If bling is more your thing than driving then this is the perfect car for you. It’ll never be roadworthy, but this Ford Escort is worth a fortune. Why? It’s a one-off 1:25 scale model made from silver, gold and diamonds.
The project has been a slow-burning labour of love for professional jeweller – and petrolhead – Russell Lord. The owner, over the years, of 55 full-sized Ford Escort cars, Lord first began work on this amazing model 25 years ago, pouring thousands of hours into completing the car.
The body is made of silver and the car also features gold brakes and spoiler, 18-carat gold wheels and bonnet hinges, 18-carat white gold front grille, 72-point diamond headlights, orange sapphire indicators and ruby rear brake lights.
“It’s been a hobby that I’ve come back to again and again but three years ago I determined to finish it. I know this car inside out – so there were no plans I just built it from the ground up piece by piece,” said Lord, from Essex, in the UK.
Based on the works rally car driven by Ari Vatanen in the late 1970s, the Mk2 Escort – which cost 90,000 euros (£78,000) in materials alone – will be auctioned on the car auction themarket.co.uk on May 2, with all profits donated to charity.
Details include spinning pulleys on the front of the engine, a moving diamond-encrusted platinum gear stick and the glass windows – that involved smashing countless vases to find sections of glass with exactly the right curve.
