One out of 500 Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 sports cars just found a new home for £596,250, which roughly converts into U.S. $715,500.
The company produced the Cosworth-badged hatchback and later also sedan in 1986–1992. This particular example dates back to the model year 1987. All cars had been rear-wheel-drive until 1989, but the model switched to AWD in 1990. Depending on the year of manufacture and the particular modification, the engine produced 204–227 PS (201–224 hp; 150–167 kW). The only available transmission was manual.
Out of 5,545 Sierra Cosworth RS homologation cars, 500 made their way to the Aston Martin Tickford factory 35 years ago, where they were retrofitted with a more robust cylinder block and a potent turbocharger, driving the output to the 227 PS mentioned above. The ignition, lubrication and fuel systems were also upgraded in the process.
On the outside, the exclusive batch looked little different from stock. A new spoiler joined the company of the large tailgate wing in the back, and the front bumper lost its anti-fog lights while getting a reshaped front spoiler for optimized engine and brake cooling. Other than that, it looked stock.
All 500 examples were produced with the right-hand drive and sold in Great Britain. Black was the only color option at first, but the company later made 56 white and 52 blue examples for a pinch of variety.
The example sold had as little as 8,356 km (5,192 miles) under its belt. It was in excellent condition and fully maintained. Whoever bought it received a package of spare parts and expendables.