Rare Ford RS200 S expected to fetch up to £350,000

A rare Ford RS200 S – Ford’s 19080s Group B Rally Special – in ‘Ferrari Red’ is up for auction and expected to make £350,000.

We’ve become used to seeing what were considered almost prosaic fast Fords until quite recently going for silly money, especially Cosworth and RS versions of 1980s models fetching six figures.

But beyond the Escort RS models and Sierra Cosworths, there is one British performance Ford much rarer and more valuable: the Ford RS200.

Ford built the RS200 in the 1908s to take on Group B Rallying, which meant producing 200 cars to qualify.

The result was a car with a plastic bodyshell designed by Ghia and built by Reliant, with complicated four-wheel drive and a 1.8-litre Cosworth turbo engine producing 250bhp, enough for 0-62mph in 4.0 seconds (and Essex Police’s faster ever patrol car for a time).

Among the RS200s built, there was a semi-official variant dubbed the RS200 S, and one of the twenty built – and only four finished in ‘Ferrari Red’ – came with a power boost to 350bhp and more creature comforts such as Recaro seats, Radio/Cassette, Air Con and more.

Now, one of the four ‘Ferrari Red’ models is up for grabs, showing just 20,000 miles from new and the same owner for its entire life.

Going across the block at the Iconic Auction sale in February, the guide price is a not insignificant £300-350,000, and with regular RS200 models already breaking the £300k level it sounds like it’ll be the top end or more.

And it’ll probably hold its value better than last year’s bonkers price of £600k for a 1987 Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500.