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What do you do if you love Ford Escorts, but you’ve already owned 55 full-size versions—and you just happen to be a jeweller? Why, of course you make a 1/25th scale model of the Ari Vatanen Escort RS1800, in precious metals and jewels. You’d probably think we were joking if the evidence wasn’t right there in front of you. So this is what professional jeweller Russell Lord has done. He started working on it 25 years ago, and has spent thousands of hours on it.
The body is made of silver, the wheels, rear spoiler, brakes and bonnet hinges are in gold, the front grille is 18-carat white gold, the headlights are 72-point diamond, the indicators are orange sapphire and the rear lights are ruby. The cambelt pulleys spin, the diamond-encrusted platinum shift stick moves and the glass windows are exactly the right curve, created by smashing countless vases to find sections of glass of the right shape. It cost $100,000 in materials alone.
“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.
Now it’s going to be auctioned on the car auction website www.themarket.co.uk, starting on May 2, with all profits donated to charity. And it will also be on display at the Petrolicious Drivers’ Meeting on May 12 at Bicester Heritage, UK. Get you tickets here!
Images courtesy of The Market
