With state-of-the-art performance cars boasting almost unusable capability, it’s no surprise that older cars are really having a moment. Beyond record-setting prices for Lamborghini Murcielagos and Ferrari Enzos, updated classics are a big deal right now. The Tuthill 911K, the Evoluto F355, the Nardone 928. However, perhaps the most interesting modernized old car of the moment isn’t a restomod. It’s the Boreham Motorworks Ford Mk1 Escort RS, and it stirs up a level of sheer want I haven’t felt in donkey’s years.
Most Mk1 Ford Escorts didn’t start life as a hugely special car. After all, it was the replacement for the Anglia, so it was largely designed to be economical family transportation for Europe. The lowest-output model made just 40 horsepower from an 8:1 compression 1.1-liter pushrod inline-four. However, because rallying was so important, Ford ensured a skunkworks Twin Cam model with a beefed-up shell was available early on. It featured a 1,558 cc engine from the Lotus Cortina homologation special, and with about 109 horsepower hauling around as few as 1,653 pounds in racing trim, it was a hero right out of the gate. This sedan won the British Touring Car Championship, then the Tulip Rally, then the Austrian Alpine Rally, then the 1,000 Lakes Rally, all in its inaugural year. A legend was born, and after two years, Ford really doubled-down.
If you’ve ever seen the letters “RS” on a Ford, that can all be traced back to the Escort RS 1600. Twin cams, 16 valves, and 1.6 liters of Cosworth-tuned displacement resulted in 115 horsepower. With a nimble chassis, reinforced body, and a stout Cortina gearbox, it quickly became the winningest rally car of its day, and the homologation special Ford had to sell in order to compete became a hot commodity. Mind you, the twin-cam engine was high-strung, so Ford capped things off with the Escort RS2000. It may have been down on power over the RS1600 due to its two-liter Pinto engine, but some still consider this the ultimate fast Ford. The Boreham Motorworks Mk1 Escort RS is a tribute to that, but don’t call it a restomod.
Each example of this British machine starts with an entirely new body and front subframe not modelled after the production car, but rather the Alan Mann competition cars of the period. This means the wheelbase has been altered, resulting in a longer dash-to-axle ratio that’s beautifully purposeful. How did Boreham do this without raising some IP red flags? By licensing production from Ford, of course. It’s a ground-up new car with the original maker’s blessing, a rather rare thing in a world full of donor cars.
Standard fitment is a reworked twin-cam engine, now producing 185 horsepower and revving to 8,500 RPM. I’m sure it’s good, but when you’re playing in this echelon, you might as well splash the cash on Boreham’s Ten-K option. No, that’s not the price, that’s the redline of this 2.1-liter, ITB-equipped, 325-horsepower screamer. Ten thousand RPM. In a Mk1 Escort! Tick this box and you also get a dog-leg five-speed manual transmission, and if you think 325 horsepower sounds a bit low, wait until you see the curb weight of this thing.
Unsurprisingly, it’s a small number: 1,973 pounds. If I’ve done my math right, that’s 363 horsepower-per-metric ton. More than a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. So how’s Boreham gone and done that? Well, the Ten-K engine option weighs just 190 pounds itself. The rear axle housing features an aluminum center section and titanium axle tubes. Lightweight dampers from motorsports specialist R53 shave precious grams, and the dashboard and door cards are made of carbon fiber. As is the giant X-brace across the rear of the cabin. As are the seats. As are the hood and trunk. Add it all up, and you get a car that should simply fling itself at the horizon. And when you get to a corner, six-link rear suspension and a limited-slip differential should let you power through with a dab of opposite lock.
Once you theoretically park this dream machine up, I’d imagine it’s impossible not to take a step back and be captivated by the way it looks. With its bubble arches, shaved bumpers, and gorgeous proportions, the Boreham Mk1 Escort RS is bite-the-back-of-your-hand pretty. I’ve seen Boreham’s older Mk1 Escort continumods in the metal before, and in that moment, I needed them more than I needed air in my lungs. The RS is just as beautiful. The respectful concave reinterpretation of the classic RS four-spoke alloys, the stripes, I even appreciate the tastefully modernized lighting, with the headlights serving as a nod to that vintage racing taped-up look.
