FORD ESCORT RS1800 MkII

Waldegård netted six of his 16 WRC wins with the Blue Oval, the first of which was on the Safari Rally in 1977. That same year he also won the Acropolis Rally and his first and only WRC win on British soil – the Lombard RAC Rally.

1978 saw him net his fifth Swedish Rally win, but it is 1979 which ranks among the most important for Waldegård, being the year he was named the inaugural WRC Drivers’ Champion.

Waldegård placed second in the seasonopening Monte Carlo Rally – but it was an occasion marred by controversy. The Stratos driven by Frenchman and home favourite, Bernard Darniche, won the 619km event by a margin of just six seconds – it remains the slimmest margin of victory from the start of the WRC era to present day. Many enthuisiasts claim that Waldegård would – and should – have triumphed in the race had it not been for his path being impeded by the mysterious appearance of a boulder on a bridge crossing.

Waldegård also finished second in both Sweden (beaten by Stig Blomqvist in a Saab 99 Turbo – the first victory for a turbocharged car in the Swedish rally) and Portugal, but won in Acropolis and Québec, netting enough points to claim the inaugural title of Drivers’ Champion ahead of Finnish driver and fellow Ford Works driver Hannu Mikkola.

He is pictured here at Race Retro in the restored ex-Works Escort VHK 74S, which he drove to second place in the 1979 Monte Carlo Rally.