There’re new supercars coming out of Wales with familiar faces, writes Robin Roberts.

After the launch of the Aston Martin DBX from its new state of the art St Athan factory in South Wales last year, altogether different cars are being built in a small industrial unit in North Wales.

While the luxurious £158,000 SUV is wowing the world’s richest owners, the buyers of the latest Welsh supercars are even more discerning but must also be wealthy.

MST Cars, Pwllheli has recreated the famous 1970s’ Ford Escorts Mk1 and Mk2 models.

The business was founded over 100 years ago in Pwllheli and Criccieth at the dawn of the motor car and they have been supplying parts for the fastest Ford saloon cars for decades to race and rally fans throughout the UK and abroad.

Now it has taken the step to build bespoke models for well-healed motor sport fans willing to fork out from £69,000 to over £100,000.

Buyers can choose between the original 1968 rounded Escort Mk1 or the more angular Mk2 dating from the middle of the 1970s.

Painted in any colour scheme requested by the client, MST Cars and its 20-strong team of highly qualified technicians will fit a choice of 2.0 or 2.5 litre four-cylinder engines with 5 or 6 speed gearboxes and even the most modern sequential units with paddle shifts on the steering column.

High performance modern adjustable suspension, brakes and steering are matched to a bespoke road or touring interior or a lightweight shell for motor-sport use.

“After building up a massive stock range of nearly all parts required to build a new rally car, the natural step forward as a company was to actually offer complete fully built cars,” said owner Carwyn Ellis.

It started selling them late last year and is hoping to step up its build rate this year as wealthy motor sport enthusiasts look for ways to spend their spare cash from savings during the lockdown.

MST Cars believe in continuous development and the simplicity of the Escorts make them ideal bases upon which to build and improve while their intrinsic characteristics produce good handling even for inexperienced drivers.

He added, “Our 2021 order book is filling up fast with several shells and cars to build and we have at least six months work to do already.”