Peering inside, almost everything seems reimagined with the highest level of detail. The leathers, the switches, the metal trim, the optional Breitling clocks. Curiously, there are some off-the-shelf parts here that seem a touch unusual. Those relatively modern circular air vents, for example. And the radio, which looks a lot like a white-labelled Blaupunkt Skagen 400 DAB. Still, would you just look at those alloy-faced dials? Delicious.
Understandably, when it comes to handbuilt machinery like the Boreham Motorworks Ford Mk1 Escort RS, production’s limited. Only 150 of these continuation cars will be made, but the price tag might not be as expensive as you’d expect. Figure a base price of $400,000. Supercar money, but a far cry from what restomods like the Alfaholics GTA and Singer DLS cost. You can even get it in left-hand-drive, and it comes with a two-year/20,000-mile warranty. Yeah, I’d take this over a Ferrari 296 GTB. Any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Top graphic image: Adrian Clarke
Shiiiiiit man, I’d totally rock something like this. One, tiny quip I have is with taillight treatment, which doesn’t quite match NuRetro headlights. But regardless. Gorgeous throughout.
These restomods don’t usually grab me, but this one looks enough like my old Capri to stimulate a deep and abiding lust for it. The fact that I hang out on sites like this rather than owning the technology that provides them means, of course, that I’ll never be able to afford one. But man, I really want one.
I’ll take one, but, can they leave the interior out? Don’t need it.
I don’t know what’s worse:
“Here’s a supercar that has one billion horsepower and costs a zillion dollars”
or
“Here’s a car that you loved when you were younger and we’ve made it even better, but even though it was kinda affordable back then now it’s one squillion dollars too!”
Probably the later
Had a mate who used to race minis in Zambia of all places — Dad worked on the copper mines.
He claimed they got the family mini to rev to 13,000 rpm… Often wondered about that.
I know there are some with Suzuki motors which are close, but he said it was just a lot of work on a standard block.
As I understand it, this all comes down to precision. The closer your tolerances are across the whole engine, and the better things are balanced the higher they can rev. Also spring rates, as at some point the speed of the valve overcomes the strength of the valve spring and causes it to float. With those higher weights, the spring materials start to become an issue, so they have to be upgraded to something stronger, so from say spring steel to titanium. Then the retainers start to fail, so those have to be upgraded, and then the bearings start to wear, etc…
It’s a lot of trial and error and precision machining work well beyond what an assembly line could accomplish. It’s obsessive attention to detail 🙂
My cousin used to race a hot Mini in the 80s.
With a pretty seriously built A series engine, revs were capped under 9k.
The push rod valve train and 5 port head would be major limiting factors, but luckily twin cam heads have been available for the A series for a while.
An upgraded DOHC valvetrain (headwork, valvesprings, huge cams, bigger lighter valves) along with upgrading everything in the block (steel crank, balancing, lighter forged pistons, forged rods) could conceivably do those revs.
I somehow doubt thay they did all that to the family mini though.
I’m not the biggest fan of these heavily worked over restomods. The interior and exterior always have this uncanny valley look to them. I wish they would focus on just massaging the OEM look, with maybe a wide fender or two, and replacing some overly cheap parts with nicer materials. It’s really easy for them to get a cartoon look
I agree – this is a beautiful car, but once you start focusing on the details things seem just a little off. I know they’re going over everything with a fine-toothed comb to remove all the little visual compromises and visible technology limitations of the past, but those little imperfections and jagged edges are often what give the car its character. These end up looking too modern.
You’re correct, but then they also have to justify as it were, the $400k price tag vs. a standard car with the go-fast bits.
Those air vents stand out as conspicuously cheap at that price. It’s cooler than a lot of other expensive stuff, but still way too much. Still, for those of whom the price is like a regular person buying an ice cream cone, it’s nice to see this treatment not going to yet another damn 911.
