1986 Ford RS200
£250,000 from Girardo & Co, Oxfordshire, UK
THE EXCITEMENT around Group B rally-car legends grows stronger each passing year. The full-on works cars from this wild period of rallying were beautiful, fascinating and terrifying in equal measure, and the fact you could ring up the manufacturer, sign a big cheque, and then (in most cases) drive away in a road-going version boggles the mind today.
Ford’s RS200 was a late-comer to the party and, although it was set for domination, it barely got into its stride before the series was outlawed.
With a bespoke aluminium monocoque and a mid-mounted turbocharged 1.8-litre Cosworth BDT engine pushing 444bhp to all four wheels, it was like nothing Ford Motorsport had built before. The works cars featured carbon-kevlar bodies but the road-spec versions were glassfibre, using panels supplied by Reliant. They were quickly thrown together by Ford (at the ex-Reliant engine plant in Shenstone, Staffordshire) to meet homologation numbers and were then rebuilt by Tickford to bring the quality up to scratch – it was a £50,000 car, after all. Most buyers were happy to gloss over any shortcomings, however; it was enough that this was a genuine Group B rally car for the road. Is there anything more exciting?
This example at Girardo & Co was originally sold to the USA, where it was owned by Jeff Elghanayan, founder of race-team Marco Polo Motorsports, for over two decades. In 2009 it was sold to UK-based rallying enthusiast Steve Rimmer, who had it stripped and repainted before it was mechanically overhauled by BGMsport in Oxfordshire.
The official mileage was noted at 11,111 miles when it was sold to its next owner, who drove the car just 77 miles before it was sold again, this time via an H&H auction. Now with 11,517 miles showing, it has just been fully serviced by BGMsport at a cost of £4717 and is ready for some action. By Group B standards, the RS200 is regarded as one of the cheapest and easiest homologation specials to maintain and drive. Parts support is great, and – again, by Group B standards – they’re pretty reliable. And this one is ready and waiting.