Car auctions often bring a lot of excitement and bidding wars as car enthusiasts sometimes impulsively drive prices up to record highs, sometimes doubling or even multiplying the starting price by 8. To achieve such high prices, the car being auctioned must be extremely rare, becoming a sought-after unicorn for many.
The story of the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 in a recent auction will show you that. People were very curious about what could have prompted the Ford Sierra from the 1980s to be sold for $714,000, four times higher than expected?
Before the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 from Silverstone Auctions went up for auction, many expected it to fetch a large sum of money that could break the record of another car sold for £135,700, about $163,000 or 3.89 billion VND.
As a result, the auction house estimated that this Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 would find a buyer with bids ranging from £150,000 to £180,000, equivalent to $180,000 to $216,000.
However, what they could not have imagined was that when the auction ended, the final price paid for this Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 was £596,250, equivalent to $714,000 or 16.9 billion VND. That’s four times the estimated price and 4.3 times the price of a similar car sold last year.
As for the history of this Ford Sierra Cosworth, the car has everything in its original state, except that it belongs to the RS500 speed variant. The car’s odometer reads an incredibly low mileage of just 5,192 miles, or 8,356 km, leaving many amazed by its condition.
Ford produced the original three-door Cosworth to mimic the models used in its Touring car racing, releasing the standard version to the market in 1986 and manufacturing over 5,000 cars to meet FIA requirements. But like BMW did with the M3, Ford later took advantage of the “evolutionary” rules allowing the company to upgrade the race car by selling only 500 street cars that had been tuned, which was called the RS500.
The Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 had a more pronounced front air scoop in place of fog lights, an additional rear spoiler, and a new version of the DOHC 2.0-liter YBD engine developed by Cosworth with a larger turbocharger and an intercooler.
Although the RS500 road car received a slight power increase from 201 horsepower to 217 horsepower, the difference was not great compared to the standard car, which disappointed some car enthusiasts. However, the changes made it more difficult for Ford to push out a much refined version. The RS500 continued to win many touring car races in the UK, Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
