It had all the hallmarks of becoming motorsport great. Designed by legendary F1 engineers, with stunning good looks and a race-winning Cosworth engine, the Ford RS200 was supposed to take the Rallying world by storm.
What transpired was quite the opposite. Poor reliability and sheer bad luck left the Ford RS200 as little more than a footnote in the storied history of Group B Rallying. And yet, for all that the Ford fell flat in the 1980s, today it is something of a collector's item. With just 146 made, good luck getting your hands on one.
Here then, is why a very special RS200 fetched $280,000 at a recent auction - despite the car's obvious limitations.
It Put Ford On The Map In Rally Racing
For Ford, the RS200 represented its first real step into the competitive world of European Rally racing. At a time when Audi, Lancia, and Subaru were cleaning up race wins, Ford wanted a piece of the action for themselves. In the late 1970s, they had attempted to modify an Escort RS into a racer, but the project ultimately fell flat. Therefore, the RS200 was the companies second attempt at cracking the market, and this time, they would go to extraordinary lengths to try and deliver.
The chassis was the brainchild of well regarded F1 designer Tony Southgate, and engineer John Wheeler. Additionally, it featured a new must-have innovation that was radically taking over Group B racing - all-wheel drive. Capable of churning out over 300 hp, on paper, the RS200 was primed and ready to take race wins just like some other Group B monsters in years gone by.
Today, The RS200 Is Very Rare
Part of the allure of the Ford RS200 is the scarcity of the machine today. As we will go on to discuss, very few were ever actually built, while its short-lived stint in rally makes the machine even more enigmatic. The RS200 started entering races in the mid-1980s, achieving a best finish of 3rd in the 1986 WRC of Sweden. The early promise was shortlived, though, as, within a few months, the RS200 was banned from Group B events altogether.
A fated crash involving the car later that year, where a number of spectators were killed, saw it condemned to scrap heap. The RS200 failed to bring the expected performance levels, while its unpredictability proved to be a danger wherever it raced. As Group B rallies came to an end, so too did the RS200 - Ford's short-lived, fateful attempt at dominating another racing series. However, unlike Ford, some competitor manufacturers did manage to make Rally cars that eventually morphed into road-legal classics.
It Was Never Officially Sold In America
Despite proudly wearing the Ford badge, the RS200 was never officially sold in the US, nor was it particularly well known for that matter. The car, like many models at the time, was actually assembled in the UK, fitted with a powerful Cosworth engine, one of the most reputable at the time. In this sense then, it's little surprise that an RS200 proved to be so costly at a recent Nevada auction.
Having an RS200 in the States is one thing, but having a black model is another matter entirely. Only two models were ever ordered in black from the factory, making the recently sold version a supremely rare vehicle indeed. Furthermore, the paint job and general aesthetic of the car in is in great health, with the rally car having just 1135 miles on the clock. Today, the RS200 isn't the performance beast that it would have been in 1984, but anyone buying an automobile like this isn't exactly concerned with its performance metrics.
Only 146 Models Were Ever Built
Given the title, you'd expect that Ford would have produced 200 models at the very least of this rally specialist. On the contrary, as much like Ferrari, who frequently fabricated the number of models they'd actually built, Ford fell short of that intended number. Officially, only 146 were ever manufactured, a fact that makes the RS200 that bit more unique. Of these 146, 20 or so have subsequently been converted into "EVO" models, reducing the number of genuine RS200's further.
It may have been a WRC flop, but the mythology surrounding the RS200 today should come as some consolation to Ford. It was one of motorsport's "what if" cars, that promised so much, but delivered so little. For its time, it was superbly built, capable of challenging the very best, despite it being Ford's first true attempt at building a legitimate Rally car. The end of Group B racing ultimately squandered any hope of a miraculous return for the RS200, but perhaps that's a good thing.
The fact that its time as a genuine racer was so shortlived only adds to the myth, and to the fascination. For a car to still be relevant, 35 years after its production, is a sign of its enduring charm - much like these other retro examples.
Sources: Roadandtruck.com, rallye-info.com, EVO.co.uk.