Ultimate resto-mod? The Ford Escort that costs more than a Ferrari

Four classical Smiths dials are positioned in my line of sight. Large ones for revs and miles-per-hour to the sides, smaller ones for oil and coolant temps in the centre. The seat may be bolted to the floor but fortuitously it could be no better positioned to allow for heel and toe work down at the pedals, while the minimalist dished steering wheel is positioned at a perfect ‘bent-elbow’ angle and distance.

Frank Gardner would have recognised this view, out over a gold bonnet that gently slopes away. In fact, the whole car would have felt like coming home, inside and out, bar the rigid embrace of the ultralight, modern bucket seat, the sturdy rollcage and the associated safety equipment; after all, when Gardner drove his Alan Mann Racing Ford Escort Mk1 to British Saloon Car Championship glory in 1968 (and a class title and third overall in 1969), the only concession to safety was a single, thin reinforcing strip in the roof above his head.

The famously blunt Aussie would also have recognised the raucous bark of the Lotus twin-cam engine, now I’ve flicked the ignition switch and thumbed the starter button, because in 1969 the championship rules forced Alan Mann to relinquish the 1600cc Cosworth FVA with its 16v head, and use a bored-out version of the twin cam instead. Given this highly stressed, 201bhp, 1840cc ‘four’ is fixed directly to a bare shell – that altogether has a dry weight of just 795kg – you can probably close your eyes and imagine the granite-hard, vibratory assault that my ears and insides are being subjected to. Ah… bliss!

“Frank Gardner would have recognised this view, out over a gold bonnet that gently slopes away”

You might have assumed this car was one of those Alan Mann Racing Ford Escorts, and in a way you’d be correct. Except this car doesn’t date from the late 1960s, but rather 2025, because it’s one of a projected run of 24 officially sanctioned cars to be built by Boreham Motorworks and Alan Mann Racing. You will surely have heard of the latter, but if the former sounds familiar, it may be because this is the company established by the DRVN Automotive Group in the UK, successfully negotiating a 10-year licensing deal to make a whole series of restomods (or ‘continumods’ as DRVN chief technology officer Simon Goodliff likes to call them) as they are based on brand new bodyshells. There will be a Mk1 Escort RS later this summer; after that, a “spiritual successor” to the RS200.

“I was a lifer in Ford,” says Goodliff, “and had a period working directly for [Ford CEO] Jim Farley. He’s a motor racing nut and I’ve raced my whole life so there was that link – a streamlining of communication.” As well as his role of chief engineer in product development, Goodliff also took on the task of filtering requests from organisations wishing to make Ford restomods, which the top brass would receive regularly. While most were politely declined, one such approach from the DRVN group stood out, and the link between DRVN and Alan Mann Racing was just one key element that helped get the agreement over the line. When Goodliff retired from Ford it was only a matter of days before he was at his desk for DRVN. Meanwhile, DRVN had taken a 50% stake in Alan Mann Racing.

Alan Mann left Ford too, in 1970, when the firm’s ‘Total Performance’ era came to an end, and spent the next quarter of a century enjoying a colourful life in light aviation, until the re-establishment of motor sport at Goodwood led to his own passion for motor racing being ignited once again. Since then, Alan Mann Racing has participated in historic competition and initially many of the original mechanics, not to mention drivers such as Sir John Whitmore, were involved. For Henry Mann, just 12 years old when the team reformed, it was a magical time. After his father’s death in 2012, the organisation has continued under his leadership.

“It’s one of a projected run of 24 cars to be built by Boreham Motorworks and Alan Mann Racing”

Although this car isn’t to be confused with Boreham Motorworks’ ‘modernised’ Mk1 RS road car, they hail from the same core. In fact, that genome of an Escort has its roots in the orange Mk1 Mexico that resides in Ford’s UK heritage collection, which was extensively 3D scanned before existing in the digital world. Yet while the road car heads off in one direction, the Alan Mann 68 Edition, as it’s known, stays perfectly true to the original car – at least if you order it in ‘Period Correct’ trim. Want to race the car with all the modern safety kit and an FIA historic passport and you’ll need the ‘Modern Race’ package.

