It was clear from the outset that Silverstone Auctions’ Ford Sierra Cosworth was going to pull in some serious money. The car had everything going for it: the homologation special thing, the fact that it was an even more special RS500 rather than a plain Cossie, the incredibly low mileage (5,192 miles / 8,356 km) and, of course, its incredible condition.
But janitors in the auction hall are still sweeping jaws off the floor after the winged Sierra busted its pre-sale estimate four times over. Silverstone had suggested it might change hands for £150-180,000 ($180-216k), meaning it would break the £135,700 ($163k) achieved by a similar car last year. But by the time bidding had finished this Cosworth had sold for a staggering £596,250 ($714k).
Ford created the original three-door Cosworth to homologate its touring car racers, launching the standard version onto the market in 1986 and building over 5,000 examples to keep the FIA happy. But just as BMW did with the M3, Ford then took advantage of ‘evolution’ rules that allowed it to upgrade the track car by selling just 500 examples of a tweaked road car.
That car was the RS500, which received a deeper front spoiler with air intakes instead of fog lights, an extra lip spoiler on the rear and a new version of the Cosworth-developed YBD DOHC 2.0-liter engine that featured a bigger turbo and intercooler, thicker block and a second set of injectors. Though the RS500 road car did get a small boost in power (from 201 hp / 204 PS to 217 hp /220 PS), the differences weren’t huge on the street, and some contemporary reviewers were left slightly underwhelmed. But what the changes did do was allow Ford to push the completion version much harder. The RS500 went on to score multiple wins in touring car racing in the UK, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Related: The Very First Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 Could Be The Vintage Hot Hatch You’ve Been Looking For
In contrast, this particular car appears to have been treated with kid gloves, the current owner locating new old stock service parts and even a replacement set of wheels to save the originals from bearing the car’s weight since acquiring it 14 years ago.
The RS500 wasn’t the only record breaker at Silverstone Auctions’ Stoneleigh Park sale. A later Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth 4×4 sedan sold for £109,125 ($131k), more than double its £50,000 ($60k) estimate, while an original Lotus Elan used in the 1960s Avengers TV series (and later gifted to the show’s star, Diana Rigg) went for £164,250 ($197k) and the late HRH Duke of Edinburgh’s Land Rover Defender 110 achieved £123,750 ($148k), both setting world records.
