In 24‑valve Ultima form, this Scorpio was at the top of Ford's executive tree in 1998.

The Ultima trim level was the highest one available, with a CD autochanger, climate control, leather seats, walnut veneer dash, cruise control, an automatically dimming mirror and electrically‑operated seats as well as a variety of other enhancements over lesser models.

The top‑of‑the‑range Cosworth V6 engine gave 207bhp.

With most of these flagship models being saloons, estates were comparatively rare.

Rather fittingly, given that the Scorpio Ultima 24V could probably be regarded as the Rolls‑Royce of Ford's