Phone Bidders Battle for This 1981 Ford Capri 3.0 S

This Ford Capri 3.0 S auction result provided another reminder of just how much enthusiasm there is for the right classic Ford.

We were at Silverstone on Saturday for the Classic Car Auctions sale at CarFest, where this 1981 Capri 3.0 S was among the cars going under the hammer.

And when its turn came, plenty of the interest wasn’t coming from people standing in front of the rostrum.

The phones were busy.

A Ford Capri 3.0 S at Silverstone

There’s something particularly appropriate about watching a sporting old Ford go under the hammer at Silverstone.

And a Capri 3.0 S certainly has the right badge on the back to get Ford enthusiasts interested.

By 1981, the Capri was well established as Ford’s European sports coupé, but the 3.0 S occupied a particularly appealing part of the range.

Under that long bonnet sat Ford’s 3.0-litre Essex V6, while the S specification gave the Capri a distinctly sporting character.

It’s a combination that remains enormously appealing more than four decades later.

Why the Capri 3.0 S matters

The Capri story stretches across three generations and almost two decades, but certain versions have always stood out.

The 3.0 S is one of them.

It combined that wonderfully recognisable Capri shape with a big V6 up front, rear-wheel drive and the sort of specification that made it genuinely desirable when new.

Today, those same ingredients make surviving examples highly sought after.

We’ve watched plenty of Capris go through classic car auctions in recent years, and the market for good examples continues to be fascinating.

Sometimes it’s the immaculate cars that bring the biggest money.

Sometimes originality wins.

And occasionally it’s simply a case of two people deciding they both want the same car.

The phones started fighting for it

Once the Capri reached the rostrum, it quickly became apparent that there was genuine interest.

A significant part of the bidding was coming through Classic Car Auctions’ telephone bidders.

That’s one of the things we enjoy about filming these auctions.

You can look around the room and think there isn’t much happening, while elsewhere somebody could be sitting hundreds of miles away trying to buy the car through a member of the auction team.

And when more than one telephone bidder gets involved, things can become interesting very quickly.

That was certainly the case with this Capri.

Watch the Ford Capri bidding

We filmed the auction as it happened.

Rather than tell you where the bidding finished before you’ve watched it, have a look at the video below and see where you think the hammer ought to fall.

Would you have stayed on the phone?

The hammer fell at £20,500

Eventually, there could only be one winning bidder.

After the telephone battle had pushed the bidding onwards, the hammer finally came down at:

£20,500.

That’s the hammer price, before any applicable buyer’s premium and fees.

And it’s another interesting result for a sporting Ford Capri.

What does £20,500 tell us?

One auction result doesn’t establish the value of every Capri 3.0 S.

Condition, history, originality, specification and presentation can all make a substantial difference, as can the simple question of who’s bidding on the day.

But £20,500 at the hammer certainly demonstrates that buyers are still prepared to spend serious money when the right Capri appears.

We’ve seen that enthusiasm repeatedly with sporting Fords.

RS Escorts attract it.

XR Fiestas attract it.

And Capris most definitely attract it.

Perhaps that’s hardly surprising.

For a generation of enthusiasts, these weren’t exotic cars hidden behind showroom windows. They were the Fords people saw, wanted and sometimes owned.

Decades later, nostalgia and scarcity make a potent combination.

Telephone bidding has changed the auction room

This sale was also a good example of why judging an auction solely by the number of raised hands in the room can be misleading.

Modern classic car auctions can have bidders in the room, online and on several telephones simultaneously.

The person who wants the car most might not even be at Silverstone.

We’ve seen internet bids silence a room before, and this time the telephones played a starring role.

For us, it makes filming auctions more interesting.

You never quite know where the next bid is coming from.

Was £20,500 right for this Capri?

Ultimately, one bidder decided it was.

That’s the beauty of an auction.

You can study price guides, previous results and asking prices for similar cars, but when the auctioneer starts taking bids, the market becomes very simple.

Someone either raises the bid or they don’t.

For this 1981 Ford Capri 3.0 S, somebody kept going until £20,500 was enough to take it home.

Would you have stayed on the phone?

Or would you have dropped out long before the hammer fell?