Five fast Fords to grab at Bonhams’ 78th Members’ Meeting Sale

A Ford like that is not for everyone, but luckily there are others in the sale that are more affordable. So for this Bonhams blue-oval special here are four fast Fords… and one very, very fast one indeed.

1950 Ford V8 Pilot, £12-15,000

Let’s start at the entry end of the market – with a V8 engine (and not even the Ford GT supercar has one of those). It’s the Pilot, the British built predecessor to the Zephyr and Consul that married a pre-war chassis and stately saloon body with 85bhp 3.6-litre version of the famous Ford “flathead” V8, the world’s first mass production V8 engine when it came out in the US in the early 1930s. The result was a pretty fast Ford by 1950 standards.

The car Bonhams is offering is said to be to among the best and most original Pilots in existence. White with a maroon leather interior, it has had relatively few owners and is believed to be low mileage. And, any Pilot’s USP, the built-in hydraulic jacks are said to be in full working order.

1963 Ford Anglia Allardette, £20-30,000

Someone who needed no convincing of the benefits of Ford flathead V8 power was Sydney Allard – his J2 sports roadster of 1949 used the very engine from the V8 Pilot. Allard – a racing driver at heart – came third overall at Le Mans in 1950 in a J2 (though one with a Cadillac engine) and the J2 and succeeding J2X were popular for a while… as was the first Allard four-cylinder sportster, the Palm Beach. But by the end of the 1950s Sydney Allard was looking for something else to do…

What else then but a supercharged Ford Anglia 105E called the Allardette? The Shorrock blower raised the 997cc 105E's maximum power to around 72bhp and greatly increased its torque. The Allardette also boasted disc front brakes and uprated suspension, making it a formidable contender in its class. When enough were sold for it to be homologated by the FIA in the modified saloon class, Allard was quick to capitalise on it by entering an Allardette in the 1963 Monte Carlo Rally – and promptly winning his class.

A great back story then and the competition-spec Allardette in the sale has plenty of provenance: it was raced at the Goodwood Revival in 2015 and 2018 by Theo Paphitis, Michael Conway and David Brabham.

1983 Ford Fiesta 1300 Group 1, £35-45,000

Here’s another familiar car from racing at Goodwood. The Fiesta was built as an exacting replica of Alan Curnow's 1980 British Saloon Car Championship class-winning car to compete in the Gerry Marshall Trophy at the 76^thMembers’ Meeting in 2017. It has been raced elsewhere too, and also at Goodwood 77MM last year, with Simon Goodliffe at the wheel.

Bonhams says no expense was spared with the build and safety gear. The Datapost liveried car has a seam-welded bodyshell, bespoke FIA roll cage, and race seat and harness. Under the bonnet is a Mountune 1300 cross-flow engine with 132bhp on tap driving a slippery diff via Quaife straight-cut gears.

1959 Ford Zephyr MkII 2.4-litre Competition, £40-60,000

After Anglia and Fiesta what next for the budding Ford historic racer but a 1950s Zephyr? This one was built up into a competition car in 2016, since when it has competed in HRDC events and the Goodwood Revival, driven by Theo Paphitis, Andy Priaulx and Karun Chandhok. It was rebuilt in 2019 with a fresh six-cylinder engine, new four-speed Rocket gearbox and Salisbury rear axle and has had only one outing, at the 2019 Goodwood Revival, since then.

Zephyrs were no strangers to competition success in period: a Zephyr Six won the Monte Carlo Rally outright in 1953, a privately entered MkII won the 1958 Safari rally, a Zephyr won the 1959 RAC Rally and in the same year Jeff Uren took the 1959 British Touring Car Championship in a MkII.

2018 Ford GT, £700-900,000

Er, just a slight price jump now, right into the supercar stratosphere… but then the GT is a cutting-edge supercar in every way, just as its iconic Le Mans-winning GT40/MkII forebear was in period. (Incidentally there’s not a real one of those in the sale this year, but there is an excellent GT Developments replica from 1989 with a guide of £70-100,000).

The 2018 GT has the highest pre-sale estimate of all the cars in this year’s Bonhams Members’ Meeting auction, at 60 times the value of the Ford Pilot – a fact which well illustrates the amazing breadth of performance capability shown by cars wearing the blue oval badge over the decades.

The Ford GT really cranked things when it first appeared in 2015, with its carbon-fibre monocoque, carbon body panels, pushrod suspension and active aerodynamics. Unexpectedly there was no V8, but then the twin-turbocharged V6 engine was hardly short of power at 647bhp, enough for a sub-3.0 second 0-62mph time and a top speed of 216mph.

With awesome looks and expensive (£15,000 as a new car option) matte exposed carbon-fibre body finish, this GT is one of the very few of the 1,000 made that were delivered new to a UK owner. It’s covered just 609 miles and is presented in as-new condition, says Bonhams.

And, a nice touch, its registration plate is: '1966 GT'. Perfect to drive to a Ferrari meet…

Images courtesy of Bonhams.