The Reborn Mk1 Ford Escort Is A 10,000rpm Sports Car Killer In Vintage Clothes

Many years ago, the go-to car for attainable rear-drive fun wasn’t an MX-5 or a lower-end BMW, but a Mk1 Ford Escort. Now, it’s making a return – minus the ‘attainable’ part – through Boreham Motorworks, a newly-established company with the official blessing from Ford to revive some of its most legendary past models.

We first heard of Boreham earlier this year when it confirmed plans to bring back both the Mk1 Escort and the RS200, and it’s the former that we’re getting to see first. What this isn’t is a restomod, because it’s not been built up from a donor car. It’s all new, and wearing official Ford chassis numbers, although because it’s a very different beast to an original Escort, Boreham’s calling it a ‘continumod’ rather than a straight continuation car.

Those differences begin with the powerplant – like the original, it has a choice of throaty naturally aspirated four-pots, but the numbers are a bit more… 2024. The entry-level option is a 1.8-litre, kicking out 182bhp through a four-speed manual. That’ll go to a healthy 9000rpm, but if revs are your thing, you’ll be wanting the more powerful option.

That’s a 2.1-litre, dual-overhead-cam billet motor, making 296bhp and breaching the hallowed five-figure rev mark at 10,000rpm. That gets a five-speed manual with a dogleg first for extra motorsport cred/traffic light embarrassment.

The car’s free of pretty much any electronic bits – there’s not even power steering or brake servos, let alone ABS and traction control. What you do have are an aluminium back axle, an ATB limited-slip diff, front McPherson struts and a set of coilovers. Boreham promises “controllable oversteer.” That’s the best kind.

Boreham is targeting a delightfully slim 800kg kerbweight for the whole lot, with the aid of a carbon fibre bonnet, boot lid and interior structure. That means other components don’t need to be massive. Brakes are 260mm vented items with four-pot callipers up front, and solid 264mm discs with two-pots at the back. The dinky 15-inch wheels – optionally magnesium – are shrouded by 205-section tyres at the front and 225s at the rear.

Boreham’s sensibly chosen not to deviate far from the Mk1’s looks. The old-hat chrome bumpers are gone, there are LED lights – the fronts said to be inspired by the taped-over lights common in old-school touring car racing – and other bits like the door handles and mirrors are new. Naturally, the use of many clever computer programmes means it has shutlines an original Mk1 Escort could only dream of.

The differences are a bit more night-and-day on the interior, although the basic shape of the original’s dash remains. Heated screens and air-con are nods to modernity, and naturally, there is much leather and Alcantara.

Like the sound of it? You’ll need at least £295,000, and to be quick enough to snap up one of the planned 150 units. If you miss out, though, there’s still that reborn RS200 to look forward to, plus plans in the works for revivals of plenty more classic fast Fords – although just what, we don’t know yet.

Not only that, but Boreham falls under the umbrella of DRVN, the company that’s also behind the Evoluto Ferrari 355 restomod. Earlier this year, we spoke to CEO Iain Muir, who promised that the company’s focusing on “the things that made us all fall in love with cars in the first instance.” In this case, we’d say job done.