The first generation Ford Escort, often referred to as the Escort Mk.1 was hugely successful and popular back in the late 1960s. This rear-wheel driven sedan came at the right time, just as other models like the Cortina started to get too big and other best sellers started to look outdated. To give you an idea of how popular this car was, it took Ford just 6 years to produce 2 million of them. In comparison, Perodua took twice that amount of time to hit half that number of Myvis produced. Of course, considering the Myvi got to that number based on mostly domestic consumption, it’s still impressive.
Anyway, the reason we’re bringing this up is because there’s a company in Wales that’s building these 1st generation Ford Escort coupés by hand in 2020! These 100% new shells are the being produced by Motorsport Tools UK, CME Ltd. and Magnum Car Panels, and you can contact them to order one for yourself as world wide shipping is available.
The best part is that the cars are very customisable. You can get them in right- or left-hand drive setups. You can get it with a standard base coat or finished to your own colour preference. Some of the specifications they can make include:
- Un-arched Mexico / Type-49
- Bubble arched / Type-49 ‘Group-1’ rally spec
- ‘Group-4’ rally spec
- Special Race/ Rally modern spec
The cars are built with the wider transmission tunnel that can accommodate automatic transmissions. It will be up to you to spec the car the way you want it. When Ford produced these cars, they came with 1.1-litre petrol engines in the base model, with larger 1.3, 1.6 and even 2.0-litre models going up the range into motorsport and commercial applications (yes there was a panel van version of the Escort too).
Whether you’ll be able to drive this car on the road legally is another issue. We’re not sure if the cars will come with a VIN number, perhaps they’ll be restricted to track and showcar applications. But if you’ve got the money to splurge and a nostalgia itch to scratch, this is definitely an interesting option!
