127 - EN732XK - 1.8 - LHD - White - Current owner known (MS) - Italy

[Justin Smith]

I found this car whilst reading a November 1990 edition of Fast Ford and the the car was written about by Graham Robson in one of his books also. At that time it was bearing the UK index TMM777S.

During the story he mentions it as being the second in a line of four RS200's that Fords asked him to live with, however, it hit a hedge one morning at 5:30am after a mechanical failure with 2725 miles on the clock.

I have also been told that it had Recaro leather seats fitted, and later heated door mirrors added and a stereo (taken from RS200 Club Newsletter Feb 1988.) Graham Robson drove a short time only in the winter of 1987-88 then took delivery of 183. The car was sold to a FoMoCo employee prior to March 1988, and later had added a 350 hp power kit, power windows central locking. It had new suspension uprights in Feb 1990 at 8000 miles. By March 1990 the mileage was at 10,000 as seen at the Italian Car centre in London.

I found this publically available information on for the car.

Manufacturer Ford
Model RS 200 4WD
Body type
Colour White
Fuel type Petrol
Date manufactured 31 December 1987
Number of previous owners 1
Last owner change 17 May 1989

In September 2004 a enthusiast confirmed that chassis #127 was owned by (RL), The Marketing Machine and currently bears the index TMM777S and the following year I met the owner who I see a couple of times a year at events - He has some great stories from the 200 era !

In May 2005 (thanks to John Drury and Pistonheads) I got some images of #127.

In November 2010 the owner (RL) sent me an email with some updates...

"Just reading the entry for 127 and thought I’d update it. I don’t believe that it had a mechanical failure at 2725 miles until after Graham found a patch of ice very early one morning. It never had leather Recaro seats but was sold to an ex-FoMoCo employee (me) in 1988 but not delivered until 1989, when it was delivered with electrically adjustable mirrors, 350bhp kit, lightpod, electric windows, central locking, alarm and a stereo. Shortly after it acquired a set of centre-lock Miniltes. It had tarmac rally suspension fitted along with power steering in the 90’s and in 1994 was fitted with the first, or one of the first, long throw crank, Geoff Page 1950cc engines producing around 550bhp, subsequently upgraded to 584bhhp and 520 lbs ft of torque, with new turbo, 360 degree thrust washers, triple plate carbon clutch, water injection (from the washer bottle) and a Pectel brain."

9/11/2013 - (RL) has emailed me an update about #127

I contracted to buy a car from Boreham in October 1988 and put down a deposit. By the time I got to finalising the spec., the car had become chassis 127, reg number E946BNO and it was ready in February 1989 and fitted from the factory with 350 hp engine, alarm/central locking and a rally light pod. I actually took delivery in May 1989 and the car had 4800 miles on from new.

Shortly after I took delivery, central locking, heated electric mirrors and a heated front screen were fitted at Tickford, who were looking after the car. I have a garage and we developed a bi-material clutch in the USA to replace the standard sudden-death, paddle clutch; the new clutch was designed to cope with 350 horsepower and engage like an Escort’s.

By 1991, we had fitted power steering and the same year we commissioned one of the first, if not the first, lightweight crank, long stroke 1950cc engines from Geoff Page, then at East Coast Racing, which came with a Wills rings head, a large turbo and we switched to a Pectel brain. The engine has been rebuilt a few times over the years and the last dyno sheet that I have is dated 19th July, 2001 and shows 575bhp at 7250 rpm and 450 lbs/ft of torque at 5500 rpm. The car was fitted, and still has today 2013, an 8” triple plate carbon clutch to cope with the power and engage smoothly. Most of the time between that 2001 and 2010, the car was SORNed. The car was sold to (KH) in Derby in 2010, after we had replaced the floors completely to a higher standard than the originals. Khalid lavished a lot of TLC on the car but only used it for about 1000 miles and I re-acquired it from him in August 2013. Hope this helps and gives you a more complete picture. Regards, (RL)

Updated by Nikki:
October 2014: Car is now with a new owner in Italy (MS) - waiting for some recent photos to upload.
Converted to LHD and registered in Italy.

If you find out anything else about this car please drop me an email and i'll update the cars entry !

justin.smith@rs200.org

Images