FIESTA’S FULL STORY – AND HOW TO SNAP IT UP
Tiny-mile survivor tipped for record auction price
A 1978 Ford Fiesta MkI that’s covered just 127 miles in 40 years is being tipped to break an auction record.
Thought to be the lowest-mileage Fiesta MkI left, it has never been registered for the road.
Donated to the London Science Museum by a Mayfair dealer in 1980, it was sold to another venue in 2017. Earlier this year, it narrowly escaped the scrapman’s cutting torch: the exhibition it was part of was being dismantled and it wouldn’t fit in the freight lift.
Rescued by an enthusiast – who built a home-made cradle to manoeuvre the Fiesta out of harm’s way – it is now to be auctioned on 1 September.
Performance variants of the Fiesta MkI have long outstripped their humble cousins in terms of auction sale room results. However, this example might redress the balance. The ex-Science Museum car, a 957cc model, packed the smallest engine Ford offered in the Fiesta range; Bonhams, offering the car with no reserve, estimate the car to fetch between £6000 and £8000.
The auctioneer, which is hammering away the car in its Beaulieu Autojumble sale, said that the car had been verified by the Ford GT Register as a delivery mileage, matching numbers car and that it has been recommissioned, with an MoT valid up to April 2019.
A spokesperson for the Fiesta Club GB was surprised the Fiesta was up for grabs with no reserve – and hoped another museum take it on as a registered and road-legal exhibit.
CCW’s market expert Richard Barnett felt that the Fiesta could do well around the block – better than even a Supersport or an XR2. He said: ‘ The car’s provenance is good, the mileage is low, and let’s be honest, poverty-models aren’t exactly a common sight. If it did make a non-Supersport or XR record price I wouldn’t be in the least surprised.’ ❚ bonhams.com
‘If it did make a non- Supersport/XR record I wouldn’t be surprised’ RICHARD BARNETT