The ultimate status symbol has shifted toward hyper-engineered blue-collar rally heroes of the 1970s. Enter Boreham Motorworks and its stunning, officially licensed Escort. First teased in 2024, the final production specification just made its grand debut at the London Concours.
This is not your typical trendy restomod. This is a completely brand-new, road-legal Ford Escort Mk1 built entirely from scratch, the first of its kind in over half a century. Naturally, reclaiming this unfiltered piece of analog nostalgia requires a severe reality check for your bank account. Prices start at a staggering £295,000 before options, ballooning to an eye-watering £354,000 ($450,000) in the United Kingdom. Only 150 wealthy purists will secure one before Boreham shifts focus to scratch-building a revival of the legendary Ford RS200.
What exactly does half a million dollars buy you in an era obsessed with digital screens? Very little weight, for starters. Tipping the scales at a featherweight 895 kilograms, this bespoke creation claims a power-to-weight ratio of nearly 300 HP per ton, allowing it to easily humiliate modern sports cars on the sprint. The powertrain is a custom-engineered, naturally aspirated 2.2-liter four-cylinder masterpiece named the “Ten-K”, a direct nod to its screaming 10,000-RPM redline. Weighing just 85 kg, it pumps out 326 HP and 155 lb-ft of torque through a five-speed H-pattern manual transmission directly to the rear axle.
For the ultimate retro experience, Boreham also offers a reimagined vintage Twin Cam engine, bored out to 1845cc and upgraded with electronic fuel injection to push 182 horsepower through a raw, four-speed straight-cut gear close-ratio box. Even a modern, current-generation Ford powertrain is on the menu if you lack imagination.
To achieve this, Boreham digitally recreated the iconic two-door body shell originally built by Ford’s Aveley Advanced Vehicle Operations division before it closed in 1975. Computer simulations allowed them to reinforce the chassis, widen the wheel arches, and install a custom aluminum and titanium rear axle with vertical dampers.
To guarantee a truly visceral experience, power steering, ABS, and traction control were deliberately omitted. Instead, a torque-biasing limited-slip differential ensures highly predictable oversteer. Former Jaguar SVR design chief Wayne Burgess modernized the aesthetic, deleting chrome bumpers to mirror Alan Mann’s 1968 BTCC-winning racer, while adding LED headlights that cleverly mimic old-school headlight cross-tape.
