Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 sale smashes auction record with £596,000 price tag

A rare Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 has sold for nearly £600,000 at auction.

The low-mileage performance hatchback fetched £596,250 at the Race Retro event held by Silverstone Auctions on 25 February. The astonishing price smashed the previous record for a Sierra Cosworth, which was set on a non-RS500 example that sold £137,000 at a previous Silverstone Auctions sale in 2022.

The 1987 model with just 5,192 miles on the clock was offered with an estimate of £150,000-£180,000 but more than tripled that when it went under the hammer last Saturday (25 February). The final sale price means this 1980s hot hatch sold for more than twice as much as an ultra-rare 600bhp Ford GT supercar offered at the same classic car auction.

The RS500 was a limited run of the touring car homologation RS Cosworth. Just 5,545 Sierra RS Cosworths were built and only 500 of those were then handed over to tuning specialists Tickford to become RS500s.

Those rare models used an uprated, 224bhp version of the turbocharged 2.0-litre engine and underwent body modifications to mark them out from “regular” Cosworths. Their whale-tail spoilers, bonnet scoops and muscular stance became synonymous with fast Fords of the 1980s.

In recent years demand for these “blue collar” performance cars has rocketed, leading to soaring sale prices. The previous record for an RS500 is thought to be around £122,000, achieved in 2017.

The auction house described the record-breaking car as “believed to be the very best example of the ultimate 80s Fast Ford” with a “forensic” level of detail applied to maintain its originality. The seller sourced genuine new old stock parts for maintenance and servicing, right down to oil filters and original 1980s spark plugs, and even sourced a second set of wheels and tyres so that the original date stamped ones could be stored in pristine condition.

The Sierra was among a brace of fast Fords sold at the auction, which also included an Escort RS Cosworth which sold for £65,250, an Escort RS Turbo, which fetched £27,000, and a one-of-20 1986 Ford RS200 S which sold for £315,000.