1986 Ford RS200 S - 1,404 Miles

Ask any rally fan to name their favourite era and chances are that the wild 'Group B' years will be at the top of most people’s list. It was a time of uncompromising and completely unhinged machinery, with designers and engineers really pushing the envelope when it came to interpreting the rules and endowing these four-wheel drive turbocharged monsters with the maximum possible performance. Perhaps the wildest of them all was Ford’s RS200 and where the Audi Quattro, Peugeot 205 T16 and even the Lancia Delta S4 were very obviously derived from their more mundane production cousins, Ford took a different route, designing and building a 'Group B' car that looked – and drove – like no other Ford before or since.

FIA Homologation Rules for 'Group B' required the construction of at least 200 road-legal vehicles, however the demise of 'Group B' meant that only 144 were completed. Of these, 20 were sold to Canadian Murray DeWert, whose plan was to develop them further and create 'the best RS200s ever'. Subsequently known as the RS200 S, they were fitted with several upgrades including electric windows, a more comfortable Tickford interior, improved air flow and ducting, air intakes - often referred to as ‘ears’- above the doors at the back of the roof as per the competition cars and, importantly, an increase in power from 250bhp to 350bhp. Make no mistake, the RS200 S was blisteringly fast, with 0-60 taking just 3.8 seconds.

Believed to have been the 16th RS200 S, this very special left-hand drive example has covered just over 1,404 miles. #164 was first delivered to West German dealer, Stefan Schollwoek, in left-hand drive with a rally-specification dog-clutch selector, which allows the driver to control the four-wheel drive torque split with a secondary gearlever. Schollwoek purchased four examples of the RS200 S, #111, #137, #153 and #164, the latter being sold to a German collector who registered it in Germany under a company named Primrose. We understand from the Ferrari-trained mechanic employed to look after the cars, Giovanni Petrozziello, that #164 had entered the Collection in the early 1990s.

The car came to these shores to join a private Collection in 2015 and despite being regularly started up and looked after, it was never used so it remained on a NOVA certificate and was not UK-registered. The RS200 joined the current significant private Collection a few years ago and at that point he asked Tolman Motorsport to carry out a sympathetic recommissioning, ensuring that the car came up to his very high standards and was mechanically ready to go. Over £70,000 was subsequently invested into this special RS200 in recent years and the results are clear to see. There is simply too much to list here but interested parties are encouraged to enquire beforehand or to come to Race Retro to study the invoices detailing the considerable expenditure in recent years.

As one of only 20 of these bespoke ‘S’ models, with just 1,404 gentle miles covered in the last 35 years and enjoying a serious level of expert investment in recent times, #164 would certainly occupy pride of place in any exclusive collection of RS Fords. Should its next owner choose to use the car on the road, they would enjoy a seriously quick, totally competent, lightweight sports car that appears relatively civilised, however underneath that gleaming Diamond White paintwork, its DNA is undoubtedly pure 'Group B'.