One to Buy: 1 of 24 1986 Ford RS200 Evolution
/
Of the 200 Ford RS200s built for Group B homologation, just 24 were completed in Evolution trim.
The FIA’s Evolution rule permitted manufacturers to create a further uprated iteration of the base car once every twelve months so long as at least 20 such examples were completed.
Disappointingly, Ford never actually took the RS200 Evolution into competition because, following a series of competitor and spectator fatalities, the FIA announced Group B would be abandoned in favour of markedly slower Group A cars from 1987 (of which 5000 cars had to be built to secure homologation).
As a consequence, the RS200 only contested a handful of events in a works capacity and the highly anticipated Ford v Lancia v Peugeot battle failed to materialise.
One of those fabled 600bhp+ RS200 Evolutions will be going under the hammer with RM Sotheby’s at their Monterey sale on August 18th.
Chassis 084 is understood to have been exported to the US via Bob Sutherland and was sold to its first private owner in 1989 who retained it for the next 28 years. For most of that time the car was displayed at The Auto Collections museum housed in The Imperial Palace Hotel in Las Vegas.
Since the museum closed in 2017 chassis 084 has gone through the hands of two additional owners. It is today offered in superb condition throughout having reputedly only covered around 500km from new (the OEM Terraspeed digital speedometer lacks provision for an odometer).
