This 1986 Ford RS200 S is one of only 200 or so street versions built for Group B homologation. Though more than a bit down on the race versions 550-815 HP (depending on configuration), these cars share essentially the same drivetrain and chassis as their competition cousins. This example is said to have never seen a track or rally stage and shows just 11,150 km or roughly 6,930 original miles on the odometer. It might be one of the nicer originals out there, and we love this stripe scheme. Find it here on Classic Driver in Heilbronn, Germany for 185k euros (~$251,933 today).
The car looks very clean and we like the massive light pod and multicolor livery with blank number squares on the door. There’s not much info regarding the car’s cosmetic or mechanical condition, but from what we can see it’s been stored carefully and seen minimal use. The Ghia designed plastic/composite looks straight and solid, and if it were ours we’d try to avoid thinking about the cost of replacing the massive rear clamshell with integrated bumper.
Chris Harris puts together a good video on the model here:
Inside the dash architecture is similar to the Sierra’s but is actually unique to the RS200. We’re not 100% sure what the second, red shift knob controls, but imagine it has something to do with diff control. Carpets, Recaros, a tape deck, and power windows do their best to provide a bit of cabin comfort, but plain, race-spec VDO gauges with a large, centrally mounted tach betray the car’s Group B roots. By the few accounts we’ve read it’s supposed to be cramped, loud, and hot inside, but really who cares? We’d still drive it till we passed out from heat exhaustion.
A tiny trunk rests under a second lid beneath the forward-tilting front bonnet, and dual shocks are clearly visible at all four corners. In the back Ford-s twin cam, 16 valve, turbo 1.8 liter four makes roughly 250 HP and should be capable of pushing the little wedge to 60 MPH in about 300% of the 2 seconds flat some Group B versions required. These cars were built by Reliant, as Ford trusted their expertise in limited production manufacturing of cars with composite bodywork. The RS200 coming from the same factory responsible for building the goofy three wheeled Robin is a mental image we cannot wrap our heads around.
Pick this one up and park it next to the Lancia 037 Stradale we featured a few weeks back, that’s the stuff dreams are made of. This one will probably stay in Europe, but wherever it ends up we hope its extreme low mileage doesn’t prevent it from being enjoyed–Group B cars are for driving, not museums.
