007 - C98FHK - 1.8 - LHD - Written off by FORD

[Justin Smith]

Mike Moreton (in his book) mentions that this was one of the first two production cars, I think was RHD but the bad news is that Bob Howe is certain is caught light being delivered to Boreham as was totally destroyed.

This was believed to be correct as the car has never surfaced but in 2009 I was given some photos but someone who worked at FORD and in the envelope was an image of a 200 bearing the index C98FHK, a car I had never heard of. Some digging around on public data system shows this is infact car #007 with a full chassis number of SFACXXBJ2CF 00007. You might notice there is an error here with a letter missing after the 2nd F. The F shows a year of build of 1985 but then there is the month letter missing. The engine number has replicated the error as it is given as CF00007.

The rest of the data says:-

Make: FORD
Model: RS 200 4WD
Transmission & fuel type: MANUAL 5 GEARS PETROL
Body type: 2 DOOR SALOON
Engine no. CF00007
Colour: White
First Registered: 27/11/1985
Year of Manufacture: 1985

"There are no plate change or colour change records associated with this car. This car is still registered to its first keeper."

I am guessing the number should have been CFC00007 which would have given a build date of September 1985.

A FORD document dated 30/6/1989 confirms this car as being in a list of cars "written off" - See the FAQ "How many were made ?" section for more info. In this list the car is shown as being LHD.

Now we have a photo to show it was once registered the question is where was the photo taken ? - I am guessing Shenstone ?

In 2009, John Wheeler confirmed our thoughts...

"Justin, 005 and 007 were my two main Rally test cars in the run up to the 1986 WRC. 005 was burnt out while testing for the Acropolis in Greece. I'll be taking some time off from 14 December, so should have time to dig into the old files and give you more detailed information - John"

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

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