Discovered in a Brighton garage in 2021. Cleaned up to remove the 20 or so years of dust, this example has just 27,130 miles on the clock during the ownership of its first owner. Finished in the rarer Mineral Blue colour, this August 1985 XR3i is standard and a perfect example of Ford’s excellent product planning.
The XR3 created a surge of interest when released in 1980, even if the earlier version ran on carbs and struggled against the Golf GTI. What the Ford had was visual appeal – the unique alloys, black trim, spoilers and the front driving lights looked the part. 1982 brought in the fuel-injected XR3i, and with improvements to the ride and handling, it helped the car’s already strong sales to eventually become the best-selling hot hatch in the UK.
All the usual factors; rust, indifference, abuse and scrappage schemes have made low miles and original spec MK3 models rather hard to find today. This one-owner car retained its original sales bill, showed service stamps up to 1993 and has a near-faultless interior.
