Princess Diana’s Ford Escort RS Turbo Is Up For Grabs

• This is the third Ford Escort that Princess Diana owned.

• It is powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder engine churning out 130PS.

• The car has clocked just 40,000 kms and is in pristine condition.

• It will go up for auction on August 27.

A particularly interesting used car has been put up for sale recently. It is a rare 1985 Ford Escort RS Turbo Series 1 finished in black. An Escort RS Turbo is a special car and a pocket rocket, but netizens were going ga ga over the listing for one chief reason - this very car was owned by the late Diana, Princess of Wales. 

The story of this specific car dates back to the royal marriage. Princess Diana received a silver Ford Escort Ghia sedan from Prince Charles as a wedding gift. The run-of-the-mill sedan powered by a 1.6-litre petrol engine was neither fast nor special. 

Soon after, the Princess, who clearly had an epic taste in cars, switched it for a bright red Escort 1.6i Cabriolet. But the fate of the red convertible was already sealed as the Royal Protection Command came to know about it. You see, a bright red car, let alone a convertible was deemed too loud and unsafe for the royal couple.

Diana saw the opportunity and insisted on the go-fast RS Turbo and Ford’s PR team suggested painting it in black so the Royal Command would also be happy. The decision to paint it black is significant because Ford only offered the RS Turbo in a white shade and that makes this the only black Escort RS Turbo Series 1 in the world. 

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Ford’s Special Vehicle engineering team was behind the modifications which also included a regular five-slat front grille instead of Turbo’s single-slat grille. The car also got an additional rear-view mirror for the protection officer along with a radio in the glovebox for communications. 

The Series 1 Escort RS Turbo was built for homologation purposes. Unlike the vanilla Ghia sedan, this two-door coupe made 130PS from a turbocharged 1.6-litre 4-pot engine. It had various other supporting mods including uprated chassis, Recaro seats and special RS decals for distinction. 

This car was passed on to Ford’s ownership after Diana passed away with 11,000 kms on the odometer. It was then sold to Geoff King, who happened to be the manager of Ford’s government sales department.

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Later, the car was won by one Miss Jones of Esses through a promotional giveaway by Kiss FM in 1993. The car had then clocked under 25,000 kms when its current owner who is an ardent Ford RS collector, purchased it and it has been with this collector ever since until it was put up for auction a couple of days ago. 

At present, the car has clocked 24,961miles (just over 40,000 km) and is up for auction at Silverstone Auctions due on August 27. Considering the rarity of the car, the fact that this is the only black one in existence, the pristine condition and the royal connection, the winning bid will most definitely break the charts.