A good mate of mine has one that is all setup for a rally car but unfortunatel he hasn't rallied it since getting married in 1995 - it's a shame as it was quite competitive in it's day and would be ideal for classic rallying now.
This is the American Version of the Ford Escort...1rst Generation introduced in 80-81 as the "World Car" A fun little car with a 4 banger to drive and pretty fuel effiecient for the time period....Personally i didnt care for the car and could be quite challenging to work on for some folks do to tight spaces and locations of accesories...
We had these out here too - Ford laser / Mazda 323 but i haven't seen that particular rear style of body though.
They were pretty lightly built but still tough little cars until the rust got into them - the later generations came out with 1600 dohc turbo 4wd setups and were a real blast to drive
Escort RS- can't tell if it's a 1600 or 2000. The 1600 was a Cosworth motor with all the typical cosworth bad habits- peaky, finicky, etc. The 2000 went the American route- bigger motor, less finicky.
The Cortina GT and the later Escort gave the inspiration to BMW for the car that put them on the map in the USA- the 2002. Simple formula- put a big motor in a small, light car, then watch them fly off of the showroom floor.