From there, you can call on the services of Alan Mann Racing to help you drive, test and run the car, however little or much you would like, including at their own events. The small firm, still based at Fairoaks Airport in Surrey, where Mann moved to in 1970, also undertakes final assembly of each car within the DRVN group.

“The Alan Mann 68 Edition stays true to the original car if you order in ‘Period Correct’ trim”

 In late 1967, Ford delivered six new Escort bodyshells to Alan Mann Racing for its ‘works’ representatives to turn into cutting-edge saloon car racers. Apart from the radical step of installing the FVA, the key area of concern was the car’s suspension, and for that many of the lessons incorporated from the team’s involvement in the GT40 programme were brought to bear – as was the mind of Len Bailey, who was on the design team of the Le Mans winner. The result was a new front suspension, with the existing MacPherson strut used as a sliding joint, and a separate spring coilover (Koni two-way adjustable on the new car) mounted along with an anti-roll bar and new adjustable rose-jointed lower arms. This, and the upper strut bearing mounts and inverted outer track control arm mounts were Bailey designs, and one result was a lengthening of the Escort’s wheelbase, the front wheels pushed further forwards. At the rear, the live Atlas axle is supplemented by a watts linkage mounted under the nose of the differential, longitudinal forward links, torsion bars (from a Morris Minor) and vertical Koni dampers. Early on Mann’s team had tried a coil sprung rear axle, but found it too stiff.

One car was destroyed at Goodwood by Jackie Oliver in early testing, but out of the five remaining, chassis four, registered XOO 349F, was to become Gardner’s mount. These new cars are all in effect ‘clones’ of that car, which is owned today by the Mann family. The ability to dismantle and examine it in great detail was the catalyst that brought this project to life.

Driving the Alan Mann 68 Edition is easy – intuitive, even. The mildly stodgy weight to the steering as I manoeuvre out of M Sport’s pit garage soon ebbs away with speed, and while the clutch needs a little care to move away gracefully, once rolling that delicate four-speed bullet gearbox just ‘snicks’ between ratios with deft tactility. I’ll need to be a bit circumspect today as a constant string of press drives over the preceding days has left the synchros between second and third gear a little weary, but a gentle hand sees it through without drama.

Despite only four gears the ratios feel short and closely stacked, and with so little weight the keenness of the Ford to get going breaks a foolish grin all over my face. Naturally, it wants revs to give its best, and will spin to 8000rpm, although I’ll keep it to seven today; M Sport’s test track offers some interesting curves but the straights (and its length overall) are relatively brief, yet even so, it’s so pleasurable to let the twin cam sing and feel it surge from one corner to the next in a furious gulp of power.

“With its playful handling balance and zingy performance, it’s an unbridled joy to drive”

That said, it’s rapidly apparent that the biggest draw is what happens when you turn the wheel. The little Escort is fabulously agile and positively dives in towards the apex, the turn-in much more immediate than I had suspected. Yet the best bit is still to come: the resultant rotation of the car, and the feeling that it quickly sits down onto that fat 9in outside rear wheel, the weight coming off the inner front, is just a delightful feeling. It makes me think of a labrador gamefully rearing back onto its hind legs and raising a paw, gleefully waiting for some food-based game to begin. In the Escort, the games are all post-apex, at least at these modest speeds today. It feels so exquisitely balanced, with any impending oversteer beautifully telegraphed to the driver’s seat. With this playful handling balance, unfiltered controls – a lovely, weighty brake pedal response – and zingy performance, it’s an unbridled joy to drive.

Boreham Motorworks are quite shy when it comes to talking about the price, largely because the package around each car will be tailored to the purchaser, but around £300,000 for the car is as good a place to start as any. Some might feel that’s a very large sum for what is a small, rather simple car, but if you’re measuring it on smiles per pound, in my experience it’s a bargain.

Ford escort Alan Mann 68 Edition

Engine Ford 1840cc twin cam, twin Weber 45DCOE carburettors
Transmission Ford bullet-type four-speed manual
Power 201bhp at 8000rpm
Brakes Front & rear Solid disc 254x10mm
Wheels & tyres 13x8in front and 475/1000×13in tyres and 13x9in rear with 475/1150×13in tyres
Weight 795kg (dry)