A Ford Escort RS Turbo Series 1 that was once driven by the late Princess Diana sold for a whopping 724,500 pounds ($851,070) at an auction held at Britain’s Silverstone racing circuit on Saturday.
The car belonged to the Diana between 1985 and 1988 and was the Princess of Wales’ last Ford Escort, with 24,961 miles on the clock. The princess was often spotted driving the vehicle around Chelsea and Kensington and she clocked up 6,800 miles in it before returning it to Ford.
Silverstone’s website says, after the return, the car had multiple owners before making its way back to Ford. The website did not name the auction winner. The RS Turbo Series 1 was usually made in white but the royal family police guard asked for Diana’s to be painted black “for discretion”, the auctioneers said.
“A very brave choice” for the princess to drive the car, Arwel Richards, classic car specialist at Silverstone Auctions, told Reuters earlier this week.
Next week marks 25 years since Diana died, aged 36. The Princess of Wales passed away after a limousine in which she was a passenger crashed in a Paris tunnel as it sped away from paparazzi chasing on motorbikes.
