One of the ultimate MkI Capris hits our top 20 Price Guide Movers On The Up this month
The numbers are up 14%, taking rough cars to £16k, with usable examples £25k, mint condition £47.5k and concours cars now £60k. It shouldn’t be surprising that this variant of the iconic Ford is selling so well – Ford built the car with a minor overbore from 3-litres to 3.1 and front and rear spoilers to homologate extra capacity and aero aids in a bid to take the fight back to BMW in the European Touring Car Championship. As well as those benefits, buyers got a hotter camshaft, lower, stiffer suspension with negative camber at the front, four-spoke alloy wheels and a package of cosmetic changes including front quarter bumpers, twin halogen headlights from the 3.0GXL and assorted body stripes. Inside, bucket seats and a smaller steering wheel were the most meaningful differences. Ford should have built 1000 to meet Group 2 homologation rules, but the 1973 fuel crisis hit performance car sales hard and just 248 were sold.
To put the RS3100’s recent price performance into perspective, the current figures are up 20% over the last five years. That sounds strong, yet over the same period, classic Ford prices have grown 36% on average. In a period that’s been hit by to covid pandemic and now a cost of living crisis, it underlines how deeply the passion runs for old Fords. So why hasn’t rarity helped the RS3100 perform even better? Previous price surges meant that it already looked expensive – when prices of any classic start knocking on the door of £50k it’s hard for them to retain their status as performance cars for the people. But experience tells us that once buyers have time to acclimatise to these sort of prices, the numbers will start creeping up once more.
Price Guide Mover On The Up is part of 16 pages of market advice in every issue of Classic Cars, including Quentin Willson’s Hot Tips, Russ Smith’s Chasing Cars, Ads on Test and an Alfa Spider/GTV buying guide.