How Boreham Rebuilt The Iconic Escort Mk1 RS

Boreham Motorworks has done what we all wish we could do to our favourite classic: It has made a completely new car from the ground up using the latest tech in every part of the car’s make up. Say hello to the Boreham Escort Mk1 RS. Incredibly this is a completely new car with a Ford badge and recognised as so on the paperwork.

The Mk1 Escort has been a staple of the SA racing and classic-car scene for decades. Boreham’s version keeps the basic rear-drive, manual, front-engine formula, then overlays it with hardware and materials that would have sounded absurd on the original production line. The headline numbers are the kind that make your eyebrows climb first and your wallet sweat second.

The public debut of the Escort Mk1 RS marks a hugely important moment for the programme because it demonstrates how far the engineering and development process has progressed since the original reveal What matters most to us is ensuring the car delivers exactly what enthusiasts expect the moment they get behind the wheel. Lightweight engineering, immediate response, usable naturally aspirated performance and genuine driver connection have guided every decision throughout development
– Ian Muir, Boreham Motorworks CEO

A Ford badge with no donor shell

Boreham is clear about what this is and what it is not. The Escort Mk1 RS is officially sanctioned by Ford, but it is not a restomod, and it is not a continuation car built around old stock. Every major part is newly manufactured, which is why Boreham calls it the first all-new Ford Escort in 50 years.

The inspiration comes from the Alan Mann Racing Group 5 Escort that won the saloon car championship in 1968, and you can see the lineage in the bubble arches and the stance. Boreham has kept the proportions recognisably Mk1, but tightened the shut lines, cleaned up the bodywork and given the whole thing a more expensive, more finish.

The fist clue that this is not a museum piece is the lighting. The headlights are LEDs. Up close, the detail level goes much further. Most of the exterior metalwork, including the door handles and mirror caps, is machined aluminium.

The new approach

Boreham did not just stiffen an old shell and call it a day. The front sub-frame is new, and it pushes the front wheels forward adding 30 mm to the wheelbase. Boreham says that change improves stability and allows better tuning of scrub radius, caster and camber. The company claims chassis rigidity is up by 50 per cent over the original Escort. The rear axle is also drastically lighter, with Boreham saying it weighs about half of the near-100kg unit used in period. Aluminium and titanium help trim 40 kg of unsprung mass at the rear compared with classic competition hardware.

Suspension is where the hardware starts getting properly exotic. The car uses a six-link layout and four radius arms, drawing on rally know-how for strength and control. The dampers are two-way adjustable items. The Escort also gets power steering that is active at low speeds and then eases off as road speed climbs. If the automatic torque-biasing differential is not enough, there is also a cable-operated handbrake with its own pad material, because apparently the brief here was to leave no possible excuse for the rear wheels not to lock.

Two engines

Boreham offers the Escort with two different four-cylinder engines. The standard one is the familiar rebuilt to Alan Mann specification. The with 1,8-litre unit producing 138 kW and 180 Nm. It revs to 8 500 r/min and sends its output through a Ford bullet straight-cut gearbox. That would be enough for most buyers particular in car of this mass and size. On paper, the TEN-K Escort works out at 271 kW per ton, which edges a Porsche 911 GT3.

However, the other options is called the TEN-K, an all-new naturally aspirated 2,2-litre mill offers 242 kW. Boreham says every customer so far has chosen it. It weighs just 85 kg. There is a 16-valve head, Formula One-inspired port and valve geometry, individual throttle bodies, a billet crankshaft, forged rods, dry sump lubrication, a single-mass flywheel, a billet cam cover and a carbon airbox. Boreham says the engine’s styling borrows from Ford’s old BD belt-drive units, but the real story is the way it is built to breathe and rev.

The cabin is the surprise

The interior is the bit most people have not seen, and it is one of the car’s strongest cards. Boreham has completely rethought the cabin with soft leather, carbon door cards, bespoke instruments, illuminated switchgear and a carbon dash integrated into a body-stiffening structure. There is also discreet phone-connected stereo equipment.

The seats can be specified in different forms, from comfort chairs with tilting backrests, so you can get to the helmets in the rear, to fixed slim carbon buckets. The steering wheel and seat choice can be tailored per customer.

For the buyer who wants the full excess, Boreham even offers Breitling clocks. These are a removable stopwatch and pocket watch that lock into the dash, with a matching wristwatch available too. Boreham is not pretending this is still a modest everyman’s Escort. It has made the interior feel like a miniature grand tourer wearing rally clothes.

An Escort for rich lunatics

The car will be limited to 150 examples, each backed by a 2yr/32 000 mile warranty. And the price for all this goodness… don’t expect change from R8m; and that’s before you even import it to SA. Boreham says it already has enough confidence to expect 150 wealthy customers, and the company’s Ford relationship continues with another project already lined up, a mid-engined, four-wheel-drive RS200 inspired by Group B.