1987 Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 obliterates records selling for £596,250

A 1980s Fast Ford collectible car has smashed all records this weekend by selling at auction for a jaw-dropping £596,250.

The 1987 Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 obliterated its £150,000 to £180,000 pre-sale guide price on Saturday and sold for a winning bid four-and-a-half times higher than the previous world record amount paid for one of these limited edition modern classics.

Described as 'perhaps the finest example' of the rare RS500 breed, the astounding price paid for the Sierra at the Silverstone Auctions Race Retro sale is 30 times what it originally cost when it was in showrooms 36 years ago for £19,950.

The Fast Ford sold for an unfathomable figure! This 1987 Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 has obliterated all previous world records this weekend by selling at auction for a staggering £596,250

While already considered one of the fastest appreciating modern classics, the weekend sale price has now lifted values for these rare souped-up eighties family cars into a new stratosphere.

Ahead of the hammer dropping on Saturday, the previous world record amount paid for a Cosworth Sierra at auction was a non-RS500 model with 9,000 miles of the clock, which changed hands for £132,750, also at a Silverstone Auctions sale last year.

The highest known price paid at the block for one of the rarer RS500 cars - of which only 500 were ever made - is £122,400 back in 2017. 

This 1987 example - registration 'E378 TKN' - is believed to be one of the best to survive today, having been retained in immaculate condition and showing to have covered only 5,192 miles from new.

The eighties Fast Ford shattered its £150,000 to £180,000 pre-sale guide price when the hammer eventually dropped on Saturday at the Silverstone Auctions Race Retro sale hosted at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire

While already considered one of the fastest appreciating modern classics, the weekend sale price has now lifted values for Sierra Cosworths into a new stratosphere

The £596,250 price paid for the car at the weekend is four-and-a-half times higher than the previous world record amount for one of these limited edition modern classics

It is unknown just how many of the original 500 road-specification Cosworth RS500s remain today, especially with many being crashed by boy racers who got their hands on the high-performance cars in the eighties.

Many of them were also heavily modified or converted to racing machines during their lifetime, which will have impacted their value on the current blossoming classic car scene.

When it was being sold new in '87, it had a list price of £19,950.

It means this weekend's winning bid has seen it appreciate in value by a scarcely-believable 2,889 per cent in 36 years.

Even when taking historical inflation into account, that 1987 list price translates to £62,360 in today's money, as our historic inflation calculator shows.

That means this stunning low-mileage Cossie sold this weekend for nine times its inflation-adjusted original price - that's an 856 per cent value increase in just over three and a half decades.  

Described as 'perhaps the finest example' of the rare RS500 breed, the astounding price paid for the Sierra at the Silverstone Auctions Race Retro sale is 30 times what it originally cost when it was in showrooms 36 years ago for £19,950 

The 1987 example - registration 'E378 TKN' - is believed to be one of the best examples to survive today. It has been retained in immaculate condition and showing to have covered only 5,192 miles from new

When adjusting its original price inline with historical inflation, if the Sierra's 1987 showroom tag today would be £62,360. That means this stunning low-mileage Cossie has sold for nine times its inflation-adjusted original price - that's an 856% value increase in three and a half decades

Silverstone Auctions said before the auction on Saturday that 'the attention to the detail of this car's maintenance cannot be understated'

Silverstone Auctions described the winning bid on Saturday as 'incredible'.

The auction house had said before the event that although the car had been very lightly used during the vendor's tenure, it was regularly serviced and maintained during this period by Tremona Garage of Southampton, a local specialist widely recognised as being hugely knowledgeable when it comes to Fords from the seventies, eighties and nineties.  

'The attention to the detail of this car's maintenance cannot be understated,' it said.

It's even being sold supplied with a selection of spare - extremely rare - original oil filters, fuel filters and other parts.'

It went on to detail some of the extreme lengths the previous owner went to in order to preserve the car's value. 

'This 'forensic' attention to originality is further illustrated by our vendor's purchase of a set of period RS500 wheels and tyres in order that TKN's date-stamped originals can be carefully stored and not have to bear the weight of the car for prolonged periods,' it went on.

'This diligent approach explains why this gleaming black RS500 may well be the best you have ever seen.'

Silverstone Auctions said it had 'hoped and believed that it could well break the previous record' for a Sierra Cosworth RS500, but even it would have been shocked by the whopping winning bid this weekend.

Launched for sale in July 1986 and based on the three-door Sierra body-shell, it was designed by Ford's Special Vehicle Engineering (SVE) and was powered by a Cosworth-designed 2.0-litre turbo engine of now-legendary repute

The record-setting car was sold at the Race Retro Show on Saturday 25 February at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire

As shown on the odometer here, the Sierra Cossie RS500 has covered just 5,192. That works out at an average of 144 miles each year since new in 1987

The original Ford Sierra RS Cosworth was the first Ford to wear the Cosworth badge and was presented to the public at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1985. 

