A rare BMW-powered 1997 Ascari Ecosse is for sale in The Netherlands

A rare BMW-powered 1997 Ascari Ecosse is for sale in The Netherlands

This rare bird is equipped with a V8 engine.

Alberto Ascari (1918-1955), was the first double winner of The World Championship of Drivers. Klaas Zwart was inspired by his triumph to start a sports car business in England in 1995. Although the automaker was short-lived, it produced a few noteworthy road cars before Ascari was demolished. One of these cars is available for purchase at the moment.

The gallery below shows a 1997 Ascari Ecosse, a small two-seat sports car with a mid engine layout that was sold between 1997-2000. It was originally supposed to be sold at the RM Sotheby’s Paris auction, but it turned out that it is still available. It is currently located in Tilburg, Netherlands.

Only 18 Ecosse models were made by the British automaker, with this example being the first that Lee Noble and Ascari produced. The description states that the car spent its first 14 years in Southern Spain, before it was exported to the Netherlands in 2011. It was then owned by the Zwart family, until it was purchased by its current owner in 2019.

A rare BMW-powered 1997 Ascari Ecosse is for sale in The Netherlands

A rare BMW-powered 1997 Ascari Ecosse is for sale in The Netherlands

This rare bird is powered by a BMW-sourced, V8 engine tuned and tuned by Harge. This 4.4-liter engine still produces 300 horsepower (224 kilowatts). When combined with its low weight of 2,756 pounds (1.250 kg), this rare bird has a a data-inline-widget=”internal-links” data-params=”%7B%22alias%22%3A%22hartge%22%2C%22originalTitle%22%3A%22hartge%22%2C%22hartge%22%3A%22%3A%22hartge%22%3A%22%3A%22%3A%22hartge%22%22%3A%22%22%22%22%3A%22hartge%22%22%3A%22%3A%22%22%22%22%22%3A%22%22%3A%22%22%22%3A%22%22%22%22%22%22%22%22%2C%22%22%22%2C%22%22%7D1A%22%22%22%22%22%22%3A%22%22%22%22%2C%22%22%22%2C%22%22%2C%22%22%2C%22%22%22%2C%22%22%2C%22%3A%22hartge%22%3A%22%3A%22hartge%22%22%3A%22%22%22%222hartge%22%22%7D/a>Hartge%22%7D22%7D>Hartge/a>Hartge/a>Hartge/a>Hartge/a>Hartge/a>Hartge/tag/hartge/hartge/hartge/a>Hartge/a>Hartge/a>Hartge/a>Hartge/a>Ha>Hartge/a>Hart/a>Harte/a>Hart/a>Hart/a>/a> This car is equipped with a six speed manual gearbox, replacing the five-speed manual.

A rare BMW-powered 1997 Ascari Ecosse is for sale in The Netherlands

You won’t be surprised to see familiar buttons in the cabin. The Euro-spec Ford Escort controls the HVAC system, while interior door handles and electric mirror switches are from older Ford models. Although we don’t like the aftermarket audio system, you could easily replace it with something better.

The Ascari Ecosse has a listed price of EUR165,000. That’s roughly $200,000 at current exchange rates.