This Group B rally car has just 7 miles on the clock!

By Lizzie Pope

| 24 May 2019

Classic & Sports Car – Is this the world's lowest-mile Group B rally car?

There’s low mile, then there’s this. And there are evocative competition cars, then there’s Group B. All of which makes this 1985 MG Metro 6R4 something of a unicorn classic.

In its 34 years, this car has done seven miles. Yes, seven. And two of them were while running on stands.

It’s never been rained on, it’s never been registered for road use and, we think it’s fair to say, we’ve never seen anything quite like it.

So this car is quite a find and it’s come to light because it has been consigned to Silverstone Auctions’ Silverstone Classic Sale, where it’s anticipated it could sell for £200-240,000.

The wild, if short-lived, days of Group B rallying are a world away from this timewarp car’s life.

It is still in its delivery state, coated in factory wax, just as it was when it was collected from Abingdon in 1986, a photo of which is in its file.

The next owner will also get the full set of assembly instructions it came with when first owner Christopher Harvey bought it directly from the Austin Rover Group Ltd on 5 December 1986 as a kit, before transporting it to his home in Oxfordshire.

There it remained on stands until Harvey’s widow offered it to Donington’s museum on long-term loan in May 1996, and on 17 September of that year it went to its new home. The correspondence between Mary Harvey and the museum will be included in the sale.

The 6R4 stayed in the Donington collection until its current owner bought it in 2002, with the odometer reading five miles.

Those two further miles were piled on when he ran-up the engine and drivetrain on stands over the past 17 years.

So, what does the next custodian do with this box-fresh classic? It could be a contender on rallies… But then again, in this state it’s surely unique and maybe it’d be a shame to change that?

Fortunately, we don’t have to solve that dilemma, because we don’t have a six-figure sum handy to splurge on this rarity. Instead, we’ll just marvel that it exists at all – and wait to hear how much the highest bidder pays.

We’ll find out when it goes under the hammer at Silverstone Auctions’ sale at the Silverstone Classic on 27-28 July. Check out the full lot list here.

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