In America, Ford’s most famous performance car is undoubtedly the Mustang, and car fans the world over can recognize it at a glance. In other parts of the world though, Ford has made some equally impressive sports cars, including a line of rally vehicles that held the world record for the fastest accelerating vehicle for 12 years in a row.

We are talking about, of course, the Ford RS200 Evolution, a Group B rally car that was, for a time, among the fastest vehicles in the world. One of the 24 Evolution rally cars is heading to RM Auctions in March, which has made us all nostalgic for this rarefied Ford.

Ford has been very competitive in rally racing for a number of years now, but in the mid 80’s it found itself with a conundrum; it didn’t have a car that could be competitive in Group B, and rules dictated that at least 200 road-going examples had to be sold to the public. So Ford built, and sold, 176 of the RS200’s, setting aside 24 to become race cars. The RS200 was built from the ground up with a mid-mounted engine, four-wheel drive, and a composite fiberglass body, a completely unique design at the time. A 1.8 liter turbocharged engine could provide upwards of 600 horsepower and could accelerate to 60 mph in just 3 seconds.

Yet despite this, the RS200 Evolution’s best racing finish in Group B was third place at the Rally of Sweden. In the very next race, a RS200 Evolution was involved in a famous accident that claimed the lives of three people and was one of the contributing factors in the FIA abolishing Group B rally racing, leaving the RS200 with no races to race. Most of these cars ended in car collections, and this particular vehicle has only 3,500 miles on it. It’s expected to go for between $80,000 and $120,000, about the same you’d pay for a classic GT500. So which would you rather have? A rare rally car, or the classic performance Mustang?