CM Visit
We call in on those businesses making a difference to the motoring world, for an insight into their operations.
Yes, if you wanted more performance from your Ford for the last 60 years! Alan Anderson visits one of the longest-serving and best-known tuning companies in the UK and Europe which is always looking to the future.
If you’re a bit of a go-faster Car Mechanics reader and a collector of old motoring magazines from the 1970s such as the late lamented Cars and Car Conversions, Hot Car and Custom Car (that’s still going strong – Ed.), then the name Burton will surely ring a bell as the Essex-based outfit was – and still is – the byword for making any Ford go much faster. The models may have changed but since 1963 Burton has remained at the forefront for tuning Fords, continually developing components to satisfy Escort and EcoBoost owners alike.
Burton Power is almost as old as Car Mechanics! Founded by a rather skilled engineer, mechanic and avid motorsport fan, Lionel ‘Bert’ Burton, who was dismayed at the lack of engine specialists in his orbit so setup on his own. Originally the Essex-based outfit was known as Burton Engineering due to it majoring on improving competition engines – particularly crankshaft balancing and specialist machining. This led to the famous sea lion balancing a ball logo and ‘Balanced by Burton’ quickly became a catchphrase among tuning enthusiasts. He took a shop in the Eastern Avenue (A12) near Ilford – and son Steve quickly joined the firm – but no sooner had the company become established, in 1965 Lionel suddenly passed away at the age of just 54.
It would have been easy for the company still finding its feet to flounder, but Steve told us, “I thought (at 21) what have I got to lose” and so pressed on. Taught well by his father, Burton Engineering dealt in a variety of makes and models – including Minis – but with Ford based just down the road at Dagenham it was almost a given that Burton would become best known specialising in faster versions – and what a golden decade it was thanks in part due to the success of the Lotus Cortina and Twin-Cam Escorts.
A change of name
The 70s proved an even better period when the Burton Performance Centre was formed in 1972 to deal with the fast-expanding parts side of the business. This also saw a continual expansion and acquisition of the adjacent shops right up until 2012 – now Burton Power occupies the entire parade of the Eastern Avenue running from the Gants Hill and Redbridge tube stations. The company is forever outgrowing, and when Car Mechanics visited the premises, builders were trying to make even more of the 8000sq ft of space!
‘Oval’ racing in the 1970s really put Burton on the map having formed close ties with Spedeworth and the Hot Rod scene. With the Nigel Mansell of short circuit racing – Barry Lee – driving the
