is like a time capsule.