Ford Escort car used for Princess Diana sells for £650k at auction (photos)

A car which was used by the late Diana, Princess of Wales has been sold for £650,000 at auction.

Princess Diana, who died nearly 25 years ago, drove the black Ford Escort RS Turbo for nearly three years from August 1985.

The bidding began at £100,000 on Saturday, August 27 and soon became a contest between buyers in Dubai, UAE and Coventry, UK.

But at around the £450,000 bidding mark, the main bidding came from Cheshire and Dubai with the UK-based buyer eventually winning the auction.

Auctioneer Jonathan Humbert of Silverstone Auctions said there had been huge interest in the vehicle with registration C462FHK which had received the firm’s largest number of telephone bids in 12 years.

The auctioneer expressed his surprise when bidding climbed, commenting: “£500,000 for a Ford Escort? I’ve never said that before.”

Humbert had earlier said the car represented a “piece of history”.

The auction company’s car specialist Arwel Richards said the total sale cost
of the purchase including the buyer’s premium was £730,000.

He said everybody at the auction house was “surprised” at the price the car finally went for.

However, Richards said it was the car’s rarity and the public’s “emotional link” to it which made the vehicle special.

He said the “lucky bidder” would have invested in two things.

“He is going to have one the finest preserved examples of this model anywhere, and also the slice of social history that comes with the car.

“This car was known as the ‘people’s sports car’ and the fact it was driven by the People’s Princess just nails it.”

Before her death Diana was pictured with the car outside the boutique shops of Chelsea and in Kensington.

In June 2021, another Ford Escort used by Princess Diana sold at auction for £52,000.