The minature Pantera that Ford wouldn't sell you.

DeTom, I wouldn't say they exactly denied us. They did build it after all. They had a fantastic power to weight ratio. Never were street legal in the US.

quote:

Originally posted by Husker:
DeTom, I wouldn't say they exactly denied us. They did build it after all. They had a fantastic power to weight ratio. Never were street legal in the US.

I woulda bought one if I had known it existed. I don't remember it ever being for sale here. I been looking for hours now and the ONLY one I can find for sale is at one of them fancy dancy auctions for champain sippers. Damn it all to hell. Ford hates Americans for some reason. They shoulda had to sell it here by law!!

Yup it was built. Ford of England I believe. I saw a "street version" on the track at Watkins Glenn.
It was lapping the 289 Comp Cobras.

There is one of the full race versions on display in Las Vegas in one of the Casinos that has a auto museum. My age is showing because I can't remember the name of the casino, I believe it has an oriental theme and may begin with letter M. Any way they claimed a 0-60 time of 2.9 sec, which was not shown by this article, but it was giving specs for the reg car. Thats why it held the Guiness book of world records for fastest car.

Dang guys. How come it doesn't make you mad that it was never offered for sale to us common folk?? I imagine it would have been about 16K. Like a Fiero, only way better. Ford is just not thinking about what people want.

No, it was pricey. Around $40,000 in the UK.

I remember seeing the RS200 on the UK rally circuit when I was younger; Ford has a great track record from early 70's Lotus Cortinas through the Escort and later Cosworth versions.

I remember the RS200 was competing with the Metro 6R4, which was basically a 4WD Mini with a V6 mounted where the rear seats used to be.... great times, before so many damn rules stifled inventiveness.

My first real car was a 1970 Ford Escort Mk1 Mexico, road going rally version 4 Cyl. 1.6 Ltr with twin webers.

quote:

No, it was pricey. Around $40,000 in the UK.

When analyzing pricing it's not really valid to measure on a dollar conversion as a $20K car here is GBP20K over there. $40K (~GBP22K) in the UK really wasn't overly expensive compared against other cars for sale. A very basic low end car would have started around GBP10K and remember prices over there are all inclusive of sale stax etc. Car prices only came down when they were forced to by the ECC (EU Common Market)in the late 90's.

Julian

Thom, Your just going to have to design your own new car. Ya wanna start with sone lightweight Audi parts? My sister just crashed an A6. I think it has a paddle shifter!!

quote:

Originally posted by Rapid:
There is one of the full race versions on display in Las Vegas in one of the Casinos that has a auto museum. My age is showing because I can't remember the name of the casino, I believe it has an oriental theme and may begin with letter M. Any way they claimed a 0-60 time of 2.9 sec, which was not shown by this article, but it was giving specs for the reg car. Thats why it held the Guiness book of world records for fastest car.

Imperial Palace. Some of the cars in their museum are for sale.

I saw one of these cars at the Cars and Coffee (formerly Crystal Cove) gathering in Irvine California last Saturday, 10-28-06. There was an Enzo there as well. For those of you that haven't been to this event, check it out if you are in the neighborhood. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I don't think it really looks like a Pantera.

quote:

Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
No, it was pricey. Around $40,000 in the UK.

Oh. Never mind. I don't hate Ford anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by lastpushbutton:
Thom, Your just going to have to design your own new car. Ya wanna start with sone lightweight Audi parts? My sister just crashed an A6. I think it has a paddle shifter!!

Audis are really heavy ain't they? Like a pick up truck kind of heavey???

quote:

Originally posted by Coz:
I don't think it really looks like a Pantera.

Well no, but I bet it goes like a Pantera. It is better to go good than to look good, IMHO.

Yes the Imperial Palace that was it! The one on display is for sale but I think they were asking around $189,000 last time I looked at it, but it's been a while. I think they were proud of it.

There are three of them currently listed at the Imperial Palace Auto Collection website:

http://www.autocollections.com/index.cfm?action=inventory&tab=inventory

Go partway down the page. They are 1986 Ford RS 200's. I remember seeing the one with the stripes on it in Vegas. It is really a striking car. Even though it doesn't look quite as sexy as a Pantera (what does?!), it is a really an eye turner in a surprising way. It is unbelieveable that such a small engine puts out so much. My eyes just didn't believe the performance specs they listed, but I guess they are true. I don't remember the price but it was astronomical...

Thanks Mr. Garret. I learned the hard way that if they don't put the price in the add, it is always more than what you can afford. I saw they had one of them cute little lancia stratos too. They probably want too much for it too. Why don't they make a whole bunch of neat little cars like that for cheap????

WOW 1360 lbs 6something in front and 7 somthing in rear with 600 hp. That would have to be a blast to drive! WAAAAAAAA

quote:

Originally posted by lastpushbutton:
WOW 1360 lbs 6something in front and 7 somthing in rear with 600 hp. That would have to be a blast to drive! WAAAAAAAA

Yep, but I was thinking it woulda cost about like the old fiero, only I was wrong, so I am not pissed anymore.

That ad said 2.1 sec. 0-60mph! Wow!

quote:

Originally posted by Rapid:
That ad said 2.1 sec. 0-60mph! Wow!

Oh yeah. And it is 4 wheel drive so you can take it in the back roads if you want. Imagine what you can get away with on roads that cops can't patrol!!!

A bit of an old topic I know, but I thought I’d give you guys a bit more of an insight:

In ’84 Ford in Europe wanted to go Rallying, but the Mk11 Escort was just too old hat. The Mk111 didn’t handle, and for some reason wouldn’t take the Grp B treatment – so:-
This is a Ford RS(Rally Sport)200 Group B Rally Car – Homologation Special – They had to build 200 and offer “some” for sale to the public in order to qualify for group B. At the time I think I remember they were offered at around £25K (Average family car back then around £5K) but in reality they were all bought as investments and weren’t available to the general public.

If you are lucky you might find one nowadays for £80K

They were/are absolutely nothing to do with the Pantera.

Engine was a 1.8 or 2.0l Cosworth BDR unit with a HUGE turbo and loads of lag – remember even then they only had mechanical injection with electronic control. Fuel consumption was ludicrous.

Body was Glassfibre and supplied by Reliant – (imfamous for the “Robin” – look it up....)

The end of Group B in ’86 meant that most of them went into rallycross and ice racing in the UK and Europe. They are still being used today.

They are seriously gorgeous in the flesh – though not quite as gorgeous as the Pantera.


For more, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_RS200

A replica body conversion is/was available to fit on the Austin Maestro floorpan. But that’s sad.

For reference, some other Group B Cars:
Audi Short Sport – Earlier just the Quattro
Opel Manta 400
Peugeot 205 T16
Toyota Celica
Renault 5 Turbo 2
Lancia Montecarlo 037
Austin Metro 6R4
Lancia Integrale

And probably a few other obvious ones that I can’t remember....

Phil

Acceleration from rest:

True mph Time (sec)
30 1.2
40 1.8
50 2.2
60 2.8
70 3.8
80 4.8
90 5.9
100 7.3
110 8.7

Standing 1/4-mile: 11.4 sec, 115 mph.

Well with acceleration numbers like that, I think Ford should be forced to build a whole bunch more homo-longation cars. The price is a little too steep, but by golly, I don't care if the car was made for homos, I want one.

quote:

Originally posted by DeTom:
...homo-longation cars...

good one DeTom

0 to 60 in 2.1 or whatever would be a blast. I want one too!!!