Borderline Crazy
By Mike Kovac · May 4, 2026 · The Auto Snob
Borderline CrazyBy Mike Kovac / The Auto SnobThe two of us stood there, speechless, as the Canadian Border Services agent proceeded to unearth the envelopes from our luggage, shoved full of freshly minted $100 bills, and count them in front of us. We looked down nervously, then at each other, unsure of what was about to happen next.Now you may be wondering how we became entangled in such a predicament. And I will tell you, but first, we need to take a trip in the way back machine and wind back your clocks to the year 2017. You see, thoughts of that Cosworth that my friend and I had previously purchased from the king of Atlantic City and cheap cigars were still lingering, and the desire for another one was overpowering. Only this time would be different and with a clear objective to seek out a clean, pristine example bearing low miles with complete service history. The seller would be someone who was trusted, and preferably the Cossie would not have endured the use of tobacco inside its cabin.The ideal of that mission statement was hilariously short lived as I made my usual daily round of scouring Craigslist and stumbled upon a seller named Elvis in Canada with a 1990 Cosworth 2.5-16. As far fetched as that sounded this was a BIG deal, and not because the car was located in Canada or the guy selling it called himself Elvis, but because us plebians living south of the border were never able to actually buy the Cosworth 2.5-16.Visually, the 2.3-16 and 2.5-16 Cosworths looked identical, but under the hood bore had increased and the motor now displaced 2.5 liters, power increased from 167HP to 201HP, and instead of using the mechanical limited slip differential in the 2.3-16, the 2.5-16 used a hydraulically locking differential. There were other small, differences to distinguish the two Cosworths, but suffice to say, the 2.5-16 was a noticeably more spicy Cossie and if you lived in the US, you positively geeked out about the notion of being able to drive one.I sent the C…