1987 Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth

VEHICLE DESCRIPTION

The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth perfectly embodies the heady era of 1980s turbocharged power, and the limited-edition RS500 model has become the most coveted of all. 

This particular RS500 is being offered from the long-term ownership of an enthusiast who bought it in May 1996. It is build number ‘039-500’ and was first registered on 26 October 1987. A 2023 letter from Ford Motor Company states that the original intention was for the car to be finished in Moonstone, but because ‘the shells were already painted black’, it was delivered in that colour instead, and has remained so ever since. 

Service records show that the RS500 had covered just over 25,000 miles by 1999, and since then it has been used only sparingly. In 2023, the car emerged from eight years in dry storage and was treated to an extensive recommissioning process by Ford RS specialist Tremona Garage.

The work included removing and cleaning out the fuel tank, replacing fuel lines, flushing the cooling and braking systems, and renewing all drive belts – including the cambelt and tensioner.

The driver’s seat was given a new diaphragm, a new battery was fitted – complete with period decals – the offside-rear wheelarch liner was replaced, and new tyres were fitted all round. It comes with its original RS500 wheels, which have been refurbished, plus a set of OZ alloys.

This superbly presented car has still covered only 27,000 miles and is being offered for sale not only with a full set of handbooks and a stamped service book, but also a raft of invoices going back to the mid-1990s. 

Even at a distance of almost 40 years, the Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth remains instantly recognisable, and it’s little wonder that it’s attracted such a strong following in recent years. This is a rare opportunity to acquire an extremely collectable, highly original, low-mileage example of this performance icon.

MODEL HISTORY  

After introducing the standard Sierra in 1982, Ford set its sights on a motorsport programme with which to create a ‘halo effect’ for its new model. The humble family car was duly transformed into a homologation special, the RS Cosworth, which was unveiled at the 1985 Geneva Salon and offered near-supercar performance.

The 1993cc Cosworth engine was based around the standard Pinto block but was otherwise all-new. Cosworth cylinder heads were fitted, a Garrett T3 turbocharger added, and the end result produced a little over 200bhp.

Just as striking as the way it went, was the way it looked. Lothar Pinske was responsible for the myriad appendages that were fitted to the three-door bodyshell, which gained wheelarch extensions, various ducts and inlets, and a huge rear spoiler that would become the car’s signature feature.

Group A requirements dictated that 5000 needed to be built, and ‘evolution’ models could also be raced as long as 500 roadgoing versions were produced. That’s where the RS500 came in. The engine capacity remained the same as the RS Cosworth, but the block was strengthened, the pistons were uprated, the intercooler and induction systems were enlarged, and a different Garrett turbocharger was fitted. 

A front splitter was added, the ‘whale tail’ had an extra lip on its trailing edge, and a spoiler was added to the bootlid. Tickford built the required number of RS500s during 1987, and while power for the roadgoing version was raised to 224bhp, in race spec it could give anything up to 500bhp. 

On-track, the flame-spitting RS500 came to define late-1980s touring car racing. Ford won the manufacturers’ title in the European Touring Car Championship in 1987 and ’88, and Rob Gravett won the 1990 British Touring Car Championship. 

When Motor Sport tested a standard Sierra RS Cosworth in late 1986, it said that ‘here is a motor car which will match anything, regardless of class, in real A-to-B driving conditions’. The magazine then concluded that, ‘On our crowded roads, away from the test track, this car is simply in a class of its own’.