We were already getting pretty excited about Ari Vatanen’s appearance at this year’s Race Retro next month when we spotted one of the most exciting cars of the Group B era in our classified pages: a Peugeot 205 T16. Or should we say the car – the exact same example campaigned by Ari Vatanen at the 1985 Acropolis Rally, and by Carlos Reutemann in Argentina.
Unlike most T16s, this example didn’t find its way into private hands once its competition career drew to a close, instead being kept by the firm, which had it fully restored in 1986. Peugeot held on to the car until 2008, ensuring an incredible provenance rarely found with such competition cars. Prior to being restored, the car only took part in two Championship races, and only ever raced under Peugeot’s factory banner.
The T16 was sold to a private collector in 2008 and completely recommissioned following years of inactivity before being entered into Artcurial’s ‘Peugeot sort de ses réverses’ auction, where it was bought by its current owner.
