Princess Diana’s Ford Escort RS Turbo is heading to auction

It’s a well-known fact that the late Princess Diana had a thing for cars, having owned and frequently seen driving quite a few cool examples of motoring pleasures. One of which is this unique, one-off 1985 Ford Escort RS Turbo S1 pictured, which she took on special delivery from Ford in 1985.

(Image: Shutterstock)

This Escort RS Turbo, which is a performance variant of the Mark 3 Escort of the time, was chosen by the UK’s Royalty Protection Command to replace her previous daily driver, a red Mark 2 Escort 1.6i Cabriolet, which the service had deemed unsafe. No doubt, this RS Turbo S1 was a serious upgrade.

Apart from its royal ownership, this Escort is made even more special thanks to a few distinct bits. It’s reportedly the only one of its kind painted black when the rest were all white.

It also has a five-bar black grille instead of the two-bar white grille, a second rearview mirror, as well as a radio in the glove box. The last two were used by a protection officer that rode with her at all times, though neither remains in the car now.

Apart from that, this one-off special is mechanically identical to the regular Escort RS Turbo S1. It features a turbocharged 1.6-litre 4-cyl that developed 132 HP and 180 NM, both sent to the front wheels via a five-speed manual box. This allowed 0-100KM/H in just 8 seconds – quick by 1980s standards.

The chassis, on the other hand, came laced with independent front and rear suspension, MacPherson front struts, front and rear anti-roll bars, as well coil springs at both axles. The latter was a big deal for the Escort at the time as previous generations of it had leaf spring rear suspension. In other words, this hot hatch had the athletic bones to match it go-fast heart.

Clearly, this was a fun thing to drive, thus explaining sightings of Princess Diana driving it regularly until 1988, which was when the car was returned to Ford. Since then, the car has changed hands a few times, racking up just 24,961 miles (40,171 KM) on its odometer clock – pretty low for its age.

Well, this classic Fast Ford is poised to change hands once more as it goes into auction later this month with UK auction house Silverstone Auctions. Though offered at no reserve, said auction house didn’t give a figure it expects the car to command.

For perspective, a 1981 Ford Escort Ghia hatchback, also owned and driven by Princess Diana previously, sold at auction last year for £52,000 – approx. RM281,370.25. Expect this 80s hot-hatch she owned to command a significantly higher amount.

Vehicle images: Silverstone Auctions