A Group B rally legend is the latest car to join the ranks of reborn classics, as a Ford performance specialist has announced it will be building a limited run of Ford RS200s to mark the car’s 40th anniversary.
Boreham Motorworks will create the all-new RS200 with Ford’s backing as part of an agreement to produce a range of both remastered and continuation vehicles from across Ford’s history, encompassing road, race, and rally cars.
The RS200 is the first of what’s promised to be “at least” seven vehicles, and will be “an entirely new, ground-up build” of the Group B homologation special. While not a one-to-one replica — unlike the Ford Escort Mk1 that was also announced — the new RS200 will take inspiration from the original and be fully road legal.
We can see just how much that applies in the teaser images released by Boreham Motorworks. Although it’s under some pretty skin-tight covers, the new RS200 looks almost identical to the original, if perhaps marginally bigger.
Some modernization is inevitable, as we can see from the LED headlights and spotlights, but otherwise the general shape and proportions are there, as are some of the RS200’s characteristic features like the big hood outlet, full-width roof intake, and that huge, square rear wing.
Other information is scarce, but Boreham Motorworks — not directly related to the old Ford works at Boreham that was home to the original RS200 — does make specific reference to the original car’s mid-engined layout and all-wheel drive system. It seems unlikely that there’ll be any deviation from this recipe.
The original RS200 featured an advanced, fiberglass body, manufactured at the Reliant facility formerly used for the Robin and Kitten. That also seems likely to continue, but given the progress in composite technologies we’d wager the words “carbon fiber” will be in there somewhere.
Boreham Motorworks also announced the Escort Mk1 as a “blueprint-accurate, period-sympathetic” vehicle with continuation VINs through the agreement with Ford. Both cars will be produced under highly limited runs, and are available on application only.
No prices are available yet — we’d expect more when the cars are revealed later this year — but ownership will grant membership to the “Boreham High Performance Club” which will offer the chance to attend “spectacular driving experiences” around the world.
At least five further vehicles will also be produced — some as remasters, some as continuations — and although there’s no specifics at this time we can well imagine that the collaboration will feature several RS, XR, and Cosworth vehicles.