GIA 444

Excerpt From Type 7 Volume 5

Cars were made to be driven, a fact that can be lost on some but not those who love the pursuit of the truth, and the untangling of history. Like archaeologists on a dig, the custodians of this 2.7 RS sought to discover every chapter of its past life, the rewards came fast – like the car itself.

9113600495 isn’t a car that has lived a quiet life. Its papers were stamped in Stuttgart on January 22nd 1973, and to England it went to be registered as a demonstrator at Motortune of Brompton Road, London. With its sensible spec including electric windows and a sunroof, Recaro seats and a slippery diff, it was doing service as a race car before its first service. Six days passed between its transfer to its first owner, and the day it was lined up at the start of the 1973 Circuit of Ireland Rally.

Third overall, first place going to another RS Carrera, these rallies were hard fought. Was the car too valuable to punt as a Rally car for Ronnie McCartney – its first owner? He passed it on after that first event, to Cathal Curly. A name synonymous with Irish rallying, and the car’s future was set.

First overall in the Donegal Rally and then second in the National Texaco event. The combination of the tenacious Curly and the cutting-edge royal purple Carrera was about to become writ-large in Irish rallying folklore, and the car hadn’t yet turned one.