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1976 Ford Escort RS 1800 BDA 2-Door sets new £271,040 world auction record for Mk2 road car during Historics £3.9m Windsorview Lakes sale

When new, £2,990 plus tax would have bought the latest Escort RS, one of only 109 off the line in the late seventies, nearly 50 years and 24,186 miles later, close to 100 times more depreciated pounds were needed to capture the still ‘ONO 804P’ Essex registered former Ford Motor Company Press Road Test loan car, one of only four to survive hack abuse in period or retrospective motor sports vandalism.
After the most diligent preservation during one family ownership since 8 March 1977, via 2 pro-restorations without deviation from standard production specification, including Holbay rebuilding the Cosworth 1.8 BDA (Belt-Driven A-Type), the GCATSA04069 numbered Mk2 shell in Diamond White with side-winders in Blue and Black on steel wheels came to market for the first time in 48 years !
Guided by auctioneers Historics to cost a buyer £160,000-185,000, bidding opened at £140,000 in the tent and those in on the Commission Book were soon overtaken by contestants competing for ownership by telephone and internet, £195,000 being the highest bid cast in the seats.
From then on, there was increasingly expensive audio ping-pong between players on mobiles versus computer mice, with 19 exchanges of fire, until one UK private i-bidder’s ‘live’ bid of £242,000 was called by umpiring auctioneer Edward Rising, whose gavel determined an applauded, buyer’s premium inclusive and truly epic £271,040 valuation, a new world record auction price for a Seventies Escort Mk2 Road Car.

Historic Auctioneers Consigning Specialist Stewart Banks told C.A.R.: “The atmosphere in the tent, on the phones and online was electric. After publicising the car far and wide, we had great expressions of pre-sale interest, and bidding on the car was certainly intense – as was to be expected – as the Escort RS 1800 was such a star of world rallying. However, nobody could have predicted such a stunning result.
 “On a broader footing”, he continued, “the sale price really underlines the continuing brio in the classic and collector car market and how exceptional cars will continue to be wonderful flag bearers, capable of attracting the gaze of new followers to enjoy great cars of the past.”

Astonished eyes at the Escort sale price were not just in the auction hall. Award winning author of multiple books on Henry’s iconic Blue Oval, including the 2024 title ‘Fast Fords, Up Close and Personal’, Jeremy Walton commented: “I thought this Showroom Escort would sell strongly as it is so rare, as most RS 1800s were radically modified for motor sports. The company assembled little over 100 showroom examples, purely as a gesture to qualify the model for an ultra-successful competition career.
The former Ford Motor Sports Press Officer continued: “The Mk II Escort RS1800 is an icon of Ford’s World Championship motorsport history, but this blistering sale result – most surely a world record price for a 1976 Ford Escort – is a spectacular endorsement of how few unmodified public road examples of these Escorts remain. Certainly, far fewer original RS1800s survive than many exotic classics, bearing more prestigious badges.”
The new World Record Holder was one of the 170 classics of 1924 to 2020 manufacture to go under Historics’ price-establishing hammer at the sun-baked Windsorview Lakes field, where the view of Windsor  is punctuated by non-stop Heathrow overflights.
Even the heavens literally opening to dump a massive deluge of biblical proportions on proceedings did nothing to dampen buoyant bidding under canvas on a Saturday afternoon in what was by the largest umbrella in stormy Berkshire in the Climate Changed Rainy Season.

Escort overtakes Lamborghini during £3.9m sale - In second place behind the results topping Escort was a rare in right-hand drive Lamborghini Diablo VT 4WD with active suspension driven a modest 8,513 miles by two owners from new in 1993, the first until 2017, when the same car fetched £136,650 with Historics premium.
The auctioneers’ 2025 £180,000-210,000 guide was convincingly overtaken by the third owner’s valuation of £259,840 with premium, almost double what it had sold to the vendor when auctioned by Historics eight years earlier. A 47,000 miles since new in 2007 Lambo Gallardo Spyder in RHD with nose lift option meanwhile also bettered is £58,000-65,000 estimate to sell for £70,560 with premium.
A pre-V8 1972 Aston Martin DBS Six that had previously slumbered in storage for some 18 years woke up to some serious bidding until sold for £95,200 with premium. While a 1959 Austin-Healey 3000 Mk1 BT7 in receipt of 6 years Bill Rawles restoration and upgrading including 215bhp engine was well landed for the just over £85,000 above lower estimate paid, a very high price for a Big Healey in today’s corrected market.

Other noteworthy cars to be valued here - an extensively customised 1973 Jensen ‘Viperceptor’ with 510bhp 8.3 Viper V10 transplant that had also cost an estimated £200,000 to concoct, but which was captured post-sale for close to the £78,000-95,000 forecast
Plenty of Alfa bells were rung by a fully restored 1964 2600 Carrozzeria Touring Spider (number 82 of 102 in RHD) with in-line six rebuilt by Bob Dove Motorsports which realised a more than £58,000-68,000 estimate £76,160 with premium. Another flier was a rear-wheel drive 1995 Porsche 911/993 Carrera 2 manual with 17 stamps that left its £47,000-54,000 far behind to sell for £64,960 with premium. 
A 14,000 mile, and apparently still as new, 2004 BMW M3 Convertible utterly blitzed its pre-sale estimate of £27,000-33,000 to be valued by a new owner on the internet for £67,200 with premium. A single ownership from new in 2004 BMW X5 3.0i SUV with 7 stamps in the book doubled the lower £9,000 lower estimate to realise £18,400 with premium.
An extremely unusual sight on UK roads and at side of the Migrants Channel is a 1992 Venturi MVS 260 Supercharged V6 Coupe in LHD from Monaco-based Venturi. An air-conditioned resident in a Kuwait Museum in recent years, the UK registered GT was contested remotely by bidders from France and Belgium before being hammered for an over top estimate bid of £27,000 and sold for £30,240 with premium.
Historics ‘Head of Auctions Mathew Priddy’s overview: “In the face of challenging conditions, it was immensely encouraging for us – and, indeed, in matket terms – to see the tremendous level of buyer interest at this sale, not only in the buzzing auction tent, but also on-line, with international bidders and via the significant volume of phone bids. The vigorous bidding battles that ensued are emphatically reflected in the results of a very significant number of entries.

”The Windsorview Stats - 118 or 69% of the 170 car entries sold under the hammer (or by provisional bids converted into sales during the sale or immediately afterwards), for including 12% premium, the sale grossed £3,923,432 and an average of £33,249 was paid per classic bought.
While 52 classics, 31% of the entry, had to be transported home unsold, there were 26 No Reservists, 15% of cars offered, 22% of those that sold. Further analysis shows that although 13% of sellers made more than forecast money, 36% sold within their guides, while below estimate bids were accepted by auctioneers and vendors for 31% of cars auctioned.
And by the end of the ‘Live Webcast’ on my tablet, 12,951 other viewers had also tuned in to this latest prices reality check from somewhere cooler and drier to find out what’s hot and what’s not. Historics Autumn Sale takes place Saturday 20 September at Ascot Racecourse. RHE

To check out all recent Sale Reviews, select ‘More News’ below (or select ‘News’ on the Home Page menu-bar options above) and scroll-down to scan all recent reality posts on the collector vehicle market. The Upcoming Auctions option on the menu bar above meanwhile will show you the regularly updated ‘live’ traditional auctions calendar 




 

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