it upsets my that a rare Mk1 shell is used for another different car. I like it when owners change the engine for a pinto or a cosworth but should not rebuild the car.

Not sure this is any better or worse than a weekend warrior boy racer with delusions of grandieur suddenly deciding they want to do rallying and snap up MK1 body shells to build rally cars with which they’ll just wrap around a tree in their first rally.

I’m all for modernising older cars…but there is a line to be drawn from which it no longer makes sense. You want to retain the traits (and imperfections) of the original and capture the character, but tune out some of the limitations to extract the maximum from the original design…Singer Porsche do this well, retaining the same suspension and engine whilst improving it and focus on things like re-engineering the body panels from CF, uprating brakes and engine etc. But to rip out the old MK1 suspension and replace with a double wishbone set up this thing will not resemble a MK1 Escort in any way shape or form so what’s the point? It’s a Triggers Broom job but starting off with a broom and ending up with a Dyson. If he likes the MK1 shape then it would have been better to space frame it and wrap it with a MK1 look-alike shell. But each to their own…it’s his cash and his car…it will be a hoot whatever and will look spectacular.

I thought the rear suspension looked a bit Heath Robinson. How often do those bushes wear out? But what Mr Murray doesn’t know about cars isn’t worth knowing so I guess it’s kosher

I remember reading in CCC many years back that Robin Herd of March F1 fame did loads of modifications to his rally escort around mass centralization, things like moving the engine back and relocating the fuel tank battery forward only to completely screw up the once legendary handling of the thing.
So it might be that some of the modifications aren’t as successful as one would hope though I can’t see having independent rear suspension being in any way a disadvantage over a live axle so long as the geometry isn’t too funky and I’m sure GM has given it the once over to check before signing it off.

I can’t wait to see it finished and I’d love to see a proper road test done on it as it’d be really interesting to hear what modern finishing does to an old car like that.

It lives. New episode out this evening

Sweeeeeet! The thrill and relief when an engine fires up for the first time!

I used to feel slightly out of control when using a fully programmable engine management system (albeit in the early days some 25 years ago), I knew where I was with distributors and points! An ecu with the complexity of all the various inputs made initial fault finding tricky and it looks like that hasn’t changed!

don’t like the interior/dash :/

don’t like the interior/dash :/

I love it looks pretty simple and classy. Those vents are something else. :o)

That gear stick whatever ergonomic/practical needs it serves looks terrible.

Id love to see more of the Stratos..

Gordon Murray is about 9ft tall*. When it showed the seat and steering wheel fitting he was sat where the back seat would normally be. I guess the gear lever has to be cranked over so that he can reach it.

I like the dash. Very clean.

* an exageration.

Aye right enough. I remember now, when hes checking his RHS blind spot he’s looking into the B pillar…

Aye right enough. I remember now, when hes checking his RHS blind spot he’s looking into the B pillar…

I drove a Hyundai Tucson with a similar arrangement once was very dangerous on the motorway.

Mega. These are not films for general consumption, they are labours of love that reflect the work on the car – if the lottery numbers come good, they’re getting a call from me.

Nope, still prefer Binky.

A **** pimped Mini?!? You can have it! 🙂

Nope, still prefer Binky.

Given the glacial speed that they each release episodes, I’ve got enough room in my life for both 😉

@pondo

Should those numbers come up what kind of car would you have them build?

I think they’re different things. Binky is about the two guys running the channel, essentially what they work on; Binky or the Van is pretty irreverent, whereas Retropower is all about the engineering, it is after all an advert for them.

I prefer Binky for entertainment, as there’s only so much info about dry sump tank welding I’m ultimately interested in (I know some folk could watch that stuff all day)

Choice; being a good thing since forever….

Should those numbers come up what kind of car would you have them build?

Oooo… Not an easy choice! 🙂 Stratos, GT40, RS1800, Stingray, Countach, Turbo 911, 512 – probably not that practical for daily use. This is dangerously uncool, but I have long had a soft spot for a Renault 5 Gordini Turbo, my cousin gave me a ride in one he was working on, like, 35 years ago (when it was a contemporary and early hot hatch), and in my head it was like hitching a ride on the Millenium Falcon. I’d have a Caterham or suchlike for track days, then the 5 for everyday use – small, retro but still pretty incognito, but sure you could fit a lump that would get decent poke. Teach it to stop and go round corners, job’s a good ‘un. 🙂

PS – I apologise for my Binky outburst and will not comment until I’ve watched an episode or two.

