Ford Sierra RS Cosworth owned by Dick Johnson up for sale

A rare piece of Australian motoring history is coming up for sale, with an ex-Dick Johnson owned Ford Sierra RS Cosworth appearing on Pickles' auction site.

Uncovered by Car Rave on Instagram, the white Ford Sierra RS Cosworth – or Cossie – was originally imported by Dick Johnson to Australia in 1986, being used as a development car by Dick Johnson Racing before the team built two Sierras for the 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship.

Johnson drove the Cossie from Brisbane to Bathurst in 1986 (shown below in that year's The Great Race annual), retaining it as a road car before purchasing a black RS500 – selling the white Sierra to long-time sponsor Ross Palmer.

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After passing through a number of different owners throughout the 1990s, it finally landed with its seventh custodian, Max Freeland, who owned it until his death last year.

While the odometer reading of just over 20,000 miles is likely accurate, the car's RS500 looks are almost certainly a tribute to the limited-run variant which sparked success for the Sierra in racing.

For starters, the RS500 wasn't released until 1987, a full year after this example was allegedly imported to Australia by Johnson.

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Secondly, despite it bearing the RS500's iconic 'whale tail' spoiler with a second lip, as well as RS500 lettering down the sides and on the boot lid, it's missing the front splitter and includes foglights – a piece of equipment which was omitted on the hotter variant for air intakes.

Even though it likely isn't a genuine '500, the car has been given some special treatment in its life, having been fitted with a three-inch exhaust and a Motec engine control unit in the '90s.

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Pickles hasn't yet officially put the car up for sale, with the lot of Max Freeland's vehicles to go up on June 10 in Launceston.

Expect the Sierra to fetch some serious coin given its pedigree; another RS Cossie is currently for sale in Australia for more than $160,000 and it doesn't have a backstory anywhere near as interesting.