I genuinely thought I’d seen every car on planet Earth at this point, but somehow I had never actually laid eyes on a Ford Escort MK1. Woke up too early, couldn’t get back to sleep, started scrolling, and boom – whole new obsession unlocked.
Not only is the original 1970s MK1 straight‑up dope, but the modern reinterpretation renderings people have done? Beyond dope. Like, “why does this look this good” levels of dope. This thing is a good‑looking ride from A to Z – and that’s rare. Really rare.The front fascia alone has this unique, confident geometry that almost no modern car even attempts anymore. It’s balanced, it’s purposeful, it’s got personality without trying too hard. Honestly, I haven’t been this instantly hooked on a design since the first time I saw a Karmann Ghia – and that’s saying something, because neither of these cars are ones I would’ve normally gone hunting for. They just have that frikkin cool factor that hits you sideways.
But here’s the thing:
If anyone modernizes either of these cars, they have to respect the curvature language of the era. That’s the secret sauce. Too many retro‑inspired cars lose their soul because the curves, edges, and transitions get “updated” into generic 2020s shapes. Suddenly the car looks like a modern blob wearing vintage cosplay.The MK1 Escort works because its curves are tight, intentional, and era‑specific — not smoothed out into oblivion. Same with the Ghia. You can’t modernize these cars by sanding off the very lines that made them iconic.
And honestly, I can totally imagine a modern Escort lineup:
– Base model – clean, simple, faithful
– Mid‑trim style variant – a little flair, a little attitude
– GT model – the full send
All built around that same 1970s curvature DNA. That’s the move.
Oof, holy hell, this thing is gorgeous… if only I had $400k burning a hole in my pocket.
LED headlights suck all the soul out of any car new or classically inspired – fight me.
I like my aftermarket LED better than the HID ones mine came with, they were way too bright and blue.
Some modern cars do LED lighting well. Classic cars, not so much…
They look terrible, but they’re useful if they work. Old headlights were awful when they were the norm and I can’t imagine how bad they would be to use today or if they’d even be easily seen in the wash of modern headlights. Modern DRLs are brighter than old headlights. It would be nice if they could disguise them better, though, and give them a more original yellow glow. In fact, I’d like to see modern lighting tint back toward the yellow part of the spectrum.
High-dollar restomods suck all the soul out of any classic car
It’s gotten a bit out of hand. I like the idea of something like a mustang or MG with modern brakes and that’d be about it.
Great looking car, maybe the big 3 should let more small manufacturers build the halo versions as it is big money to them and the big 3 sucks at it. I would have preferred to see the actual dates being referred to throughout the story so I would know what generation we are talking about. Just a suggestion.
“a nod to that vintage racing taped-up look”
I’m glad you cleared that up because my initial impression was early seventies Mercury hood ornaments (or in the best-case, center of the 1970 Mercury Cyclone’s grille.) I know the British get their Fords and Mercs all upsy-daisy.
I’ve driven an MKII Escort at a rally school in northern Ireland. I think it was Eddie Irvine’s rally school but they don’t seem to exist anymore.
I like the new version, but as an American I have no nostalgic notions toward these cars. If wanted something like this I’d build an AE86, 2002 or 510.
For 1/4 of this price I could build an amazing version of almost anything, even hiring out a lot of the work.
I had to go to the site and read up on it. I couldn’t make out the tire size. It is 15″. More specs here:
https://borehammotorworks.com/ford-escort-mk1-rs/
Yes please, I’m not sure I’ll be around in 240 months but who cares.
I I had that kind of cash I’d surely rather have one of the glut of restomods than anything Ferrari has made in the last… Ever I guess?
Only Ferrari I would want would be a Daytona. If I work until I am 103 Iay be able to rent one for a week.
That shift lever makes me think it’s a sequential gearbox.
This would be a fun car; I hope the buyers actually get some mileage on it.
