Prodrive has grown from a rally team to a motorsport constructor with more than 500 employees, several of them in the new Prodrive Legends group devoted to the authentication, restoration and support of historic race and rally cars, including Subaru Imprezas, BMW M3s and various Aston Martins.
“The creation of Prodrive Legends is a direct response to a significant rise in requests from vehicle owners to verify the provenance and then restore race and rally cars that Prodrive has constructed over the last three decades,” the company said.
“There are also an increasing number of opportunities to race historic competition cars and a dramatic rise in values, especially for vehicles that have won high-profile events, fueling the market for historic cars.”
Since its founding in 1984 by rally racer David Richards, Prodrive has produced more than 1,100 vehicles for race and rally competition, starting with a Porsche 911 SC RS. Of those vehicles, more than 700 were Subaru rally cars.
In 2007, Richards led the consortium that purchased Aston Martin from Ford and he served as Aston Martin chairman for six years.
It became best known for its Subarus, driven to World Rally Championship victories by the likes of Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter cq Solberg. It also has won British Tour Car series championships with BMW and Ford vehicles.
“Many of these cars are now appreciating classics with immense value to their passionate owners,” Paul Howarth, head of motorsport operations, was quoted in the company’s announcement. “With the formation of Prodrive Legends, owners can now bring the cars home to the same company – and even many of the same people – who originally designed and built them and took them to multiple wins.
“We have all the original build data and also hold the rights to reproduce key parts of the cars, while sourcing genuine components that are notoriously hard to find doesn’t pose an issue thanks to the network of contacts we have established since the early 1980s.”
For more information, visit the Prodrive website.
