£114k Sierra, £38k 205 GTI, £72K Lotus Carlton headline Silverstone sale

Welcome to the world of the £100,000-plus Ford Sierra Cosworth. A 1987 RS500 with just 10,733 miles from new eventually sold for £114,750 (including the premium) after a fierce bidding war. Silverstone Auctions’ presale estimate was £90-100,000.

A 2010 Focus RS500, number 70 of only 500 made, that has covered just 130 miles sold for £54,000. Blue Oval cars with higher mileages also did well: a 1987 Ford Capri 280 Brooklands beat its lower estimate by more than £20,000 to sell for £55,125 while a 1973 Ford Escort Mk1 Mexico went for £34,313.

Special Vauxhalls – and none more special than the Lotus Carlton – also found new homes, but at very different prices that show just how important low mileage is. A 1991 version of the 176mph super-saloon with 4500 miles on the clock sold for £72,000 while another ’91 car but with 73,000 miles up went for £23,625.

Other everyday classics that caught our eye:

• 1988 Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9, with 5726 miles, sold for £38,480.
• 1981 Renault 5 Turbo, sold for £74,250.
• 1959 Volkswagen 23-Window Samba, sold for £65,250.
• 1967 Fiat 1000 Abarth TC, sold for £13,500.
• 2015 Rowan Atkinson’s Land Rover 90 Celebration Heritage Edition, one of 400 final models, sold for £48,000.

And for the real high rollers? The six-figure cars were headlined at the sale during the Silverstone Classic weekend by a 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona that once belonged to Sir Elton John – it is said he bought it on the back of success with his album ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’. The Ferrari sold for £551,250.

Earlier at Silverstone Auctions’ racing car sale at the circuit, the bullish mood was set by the sale, at £100,000 over its estimate, of a works Group A Lancia Delta Integrale, as driven by four-times World Rally Champion Juha Kankkunen. The car in its iconic Martini Racing livery eventually sold for £225,000. 

For that, you could have bought the brace of road-going Delta Integrale Evo IIs in the sale several times over, even though both beat their pre-sale estimates: one ex-Jay Kay car sold for £42,118 and a bright yellow 1993 example went for £33,750. 

Other race car highlights of the sale included the ex-Tim Harvey Labatt’s liveried BMW E30 M3 which sold for £146,250 including premium. Alas the ex-Barry Sheene Group A Toyota Supra touring car – you may remember seeing it at the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard in 2016 – didn’t sell. It is available now at £67,200.