That’s what I thought. I’ve never driven a sequential gearbox unless you consider conventional motorcycle transmissions “sequential.” Thomas mentions a “dog-leg” 5M and TBH, I’m not quite what that is unless it’s one where 1st is down and to the left with the remaining 4 in a H to the right.
I’m a righty. My brother and last wife are both lefties. I’ve always thought lefties look cool doing daily stuff left-handed. They just look more deft to me. Although I did sympathize for my wife, as she is a dentist and many of her tools were not designed ambidextrously. Obviously, there are plenty of righties that manage to shift left-handed.
None of us have driven a RHD car with a manual of any sort. I’ve rented RHD cars in Ireland and Australia, but they were both automatics. I would be a bit worried riding a motorcycle in a RHD country as motorcycles don’t have the obvious cues that “things are different here.”
I’d like to say that you get used to shifting with the opposite hand quickly enough, as you’re just using your left hand rather than your right hand, and you quickly do – but the efficiency of being able to (almost literally) push the lever from 2-3 or 4-5 away from your body in LDH vs the obvious shift pattern motion you need on RHD (as you try to paw it inwards and forwards) is what leaves me with a stronger preference to LHD shifting.
And, yes, I’d be worried about lack of cues on a motorcycle when riding on the opposite side of the road ending up having a brain-fart with life altering consequences.
Most of my travel, these days, has found that taking Uber/Bolt/Taxi/Public Transit has vastly improved the quality of my travel as I’m never hunting for a parking space, caring about directions, or worried about someone else damaging my rental vehicle.
This makes my heart hurt for what the IDx could have been. I will never forgive Nissan for killing that little notchy coupe.
Nissan is the brand of disappointment.
Wow, this timeline really sucks when it comes to available toys for rich people and working-class.
If I could afford a hot escort, I’d go for one that hasn’t had plastic surgery. The brain upgrade is fine, though.
Who cares either way she’s a rental.
I’m so glad the wealth gap has grown so insane that the rich don’t have enough Ferraris and Lamborghinis to keep them entertained anymore and have to drive up prices and heavily modify all the cool classics as well. Oh wait, no, I’m not. Car is cool, what it says about our society, less so…
You can have a proper Group 4 works car with competition history for half what this contraption costs.
https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C2030369
Wow that’s nuts! Yeah with half a mill I’d buy a cheap rally car and see how many seasons I could run before I ran out of money, haha!
I can’t belive I’m going to say this but is $400k even that much for a “rich car”? We hear about cars going for multimillions this is in like doctor or lawyer money ranhe and not CEO money.
I am not paying half a million for an Escort, sorry.
Also:
“it quickly became the winningest rally car of its day”
No it didn’t (unless you count club events, in which case not sure). In 1974 the Stratos entered the game… and it was game over… for everyone.
An RS1800 won the driver’s championship in 1979, and the manufacturers championship in 1979 and 1981.
Talbot won in ‘81.
Undoubtedly Ford has had great involvement with rallying but they have won surprisingly few championships.
If I am not mistaken the 2006 title was only their second championship.
Yeah i got it the wrong way around, Drivers champion in 1979 and 1981.
Yep, Waldegaard and Vatanen!
The ‘81 championship if I am not mistaken the last one to be won by fully private team.
Everyone raves about Group B, but late Group 4 is the golden era of rallying.
Cheaper than marrying her.
I could do without the Forza Edition lights. Everything else is more than fine.
Well, now we know where Adrian will be trading the Mondial.
I’m waiting for them to turn their attention to the mighty Capri 2.8 injection. But this will keep me going until then.
This is an excellent way to spend tech-bro AI bucks. Goes like heck and probably sounds properly mean doing it. 8500 rpm is decent for a road car. 10k is nuts.
I would love to rev to 10k in a four wheeled vehicle on the street.
I may move closer to the city just so I could do it through tunnels.
Tech bois need to stick to the video games.
Maybe I remember incorrectly, but I think the Honda S(660? 800?) roadster could rev to 10k.
I believe S600’s redline was 9.5K (10K in racing trim), S2000s could rev to 9000.