August 1997 was drawing to a close. Millions – no, billions – of people around the globe were waking up to shocking news: Diana, Princess of Wales was dead.
She’d been killed in a car crash during the early hours of the morning; the black Mercedes S280 she was traveling in had collided with a Fiat Uno and smashed into a roof support pillar in a Paris underpass. She died in hospital at 3am.
Regardless of your views on royalty, there’s no denying how much impact Diana’s death made on the world. Outpourings of emotions became surreal, continuing through the media for months; even years. For many, it was life changing: Di had been an inspiration; a fairy-tale princess; how could this blessed being succumb to a mortal passing?
The People’s Princess, as it turned out, was one of us. And we mean that in the Fast Ford sense; cars were entwined with Di’s public appearances, and she spent many years behind the wheel of a great Blue Oval.
Her first was a 1981 Escort 1.6 Ghia, which replaced the Austin Metro that Diana was driving when she came to the public’s attention. Prince Charles, Di’s future husband, had bought the silver Mk3 five-door as an engagement present for his fiancé in May 1981; it sported a frog mascot on the bonnet to represent a fairy tale in which a girl kisses a frog to find her prince. At auction in 2021, the
