Why you’ll need deep pockets for an Eighties fast Ford

When you read that a 1987 Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth fetched £596,000 at auction, you’ll find yourself checking the floor beneath you. You’ll start to wonder if the world has inadvertently stopped spinning on its axis.

We are in a new reality, one where if you want a 1980s fast Ford, you’ll have to be loaded. The successful bidder for lot 508 at the Silverstone Auctions February sale this year bedded in for the long haul, gracefully ignoring the £150,000-£180,000 estimate and going all in, way beyond the half mill. The estimate seemed reachable for those that might be regarded as respectably wealthy, but this was on another level and, as this new age of stupidly expensive Eighties Fords soldiers on, not a day goes by without somebody shelling out an unfeasible amount of cash for Dagenham’s finest.

This is about investment. Reports that overseas buyers with unlimited cash have recognised the future rewards of such a purchase are coming to the fore. Even financial site This is Money reported the sale, which suggests this is a numbers game for investors and not just a playground for well-heeled petrolheads.

Credit - Ford Motor Company

So, prices for go-faster Fords are rising, and if you want to get in on the action, you’d better start raiding the pension fund now. Check out the price trends on websites such as The Classic Valuer and you’ll see an upward trajectory on all the pricing line-graphs for Sierra Cosworths, XR4is, Escort RSs, XR3s and the like. It’s not yet hockey stick, but those lines are all getting steeper.

It then begs the inevitable question, why?

It’s supply and demand, pure and simple. These cars dominated the Eighties because they made speed attainable. You could get the performance of a Ferrari or Porsche for half the money. In 1987 a Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth would set you back a fairly modest £19,950 and those that had made a bit of a buck a la Harry Enfield’s ‘Loadsamoney’ lapped them up without having to be patronised by a Ferrari or Porsche dealer. Now, these are the people who have a decent stash to spend on their mid-life crisis plaything and a pukka RS or XR4i fits the bill perfectly. The market then is being rallied by 50-somethings with a tear in their eye when they hear Club Tropicana on their Spotify list.

So that’s the demand. What about supply?

Credit – Classic Car Auctions

Well, a lot of these cars ended up in ditches or wrapped around lampposts. The Sierra XR4i, the Escort RS and XR3i crowd pushed their Fords to the limit, and because many of these owners had little or no driving talent, incidents that resulted in bent chassis’ were commonplace. These vehicles were also great getaway cars. Saloons with plenty of bootspace and rear seating became the target for rogues who needed swift wheels to transport them quickly from scenes of criminal activity. And if you consider that only 400 of the original 500 production run of RS500s are left on the planet then the prices for that particular model start to make sense.

Ford specialists, therefore, are busier than ever, and that resultant healthy glow they enjoy looks set to continue for many years to come. One such specialist is Paul Linfoot. For the past 25 years Linfoot has been the go-to man if you have a Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth in your possession.

“The values of performance, or ‘fast Fords’ has outblown everything else,” he said. “Even though financially successful car enthusiasts can afford a new Ferrari, many often desire the cars of their youth. The brands your parents and grandparents bought; the poster cars of your childhood and the cars that introduced you to motorsport.

Credit – Silverstone Classic 

“I know the chap who purchased the RS500 for the record-breaking figure: he just wanted the dream car from his youth. While I was shocked at the price achieved, I’ve always understood that RS500 buyers are prepared to pay for the very best examples with full service history, no modifications, original paintwork, and as new as you’ll get, out-of-the-box, original condition.”

As a reasonably desirable model the RS500 Cosworth had an awkward reputation. It was unfairly tagged the ‘council estate supercar,’ but that unfortunate badge of honour masks the fact that this model also represents an important part of motor racing history.

Although F1 grands prix commanded the higher audiences, Group A Touring Car racing was a mainstay of weekend afternoon TV during the 1980s – and the Sierra RS500 Cosworth dominated the Group A class. It became the most successful road-car-derived racing car ever with a success rate of 96.2% and because of that it’s easy to see why it became so revered.

Credit - Silverstone Classic 

Sierra RS500 drivers Andy Rouse, Steve Soper and Tim Harvey were household names, and their reputations as no-nonsense racers were dutifully fostered as they traded paint. These Fords were the heroes then. They were machines for swashbuckling drivers who were perfectly prepared to biff their rivals off the track in order to receive tin-top glory. The cars became relatable, and therefore popular. That popularity has been a sleeping giant for the past 30 years, but that giant has heard the alarm clock and the subsequent nostalgia is being reflected in the asking prices.

Linfoot added: “Ford was incredibly good at building performance cars for the blue-collar worker. The engines were tuned and front-mounted, they were rear-wheel drive and had a successful motorsport background that you could boast about to friends.”

Which all begs the question: now that the RS Cosworth is out of reach, what’s a sound investment today?

Linfoot believes the next big thing is the entry-level fast Ford range – again of the Eighties – that includes the Fiesta XR2, Escort XR3 and XR3i and that is evidenced by price trend analysis on sites such as Classic-GT.

Credit - Barons

He concluded: “The bubble will only burst if many owners rushed to sell their fast Fords at the same time: those that sell at lower prices would cause the values to fall. But as the Sierra Cosworth RS500 is now bought by wealthy collectors, their vested interest in this market will protect it.”

That means the humbler hatchbacks – the XR models – will benefit from the halo of the RS500. A quick search in the classifieds for these models make interesting reading and it’s clear that you’ll now need well into five figures for an unmolested, low-mileage Escort XR3i. Of course, there’ll be a few chopshop horrors that’ll keep average prices in check, but if you want a clean, straight motor that’ll satisfy your inner Duran Duran then your pockets may have to be deeper than you thought.

Bought a lottery ticket lately? It might be the only way to get your hands on a fast Ford. But if your numbers came up and you felt like rifling through Ford’s back-catalogue of hot metal, what would you go for?