Of Course You Want This Group A Subaru Legacy Rally Car

While it’s generally the Impreza-shaped rally stuff that grabs all the attention, we mustn’t forget that it was the Legacy that first put Subaru on the WRC map. Although it was retired and replaced with the Impreza before it was able to snag a championship, the Prodrive-built car’s results in the top flight of rallying improved steadily from its 1990 debut, culminating in a win and several podiums in the 1993 season.

This particular Legacy RS is one of the Group A-spec machines Subaru ran that year, piloted by Ari Vatanen and later driven by Richard Burns during the 1995 Bettega Memorial Rallysprint.

It was acquired by the Richard Burns Collection in 2008, after which is was painstakingly returned to its original Group A spec by Autosportif Engineering. It’s not entirely original: while much of the mechanical bits and pieces have been retained, a whole new bodyshell was created using the old technical drawings.

It has kept its original chassis plate though, along with the ‘K555 BAT’ number plate. And yes, it does still have that classic 555 livery. Former Prodrive engineer Ian Richardson was in charge of the project, ensuring maximum authenticity throughout.

The car will be going under the hammer via Silverstone Auctions at Race Retro in Warwickshire on 23 February. The estimate is £120,000 - £140,000 - not exactly small change, but in a world where Land Rover is selling V8 Defenders for £150,000, perhaps that’s quite reasonable…