HOW LONG HAVE YOU OWNED IT?
I got it on 31 October 2000 for £5000, having found it for sale in a specialist magazine. I’m going to lose the garage it’s kept in soon and so I’ve got to decide whether to insure it and put it back on the road or sell it. It’s currently insured for £7500 but that was just a guess when I was putting it back on the road last year.
HOW MUCH HISTORY DOES IT HAVE?
I know all the history. I am the second owner. It was originally a Lex Vehicle Leasing fleet car and I have a printout of all the fleet maintenance that it had, so the entire history, really. This included a new engine from Ford at 72,000 miles. The interior is good and original although the driver’s seat has a rip in it. I took it off the road sometime in, I think, 2003 but didn’t want to sell it because it was such fun to drive. I needed something more family friendly at the time. Also, hot hatches weren’t worth anything then. The car was kept in in a heated garage on axle stands until May 2020 when it was sent for re-commissioning.
HAS IT BEEN MODIFIED?
It’s standard apart from the Thatcham Cat 1 alarm that I had fitted in 2000 and a hidden CD changer. To look at the car now, it just looks like the original stereo is there.
WHAT’S LEFT TO DO ON IT?
It needs nothing doing at the moment. If I keep it I’ll probably get it rustproofed this year, but that’s just precautionary because there is no visible rust anywhere.
WHAT WE THINK IT’S WORTH - £10,000
Russ Smith, CCW’s price expert: ‘These 4WD RS2000s are a rare breed – they only made about 500 of them, so being fast Fords to boot, they are only going to head one way. Indeed, Historics sold one with 30k fewer miles on it than yours last year for £13,550. So I’d take our valuation as at least what the car should be insured for, and it’s also roughly what I would expect it to sell for should you decide to put it up for sale.’
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