This Ford Escort could cost as much as an Alfa Quadrifoglio

Not long ago you could pick up an old, fast Ford for next to nothing. But values have well and truly skyrocketed in the last couple of years, with Sierra Cosworths (admittedly quite special ones) selling for £100,000, Seventies Escort Mexicos for £50,000 and even the odd Capri for almost £60,000 at auction.

So when it crosses the auction block at the Silverstone Classic next month, this Escort Cosworth is likely to cost its new owner a reasonable sum of money. It’s estimated between £54,000 and £60,000, having sold at an auction in Paris earlier this year for a little over £40,000. Assuming it gets there, that’s not a bad return for just a couple of months’ ownership. You'd assume the only way is up for its next owner, too.

And of course this is no ordinary Escort Cosworth. It’s a ‘Motorsport Edition’ – a version the Internet knows surprisingly little about. Finished in ‘Ash Black’ with a grey cloth interior, it was delivered new to a collection in Italy, where it remained until earlier this year. The odometer shows a modest 9,600km (around 6,000 miles), which is backed up by service records and a load of original books and manuals.

Constructed in Germany between 1992 and 1996, the Cossie was built to homologate the Escort for Group A rallying. It competed in the WRC until 1998, winning a few rounds, until it was replaced by the Focus. In road-going trim its 2.0-litre engine gives 227bhp, 0-62mph in 6.2 seconds and a top-speed of 138mph. Whether you'll dare put any of that to the test when you've spent Alpine A110 or Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio money on one is another matter...