ESCORT ST170
The exterior may scream 'classic' but there are enough details and custom touches on Paul Wood's STI70 - powered Mk1 Escort to keep you guessing for days. No wonder it took him 10 years to build.
Classic Mk1 was 10 years in the making.
We love it when a plan doesn't always come together - for all the right reasons, of course. Back in 2008, Paul Wood bought a MKI Escort with the intention of turning it into something along the lines of the rather incredible car you see before you. Only he got distracted and year later, bought another MKI - initially to sell on to help fund the rebuild of that first MKI.
"I thought it was a good one, but the more I poked at it, the more I found wrong with it," he groans, "so I decided I may as well rebuild this one while I was at it." In the meantime, I started doing some research on the other car, and found out it was a genuine 1300 Sport. Thank God I didn't start ripping into it!"
That was 10 years ago, and while the 1300 Sport is still patiently awaiting its turn with the welding torch, we can categorically state that the second car is now finished to an outstanding level, fully on the road and is at the mercy of Paul's rather heavy right foot.
Old’s cool
Looking at the Mk1 with its seemingly oldschool exterior treatment, you may be surprised to hear that Paul doesn’t come from a traditional classic Ford background. In fact, prior to buying that first Mk1 he was a fully paid-up member of the Max Power-era showcar scene. “I’d always fancied owning a Mk1 Escort though,” he admits, “I just love the shape. When my last showcar was written off in 2007 I decided to put the insurance payout to good use.”
With a plan forming in his head, Paul stripped the Mk1 down to a rolling shell and took it over to friend, Will Malkin who runs Malkin Motorsport, now based in North Wales. “He did all the restoration work as well as the fabrication needed to turn the shell into Group 4-spec including the rear turrets, link boxes and diff tunnel, as well as adapting the gearbox tunnel to make room for a Cosworth T5, and raising the prop tunnel so the engine sat level,” says Paul. “The shell needed everything — inner and outer sills, the kick panels, front panel, rear panel, both front floorpans, Mexico front wings... You couldn’t buy the panels off the shelf back then like you can now, so I would scour the shows and autojumbles looking for new-old stock or good used ones to take over to him.”
Will had the shell for nine months in total, and as well as all the fab work he also installed the full, weld-in Custom Cages roll cage that Paul had commissioned — specifying only the one door bar diagonal to make getting in and Xxxxxxx out of the car easier. It was at this point that Paul’s showcar influences kicked in: “Will did the shell as it should be, and then I got it back and started cutting bits out,” he grins.
Externally, it’s not immediately obvious where Paul has made his mark — the driver’s door and bootlid have both been delocked — but open the bonnet and you’ll immediately notice the smoothed, deeper slam panel. “That came about because I wanted to hide the radiator,” explains Paul. “I cut out the original panel and made up this one along with some brackets to mount a thick-core Polo aluminium radiator underneath, with the oil cooler next to it — though I’ve left a gap above the latter to feed cold air to the throttle bodies.”
Our favourite of Paul’s tweaks though, is centred around the scuttle panel. “I didn’t want the radiator header and expansion tanks and the windscreen washer bottle in the engine bay, so they’re mounted inside the car under the dash, with the fillers underneath the grille on the scuttle. It was a lot of work... but I’m really pleased with how they turned out.”
Running man
With the main shell prep done, Paul busied himself working out the running gear, so that he could do a full dry build prior to paint. With the engine sorted (see right), Paul could then spec the rest of the car around it. “I bought an ex-Thundersaloon Sierra and used the T5 ’box out of that,” he recalls. “It might seem like overkill, but it’s future-proofing for any power increases. I’ve kept an English axle, though, beefed up with heavy-duty shafts and a 3J LSD. The suspension was the best I could afford — Group 4 Bilsteins front and rear — and the same went for the brakes; AP Racing four-pots
and 267 mm discs at the front and Cosworth callipers and Fiesta discs at the rear. I had to design some brackets to mount the rear callipers so that they cleared the wheels, but the APs went inside the fronts just fine.”
“The wheels were a challenge in themselves,” Paul continues. “I wanted Lotus-style 7x13 steels but Weller didn’t make them at the time, so I persuaded them to make me some specially. Obviously, you can now buy them off the shelf...”
Perfect paint
It was another two or three years before the dry build was complete and the shell was finally ready for paint — in the meantime Paul had started racing (he currently competes in the Kumho BMW Championship with an E46 Compact), and ultimately this helped him find the right person to paint it — once he’d decided on the colour. “Actually, the choice of paint was actually pretty easy — I wanted something bright but still in keeping. I looked through the colour chips and came across this shade. A lot of people think it’s Sebring Red, but actually it’s a generic colour called Hellrot Orange. The car was sprayed by a guy called Pete The Painter who works with Urban Automotive — he was recommended by Russ Dack, my teammate in the Kumho
“I’D NEVER DRIVEN A MK1 BEFORE THIS. IT’S LESS HARSH THAN I WAS EXPECTING YOU CAN JUST GET IN AND GO FOR IT”
championship. They had the shell for 12 months in the end, but it was worth it and the finish is incredible.”
With Paul having already completed a dry build, fitting up the now-painted shell should have been a breeze — and it was until an invite from Meguiar’s to join them at Players Classic in June brought a deadline into the mix.
“I really wanted to drive it there, but in hindsight that was probably pushing it,” Paul admits. “The day before we still had the glass to fit, and my mate, Bobby was installing the loom. It did make it there, but on a trailer.”
Paul’s keen to point out that he did drive it to the rest of the shows the car attended over the summer — in fact, he needs little excuse to go for a blast up the road. “Believe it or not, I’d never driven a Mk1 before this one,” he admits.
“It’s a lot less harsh than I was expecting — you can just get in and go for it.”
Next up
So now this Mk1 is finally finished, is it the turn of the 1300 Sport? “Not quite,” grins Paul. “I’m doing a Mk1 Cortina Estate next. It was a project my Dad started, and he got as far as converting it to a two-door, but I’ve taken it over. There’s a lot of work to do; I’ll probably put a V6 in it with an auto ’box — something we can use to cruise to the shows alongside the Escort. Although I’ve been doing nothing but the racing in recent years, I’ve really enjoyed getting back into the shows, and I’ve had some good comments on the Mk1 at them this summer— it makes all the grief and effort worth it.”