Five Ford Escorts are heading across the block at Ascot this weekend, and this is quite a line-up.
There are three Mk1 Mexicos, including two with remarkable period competition histories, an immaculate Olympic Blue RS2000 and, at the other end of the price scale, a wonderfully period Mk2 1.6 Ghia.
Estimates range from £9,000 to £95,000, but choosing which one we’d most like to take home isn’t quite as straightforward as the numbers might suggest.
Historics has also done a particularly thorough job with the photography. Each car has an extensive gallery on its catalogue page, with dozens of detailed images and, in some cases, more than 100 photographs covering bodywork, interiors, engine bays, undersides and smaller details.
All five form part of Historics’ Pace of Autumn sale at Ascot Racecourse on Saturday, 12th September 2026.
We couldn’t really start anywhere else.
Lot 233, registration HLA 208K, is catalogued as one of just 17 competition-prepared Escort Mexicos produced by Ford’s Advanced Vehicle Operations department and supplied to Ford France for the 1971 Tour de France Automobile.
Its chassis number is BFATLS11739, another useful identifier for anyone researching the history of the car.
Historics says HLA 208K was built in July 1971 and first registered on 1st August. The Maize Yellow Mexico then competed on the Tour de France Automobile with José Albertini and René Cipriani. After that, it returned to Britain for an altogether different assignment.
On 24th October 1971, it took part in the Jack Brabham Trophy at Brands Hatch, a race for Formula One team managers.
And the man behind its wheel was Lotus founder Colin Chapman.
Chapman raced against a remarkable field. It included Jack Brabham, John Surtees, Frank Williams, Max Mosley and Ken Tyrrell.
According to Historics, Chapman set the fastest lap during a race-long battle with Brabham before a missed gear on the final lap left him third.
There was another twist afterwards. Historics says Brabham declined to accept his winner’s trophy, resulting in Chapman receiving the winner’s garland.
After Brands Hatch, many of the 17 Mexicos went on to compete in the 1972 Mexico Challenge or in rallying. Historics believes HLA 208K to be one of only four survivors from the original fleet.
Its history file includes original entry lists, race reports and supporting documentation, while the car is also catalogued as eligible for a considerable range of historic motorsport, including the Goodwood Revival and Members’ Meeting and the Tour Auto.
Historics has supplied an extensive photographic record of the car too, so anyone interested in its details can spend considerably longer studying HLA 208K than our selection of photographs here will allow.
Estimate: £85,000–£95,000
Next is Lot 257, the Olympic Blue 1974 Ford Escort RS2000, registration LRN 320N.
Historics doesn’t hold back with its description, calling it potentially the best RS2000 it has ever offered.
Chassis BFATPT00360 has spent almost a decade as part of a collection of valuable Escorts and has undergone a comprehensive restoration by Escort specialist ASM Classics.
The catalogue says the car was completely stripped, dipped and repainted. Historics also describes the engine bay and underside as spotless, and the paintwork as faultless. It has also been stored in a temperature-controlled garage.
The Mk1 RS2000 joined Ford’s Advanced Vehicle range in 1973, combining the Type 49 Escort bodyshell with Ford’s 2.0-litre Pinto engine.
That recipe has made genuine Mk1 RS2000s among the most desirable sporting Escorts, and LRN 320N is certainly being presented as an exceptional example.
This is also precisely the sort of car where Historics’ large photographic gallery earns its keep. Strong claims about restoration and condition are far more useful when there are detailed photographs of the underside, engine bay, bodywork and trim for enthusiasts to study themselves.
Estimate: £70,000–£80,000
Lot 235 is NPC 445L, a Daytona Yellow 1972 Ford Escort Mexico with a rather different appeal.
It doesn’t have the competition history of HLA 208K or HLA 216K, but Historics says it retains something increasingly difficult to find on a Mk1 Escort: all of its original factory steel panels.
Chassis BFATMC07955 has received what the auction house describes as a sympathetic repaint in its original Daytona Yellow, but Historics specifically points to the surviving underside, inner wings, boot floor and factory spot welds.
The originality story continues inside.
The catalogue says NPC 445L retains its black Ambla low-back seats, original door cards and headlining, RS three-spoke steering wheel and six-dial dashboard.