It was introduced as a means of homologating the Sierra for 'Group A' Touring Car racing, with a requirement that 5,000 cars were built and sold. 

Launched for sale in July 1986 and based on the three-door Sierra body-shell, it was designed by Ford's Special Vehicle Engineering (SVE) and was powered by a Cosworth-designed 2.0-litre turbo engine of now-legendary repute. At the time, the Sierra Cosworth was a new kind of performance car - a 'blue-collar hero' able to humble true sports cars.

The RS500 was announced in July 1987 and had a mechanically uprated Cosworth engine (more like the one to be used in competition), with power boosted to 224bhp, modified bodywork and the cachet of being hand-assembled 

That makes the RS500 the ultimate 1980s Fast Ford.

The vendor has made a huge profit on a four-wheel investment he purchased back in 2009 when he added this Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth to his collection following a painstaking search to find the best example in the country

The total original car comes with matching engine and chassis numbers and is believed to be one of the best-kept Sierra RS500 Cossies in the country

The Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth is famed for its enormous 'whale tail' spoiler. Values of these cars has skyrocketed in recent years, with a number of examples selling for winning bids at auction well exceeding £100,000. However, the near-£600,000 sale price this weekend will have shocked everyone in the classic car world

In total 5,545 cars were built and of which 500 were sent to Aston Martin Tickford for conversion to the Sierra 'RS500 Cosworth'. 

If the RS Cosworth was a homologation car, the RS500 was an evolution special. 

Once Ford had built the requisite 5,000 RS Cosworths, 'Group A' rules allowed an upgraded 'evolution' model to be launched. This could carry changes focused on improving its racing potential, provided Ford sold 10 per cent of the original number as road cars, hence its 500 nameplate.

Around fourteen years ago, the vendor - described as 'a knowledgeable and particularly fastidious enthusiast' - had decided to add this RS500 to his collection and embarked on finding the best example there is. 

He knew what he wanted but took the precaution of enlisting the help of a friend who was a marque expert, Silverstone Auctions told us. 

They had considered a number of cars but were focused on finding the best RS500 they possibly could. 

A number of other contenders were rejected before stumbling across 'E378 TKN' which they believed was - and still is - the best condition Cossie in the country. 

This example's originality is unmatched, the mileage is nominal - averaging 144 miles each year from new - and the car had patently been cared for throughout its cherished lifetime.

The car was even sold with a selection of totally original spare parts, which are like gold dust today, such is their rarity

On buying this car in 2009, the vendor also purchase of a set of period RS500 wheels and tyres. This was so that he could remove the date-stamped originals to carefully store them rather than have the factory wheels and tyres bear the weight of the car for prolonged periods

The car barely looks used with the seats showing zero signs of use. Even the carpets have been meticulously preserved and covered at all times with Ford logo paper protectors

It is one of the 392 black RS500s produced. 

Ford had intended to finish all RS500 examples in black but the Genk factory in Belgium where the Sierra was assembled didn't have enough available at the time in this colour to send to Tickford. 

The rarest colour option is Moonstone blue, of which there were 52 vehicles. The remaining 56 models were the full Essex-spec Diamond White.

With Fast Fords of this era sky-rocketing in value in recent years, the staggering £596,250 paid for this Sierra Cosworth RS500 demonstrates that demand for these once modest performance car is showing no sign of cooling.

Other big-sellers at the Silverstone Auctions event included a winning bid of £109,125 for a 1990 Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth 4X4.

A Lancia Delta Integrale Evo II, which was part of actor Rowan Atkinson's classic car collection, also achieved £87,750 when the hammer dropped.

Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500: A brief history

The Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 for created so that highly-strung versions could be used for racing in series like the British Touring Car Championship

The Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 uses a specially-built 2.0-litre turbocharged Cosworth engine producing 224bhp - which could be upped to 400bhp when modified for competition.

The car maker needed to produce at least 500 examples for road and race use in order to qualify to run in Touring Car series' and other championships that used road-going models.

These cars featured numerous aerodynamic enhancements that have since become a thing of legend among collectors.

That includes the 30mm lip spoiler applied to the tailgate to increase downforce, sweeping front splitter, and larger cooling ducts for both the brakes and the engine intercooler. 

The cars were exclusively available through 90 nominated RS specialist dealers and went on sale in Britain on 1 August 1987 at a price of £19,950.

The Cosworth RS500 went on to become a popular model among race teams, dominating the paddocks of touring car championships