Mate, if you can’t get passionate about cars what can you care about? The more viewpoints the better and they’re all equally valid.
And to be clear I prefer Binky the show, I’m sure I’d prefer the Escort having had a few back in the day including a knackered Mexico. Someone told me what that bodyshell would be worth now!

They’ve started a new project:

Another episode of the Escort:

Dropped the same day as Binky too! It’s Oasis v Blur all over again. The dramaaaaaaaaaa!

Very high quality build and probably a great car to drive but the finished result looks so understated it is actually dull. Could be the choice of colour.

It’s what I love so much about it. No stripes, spotlights, big arches, anything like that. At a passing glance it just looks like a tidy but plain mk1. Hope Gordon Murray gets a lot of use out of it.

245 bhp & 175 ft/lb of torque is going shred those puny rear tyres and make it a handful in the wet 🙂 might need to add some ballast at the back or a dirty great big rear wing 😉

I really like how understated it looks. Enough subtle changes to make it unique if you look closely.

Be good to catch up with this.

They’ve got a wrinkle in that heat shield, can’t see GM being happy with that? Looks like one of my invisiframe attempts.

I spoke to Nat a few years ago about prepping and painting the Shell of my Kadett C.
From a bare shell (All metalwork complete) to fully prepped, painted inside and out, he was talking £12-15k
People really have no idea how long this stuff takes to do properly until youve done it.

Ask Maxtorque how long his car has taken working solo…… 😉 (and its way ahead of anything on this escort, it really is in a different league)

My Kadett is similar in concept to this escort, Works 70’s tarmac rally car, but think GT3RS trim level, with modern running gear and built to current WRC shell prep standards.
Its been in build for over 10 years now (With gaps in between due to work/family) and its not yet fully dry built – about 95% so far.
Thats the full build before it all comes apart again for plating / painting etc.
One day itll get finished

That is very pretty Escort.

Assuming the polishing guy charges around the £20 / hour sort of rate, that was a grand in polishing alone which puts the costs into perspective.

It’s not what I’d ask them to make me (I think I just missed the Ford era, despite remembering going to primary school in a Mk1 Escort), but I really, really wouldn’t mind a go – it’s lovely. I really am in awe at the work involved.

Having a mate who runs his own detailing business (and another who runs a car bodywork/spray painting) i’d expect the bill for the detailing work done to be well upwards of £3k, that is not your average orange peel paintwork as you get on a mass market car from the car dealership, the quality and depth of mirror smooth finish would leave your jaw on the floor if you saw it in the flesh and the entire car was detailed, not just the paintwork.

Eg, got my new vw tiguan done by a mate who clay barred/depth test/compound polished/removed imperfections/ceramic coated everything and i paid £300 mates rates – took him 3 full/long days work on a brand new car and it should have cost twice as much.

Shirley it should be poo brown with a vinyl roof?

I admire the attention to detail, but it’s taken longer to build it than an Apollo space rocket 🤷‍♂️

my new vw tiguan done by a mate who clay barred/depth test/compound polished/removed imperfections/ceramic coated everything and i paid £300 mates rates – took him 3 full/long days work on a brand new car and it should have cost twice as much.

That’s a lot of money to spend on washing a bog ordinary car…..did a bird crap on it next day !

Ha!, but yeah…….I have to agree with you it’s a bog ordinary suv 🚙  and sooooo wouldn’t be my vehicle of choice. Mobility lease vehicle unfortunately due to secondary progressive ms (progressing rather **** rapidly) and compared to my previous cars… 200bhp+ mk2 ABT built golf/190bhp twin webber mk2 scirocco and a year of driving a mates ABT tuned B7 RS4 etc I have to admit the Tiguan bores me to absolute tears but needs/must these end of days and i figure it’s the last vehicle I’ll manage to drive so I may as well make it as easy as possible to keep clean and presentable, obviously having the mates I have the engine and DSG gearbox have been remapped and forge intercooled/miltek exhaust so in a straight line it picks up ok (220bhp/430nm), it certainly ain’t no fully sorted mk2 golf rocket on bilstein B12s to throw about but I guess it keeps me mobile for now 😐

I have to agree that the looks are just a little too understated – not looking for giant stickers or bonnet scoops or anything, but its a bit too much like a full-on “sleeper” build for me.

Would like to see some more shots of the interior, and the engine compartment was absolutely beautiful

Some nice black four-spokes would set it off.

I love it but agree that white wouldn’t be my first choice of colour for it. They did a brown one that looked magnificent.

A different take on RestoMod from America