Two 1980 Ford Capri’s from famous TV show The Professionals go up for auction

What? £200,000 for a Ford Capri!” we hear you cry. Yes, that really is the pre-sale estimate. But the guide price is for a brace of the Blue Oval’s grooviest British coupés, not just for one – and they come with the added bonus of having been immortalised on screen as the cars driven by Bodie and Doyle in the cult 1970s/80s TV show The Professionals.

Readers of a certain age who grew up in Britain will probably remember London Weekend Television’s 57-episode series in which Bodie (Lewis Collins) and Doyle (Martin Shaw) worked for a fictional crime-fighting agency called CI5 under the direction of boss George Cowley (played by Upstairs, Downstairs butler Gordon Jackson).

Neither police officers nor security types, Bodie and Doyle could be described as the UK’s answer to Starsky & Hutch in as much as they operated in a similarly maverick manner, gave their boss a tricky time and, of course, drove around implausibly quickly in pursuit of baddies. To facilitate the latter Brian Clemens – the innovative producer and screenwriter of The Professionals – used a trick he had hit upon when working on The Avengers almost 20 years earlier, which was to strike a deal with a car manufacturer to supply suitable vehicles free of charge in exchange for the benefit of publicity.

Since the British Leyland vehicles sent for The Avengers had proved unreliable, Clemens instead approached Ford to ask for cars for The Professionals and, in addition to stumping up a suitably executive-style Granada for Cowley, it provided this brace of manual gearbox 3-litre S Capris for the programme’s roguish heroes to use across series four.

The Stratos Silver version was assigned to the well-hard Bodie (portrayed as a former SAS soldier and mercenary) while the Solar Gold car was given to the tightly permed Doyle, who spent his spare time cooking, listening to music and taking art classes.

The two cars each appeared in 10 episodes between September 14, 1980 (Wild Justice) and January 23, 1983 (The Ojuka Situation), with Bodie’s being seen on screen more times than any other vehicle used in the entire series.

Both cars were restored in 2021 by their owner of the past 16 years and are being sold as a complete pair in recognition, according to Silverstone Auctions, “of their cultural significance and historic importance”.

And now you’ll have to excuse us – must watch Wild Justice (series four, episode two) on YouTube and hope the bank manager’s in an agreeable mood…

1980 Ford Capri 3.0S (x2). On sale with Silverstone Auctions, Silverstone, August 26. Estimate: £200,000–£230,000