RS200, behind the scenes

RS200, behind the scenes

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Richard-G

Original Poster:

1,666 posts

174 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
Hi All

got something here which i thought i would share with my fellow ph'ers!

as some of you might have seen the episode of top gear where clarkson was talking about the reliant robin. Reliant (based in tamworth) made more than just the robin, kitten and the (nice)Scimitar! Due to the long history of working with composite bodies and the skill of the work and engineer force, Ford motorsport charged them with the task of building their planned Group B monstarr, The RS 200. 200 homoglation specials of the car they planned to blitz the grp B scene with, had to be built to meet the regulations of the time.

due to the fact i live in tamworth and the sheer time i spend out cleaning my car, i got chatting to my next door neighbour who i happened to know worked for reliant, turns out he was a line engineer on the full production run of (road) RS200's and he happened to have a camera to hand! the following pictures were all taken over the production run from the start to the very end and show some, frankly disgusting car porn!


the chassis ready to start production


Bare chassis, the chassis was apparantly the same material that concorde was constructed from, at the time these were worth £11,000 and had no weight at all




detail underneath, note the way the chassis is held, to allow it to be rolled over during the production process


engine install


final engine install


heat shield install


exhast arrangement, look at all that car porn


chassis again, from a different angle


underneath with engine and gearbox installed


fuel tank installation


fitting suspension and brakes


finished rolling chassis


awaiting shells


fitting front brakes, im guessing the blue tube is loctite


fitting of the shell and interior


ones they made earier! SPAFF wobble


ready for Quality control checks. double spaff


from the front


being addressed by the boss of ford motorsport! look at all those rs's!


last one to leave the factory, note the 200 on the bonnet to denote the last one made, must be worth a pretty penny now


some of the tales from production he told me boggle the mmind, the torque settings for the engine mounts were different for each chassis and it was VERY easy to strip the threads. Apparently the fuel tanks cost about £1000 each and were in two or three parts, to fit them needed some arm contortion so a lot got damaged and were simply thrown away! All the time, engineers from ford would pop down and test drive the production cars often taking out engineers from BL and oddly lancia! On a final note, some of the cars were sold with non production legal parts fitted, like the brake bias, which was fitted under the carpet next to the transmission tunnel, all you had to do was cut out a section of the carpet and you had brake bias lick

Brian McGee

1,581 posts

176 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
Awesome. Where were they made? Germany or Dag'em'um.

Edit: Re-read- Tamworth??

Edited by Brian McGee on Thursday 15th July 10:18

DrTre

12,955 posts

231 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
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Marv.

Beautiful car.

Rawwr

22,722 posts

233 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
Brian McGee said:
Awesome. Where were they made? Germany or Dag'em'um.
OP said:
Reliant (based in tamworth) made more than just the robin, kitten and the (nice)Scimitar! Due to the long history of working with composite bodies and the skill of the work and engineer force, Ford motorsport charged them with the task of building their planned Group B monstarr, The RS 200.

justtourin1

193 posts

192 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
Great Pictures, thanks for sharing

Richard-G

Original Poster:

1,666 posts

174 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
Brian McGee said:
Awesome. Where were they made? Germany or Dag'em'um.
Tamworth! in the same factory as the plastic pic, the relaiant robbin no less!

only a very small producion team

more info here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_RS200


Mini1275

11,098 posts

181 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
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Cool, thanks for that thumbup

Herman Toothrot

6,702 posts

197 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
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Great! I'll stick some close up pics of two RS200's later that I took at Goodwood.

Munter

31,319 posts

240 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
Brian McGee said:
Awesome. Where were they made? Germany or Dag'em'um.
I think. You know. Perhaps. You missed something in the OPs post.

LHD

17,000 posts

186 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
Brian McGee said:
Awesome. Where were they made? Germany or Dag'em'um.
Ummmm,

Tamworth. hehe

Richard-G

Original Poster:

1,666 posts

174 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
LHD said:
Brian McGee said:
Awesome. Where were they made? Germany or Dag'em'um.
Ummmm,

Tamworth. hehe
guys im used to it, when people ask where im from on holiday and i say tamworth. they always look at me perplexed!

we are famous for the snowdome (first real snow indoor ski slope in europe!) capturing the enigma machine (thanks mr peel) and the rs200!

Something else my next door neighbour told me was at the end of the run, they were all given official RS200 limited edition ford motorsport jackets, i really want one of these! so if anyone has any break in tips??? (joke, joke)


Edited by Richard-G on Thursday 15th July 10:31

Richard-G

Original Poster:

1,666 posts

174 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
Herman Toothrot said:
Great! I'll stick some close up pics of two RS200's later that I took at Goodwood.
cheers herman! will be a nice contrast! from the then to the now

Dr G

15,146 posts

241 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
Superb set of photos, thanks!

aka_kerrly

12,415 posts

209 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
justtourin1 said:
Great Pictures, thanks for sharing
Absolutely

Cracking pictures and a really interesting little story. So after production and inspection is it fair to assume that there would be a short test drive (posisbly mostly sideways lol)

Always enjoy seeing the RS200 at Goodwood tearing around the rally track and dare say id do all kinds of crazy things to get a chance to drive one.

Dave

Fer

7,707 posts

279 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
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I remember driving past Two Gates and seeing a row of 10 gleaming RS200s at the factory. They looked the business!

MX7

7,902 posts

173 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
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Is that John Prescott in picture 7?

Great pictures.

wrighty78

6,313 posts

213 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
OP - brilliant post and great pics! clap

Takes me right back to boyhood dreams - fantastic cars. I'm pretty sure there's a radio controlled car in my parent's loft with an RS200 body shell that my Dad and I built in the early 90s.

And there's something strangely heart-warming about seeing the pics of the guys on the production line.

Gareth350

1,556 posts

178 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
MX7 said:
Is that John Prescott in picture 7?

Great pictures.
I thought it was Peter Shilton!!

Great pics! biggrin

mat205125

17,790 posts

212 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
Right at the top of my lottery list, aslong with an Eggenberger RS500 cloud9

Richard-G

Original Poster:

1,666 posts

174 months

Thursday 15th July 2010
quotequote all
wrighty78 said:
OP - brilliant post and great pics! clap

Takes me right back to boyhood dreams - fantastic cars. I'm pretty sure there's a radio controlled car in my parent's loft with an RS200 body shell that my Dad and I built in the early 90s.

And there's something strangely heart-warming about seeing the pics of the guys on the production line.
cheers wrighty, i have some other pictures at the end of the production run the chaps went out for a meal with all the ford bosses, free champers and steaks all around! Then another picture of the empty factory when all the cars had been transported away, all the chaps having a game of footy with the ford boys in celebration! gives the whole project a bit of a heart warming tale. Now the factory is gone, replaced with houses frown



and that guy does look like shilton! i thought he looked familiar and looking at the above picture scratchchin