Even the original factory rubber floor mats remain in place – the sort of seemingly insignificant detail that can become remarkably difficult to find more than half a century later.
The odometer shows 34,000 miles and the Mexico has previously appeared as a cover car for the AVO Owners Club magazine, a copy of which accompanies it.
For someone fascinated by surviving factory details, NPC 445L could be one of the most interesting cars here. Historics’ detailed photographs give plenty to pore over.
Estimate: £60,000–£70,000
Then we come to HLA 216K, Lot 252.
This is the second of the two surviving competition Mexicos in the sale and its chassis number, BFATLS11747, puts it very close indeed to the Chapman car, BFATLS11739.
Historics says HLA 216K was also completed in July 1971 and supplied through Ford’s AVO operation to Ford France for the Tour de France Automobile.
On that event it was campaigned by André Gaudry and Michel Dupard.
After returning to Britain, it joined its sister cars for the Jack Brabham Trophy at Brands Hatch on 24th October.
For that race, HLA 216K was driven by Max Mosley, then co-founder of March Engineering and later president of the FIA.
There was another fascinating Formula One connection in the pits. Historics says Mosley’s signalling was handled by Ronnie Peterson.
Mosley finished fifth, behind Brabham, Surtees, Chapman and Williams.
Historics believes HLA 216K is one of only four survivors from the original 17-car fleet. It also comes with a history file containing period entry lists and race reports.
It is also catalogued as eligible for numerous historic motorsport events, including the Goodwood Revival and Members’ Meeting, while its period participation makes it eligible for the Tour Auto.
Finding one surviving AVO competition Mexico with this sort of documented story at an auction would be noteworthy. Finding HLA 208K and HLA 216K together in the same sale, eight chassis numbers apart and with Colin Chapman and Max Mosley histories respectively, makes this pairing particularly fascinating.
Estimate: £85,000–£95,000
After four very serious sporting Escorts, here’s the one that could provoke the biggest wave of nostalgia.
Lot 115 is KLR 116V, a champagne-coloured 1980 Ford Escort 1.6 Ghia Mk2.
Registered on 28th January 1980, it is the sort of Escort that was once part of everyday British street furniture. Cars like this have quietly become much harder to find in this condition.
The odometer shows 78,392 miles and the car has the wonderfully period brown velour interior, square headlights, chrome bumpers with overriders and a Webasto sunroof.
Historics says its 1,599cc Kent engine runs very well and the manual gearbox operates as it should.
KLR 116V has formed part of a private collection in recent years and comes with its V5, original handbooks and manuals and an MoT certificate valid until 27th July 2027.
Its chassis number is GCAFWM010130.
And while the competition histories and AVO specifications of the other four may attract the serious Fast Ford crowd, we’d wager there will be plenty of people who linger longest over Historics’ photographs of the brown velour, Ghia trim and all those familiar late-Mk2 Escort details.
The estimate provides another considerable contrast.
Estimate: £9,000–£12,000
That’s what makes this little group so good.
HLA 208K and HLA 216K have genuine period competition stories stretching from the 1971 Tour de France Automobile to a Brands Hatch race populated by some of the biggest names in Formula One.
LRN 320N represents the other end of Fast Ford collecting, with Historics presenting it as an exceptionally restored Mk1 RS2000.
NPC 445L is perhaps the one for those who become excited by original steel, factory spot welds and surviving rubber mats.
And then there’s KLR 116V: brown velour, a Webasto roof and a £9,000–£12,000 estimate.
Historics’ Pace of Autumn sale takes place at Ascot Racecourse on Saturday, 12th September 2026, beginning at 9.30am.
Anyone considering bidding should, of course, satisfy themselves as to the identity, history and condition of any car. Historics’ catalogue is particularly useful in that respect, with extensive photographic galleries for these five Escorts as well as the opportunity to request further information or a condition report.
For the rest of us, there’s a much simpler question.
HLA 208K, LRN 320N, NPC 445L, HLA 216K or KLR 116V – which one are you taking home?
Have you got a newsworthy classic car story you think UK Barn Finds should know about?
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If there’s a story behind it, we’d love to hear about it.
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