1988 Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth

Vehicle Overview

Registration: F150JCD
Chassis: WF0FXXGBBFJL49802
Odometer: 54,000
Transmission: Manual
MOT: February 2027

A huge amount of paperwork
Original order form from new
Appears to be unmolested and genuine example
An early model from 1988

We are very pleased to offer this very nice, and what appears to be original, Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth finished in maybe the only colour to have, Moonstone blue. It has the very rare cloth / Alcantara Recaro trim, which is in stunning condition, and adds to the appearance and belief that this is a genuine and cared for example. We have the original bill of sale that tells us that it was purchased by a Mr Adams on 20/9/1988 and registered on 14/10/1988. The cost then was £21,300 which in today’s money equates to around £75,000 - a lot of money, but then again a lot of car of which we will never see anything like made ever again. Shame!

The paperwork is quite vast, with invoices and receipts going back over many years, lots of old MOTs and tax discs, performance data, information from both Cosworth and the RS Owner’s Club, a recent agreed insurance valuation of £45,000 and some of its original manuals and book pack. The specification is rather nice, although most things are standard but it’s nice to have them - things like headlamp wash, a sunroof and, most importantly, it has the correct alloy wheels (all 5 of them) which are lovely and not often the case as they go missing through time. If we were to be critical, there are some small marks on the roof by the sunroof.

We are grateful to the vendor for providing the following insight into the recent history:

“I purchased the car in July 2022 from a friend of a friend who was the workshop manager for Egerton's Recovery. He was an avid Ford fanatic / RS Club member and had owned the car for many years. He had taken the car off the road circa 2012 to carry out a light restoration on the car, as it was losing water and he wanted to have it perfect. He then put it up on the ramp in the workshop and never got round to doing anything with it due to his family growing and being very busy.

Any way... fast forward to 2022 and I walked through the workshop, spotted it and ended up buying it.

When I got the car back and started going over it on my ramp, it was evident that being stored indoors in a greasy workshop had done wonders for the preservation of the chassis and bodywork but there was plenty of things about the car which had suffered.

The roof lining had sagged, the sunroof mechanism was sticking, the knobs on the radio had gone missing along with the gear knob, the red cover on the column mounted hazards switch was missing, the brakes, brake lines, fuel tank and fuel lines were now in need of replacement. The car’s tyres were also in need of replacement.

I then commenced with a light restoration on the car replacing the roof lining , fuel tank, fuel lines.

Once these bits had been done and I had serviced the car, I started the car up and started to investigate the loss of water hoping it would be a simple fix - IE: water pump or leaking radiator or pipe, and took it for MOT.

All the above took place between July 2022 and Feb 2024.

Upon using the car, it became evident that it wasn't a simple leak and the car was pressurising.

So, it got put to one side again until around Aug 2024, when I was introduced to a chap called Mike from MAS Tuning in Crewe. He is well established as one of the few remaining experts in the RS Cosworth world.

I agreed to send the car to Mike for him to check it out and let me know his thoughts.

Mike had the car there for a while and diagnosed that it had in fact a leaking head gasket.

Mike gave me the option of just fixing the head gasket, but after talking to him in depth I decided to give him permission to do whatever he wanted to do - as he was so impressed with condition of the car he thought it would be doing it a disservice if we just fixed the water loss problem and didn't go the whole hog and rebuild the engine, fit a brand new clutch, restore the engine bay fully, new brake lines and discs / calipers all round. Then fully tune the car, as it would then be a genuinely superb condition RS Cosworth that was mechanically sound but with original bodywork and an immaculate underside.

The cost of the work that Mike carried out was £9,000! - but worth every penny in my opinion. I got the car back on April 2025.

I then fitted a full set of continental period correct tyres at a cost of £600.

The car comes with a comprehensive history folder going back years; old MOTs, old tax discs and the mileage increments can be backed up by checking the MOT history online.

The car has covered only 253 miles of its 500-mile running period and is still using running in oil. It has not been over 4500 rpm (has not to go over 4500 rpm) in this period (so please beware of this if showing anyone the car or driving it!

The car genuinely drives excellently and the engine purrs with zero vibration.

I have lots of photos of the car during my ownership and photos from Mike with the engine in his workshop being worked on that I can forward to any buyer of the vehicle.

I do think that customers need to see how clean and original with zero welding the underside of the car is.

I will get a copy of the invoice from Mike at MAS for the work he did also to add to the folder (as the original is in my company accounts).”

This RS Cosworth is not your usual example and would appear to be genuine and in original condition, and is worthy of closer inspection. These Cosworths are becoming very rare and hard to find in this condition and prices are starting to rise, so be quick.