You had me at AVO: MST shows new Mk1 Sports
Widebodied Mk1s a bit too extreme? MST goes back to basics with 180hp, a manual and 13-inch wheels
Yes, it’s another MST build that very closely resembles an old Ford Escort. Nothing the company has announced about this new Mk1 Sports will likely come as a surprise. But you know what? That sounds absolutely brilliant. In a world where names are changed and then changed back again, where press releases are as long as a Hanya Yanagihara novel and Sierra RS500s are hundreds of thousands pounds, something that looks like (and is) a smart contemporary twist on a classic fast Ford seems like the perfect palette cleanser. Especially with a price to rival a BMW M3.
This is the Mk1 Sports, a car described by MST as a project ‘going back to basics’ for them, with inspiration from the original narrow-bodied AVO and RS models. Think Mexico, RS1600, that sort of thing. In a modern context, it’ll mean everything you’d want from a classic Escort experience without going so full-on as the recent MST builds. ‘A pure analogue driving experience at a cost-effective price’, they reckon. Which sounds pretty damn good.
Like all previous Mk1s and Mk2s, the Sports will use a brand new bodyshell and be brand new, UK-registered cars; right- and left-hand drive will be available. Power comes from a 2.0-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder (MST hasn’t said exactly which one yet), with Jenvey throttle bodies and 180hp. A little less spicy than the 200hp 2.5 Duratecs, 230hp 2.0-litre BDGs and the Millington madness, then, if plenty enough to move such a tiny old car. A five-speed manual, Atlas axle and ATB diff are included.
The rest of the chassis overhaul is as might be expected from a slightly tamer take on the MST formula: it’s all good stuff, just not quite as extreme as the top-tier models. So the Mk1 Sports gets what’s being called ‘Group 1 suspension’, with adjustable sport dampers and a Twin Cam ARB, plus four-pot calipers clamping vented discs.
Which is all well and good. But probably the most exciting part of the Mk1 Sports package will be the look, with the stripes, ‘period correct body colours’, Cibies up front and four-spoke wheels with the front flared arches. You can have Minilites if you really must, but the renders are so perfectly peak Escort that it’s hard to imagine changing a thing. The interior will be two-seat, with storage behind them.
MST is planning to make 25 of these Mk1 Sports, which feels like a very achievable number, ahead of building the same number of Mk2 versions. The cost will be from £74,500 plus VAT - so let’s call it £90k. A serious sum of money, for sure, though on planet restomod (or whatever the MST cars should really be called) it’s seldom that anything is available for less than six figures. Orders are being accepted now with a £6k deposit, with production kicking off next year.
You see light cars built with masses of turbo power, big globs of low down torque with a light rear, simple suspension and no electronic safety net always seems a bit like overkill, yeah its great but I do wonder how often people create stuff that is more intimidating and scary than enjoyable, like cooking a curry and banging loads of chilli and stuff in, easy to make things a bit spicier than you really wanted.
Count me in.
180 gee gees ? More than enough to keep things interesting.
I'll take mine in Sebring red please. 4 Cibies, arches rolled to within an inch of their life and a set of these (7x13)
(Oh, and a quick rack too please)
But it's not for me; I just do not get this whole thing. I mean I get restomods more generally, but charging this much money for a restored Escort feels like someone charging 2025 Rolex money for an impeccably restored 1970s Sekonda.
But it's not for me; I just do not get this whole thing. I mean I get restomods more generally, but charging this much money for a restored Escort feels like someone charging 2025 Rolex money for an impeccably restored 1970s Sekonda.
I don't know how many they build a year, but if they do build one a week, that's still a tiny quantity annually.
Building anything in small numbers means you can't amortise the development and tooling costs over several thousand (or indeed several hundred thousand) units. Hence the increased cost.
Remember too, they've had to pay for the press tooling for EVERY panel on the car, not just the bonnet, boot and doors, every single panel from the floorpan to the roof. Ford would have amortised those tooling costs over 2M cars and 6 years. MST may build/supply 1000 cars over the next 10 years.
Each MST shell is meticulously handbuilt on a jig and the various apertures - front windscreen, rear screen, boot, bonnet and doors are all jigged, checked and re-checked to ensure the various components fit perfectly into them. This all takes many man hours. The equivalent bodyshell would have most likely been built on Fords production line in under 2 hours from start to finish :
The end result is this : https://motorsport-tools.com/catalog/product/view/...
For reference, I bought a new 205 GTi shell from Peugeot in 1987, the cost was £960 inc VAT.
So it's safe to assume a new Mk1 Escort shell would've most likely cost £150 (or less) back in 1970.
That a new handbuilt MST shell costs £23,400 in 2025, some fifty five years later, tells you that labour is a massive part of the cost, and the panels the shell is formed from cost multiples of what Ford would have paid for the 2 million bonnets, front wings, floorpans, inner flitches, headlamp and slam panels back in the late 60's and early 70's.
But it's not for me; I just do not get this whole thing. I mean I get restomods more generally, but charging this much money for a restored Escort feels like someone charging 2025 Rolex money for an impeccably restored 1970s Sekonda.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff