Boreham Motorworks is putting the finishing touches to its £354k Mk1 Ford Escort continuation ahead of deliveries starting early next year - and its creators pledge that the retro, sub-tonne two-door will be unlike anything else available at this price point.
The Mk1 RS, having now been revealed in its final production form, is the first in a series of continuation cars created with the official blessing of Ford by a crack team of industry design and engineering heavyweights.
Boreham has already confirmed a new take on the RS200 Group B rally car, and the entire Ford catalogue is open to the British firm as it carves out a niche in the performance car market.
With the first customer handovers just months away, a test mule is currently being run around British proving grounds in a bid to break Boreham's screaming, race-honed 'Ten-K' engine - an entirely bespoke development that, as its name suggests, redlines at 10,000rpm.
With roughly as much power as a Volkswagen Golf R and weighing at least 100kg less than a Mazda MX-5, the Mk1 RS promises to be the quickest and most extreme road-going Escort yet.
While Boreham has yet to reveal performance figures, it should keep pace with most modern supercars.
But beyond straight-line performance, Boreham is rigidly focused on ensuring its debut model is just as engaging to drive and usable day to day as similar-priced rivals from big-name manufacturers.
It will always be a more exclusive proposition, though. Production will ramp up slowly at first: only 10 cars are earmarked for production in 2027, to help isolate any potential hiccups early in the car's life cycle - and only 150 are planned in total.
Icon reinvented
"We didn't want a car that anybody would either consider or could capably build themselves," John Mitchell, Boreham's director of Ford Heritage (above, left), told Autocar.
A member of the original Ford Motorsport team responsible for all Escort RS models, as well as the Capri 2.8 Injection and the Sierra Cosworth, he added: "It just had to be different."
Stylist Wayne Burgess - previously a lead designer at JLR and Aston Martin - said his ambition was to build the Mk1 Escort he had always wanted, having previously owned five.
Its fundamental structure is based on that of the contemporary touring car campaigned by Alan Mann Racing - which Boreham is also now reproducing to its original specification.
