Lot details

Year: 1996
Make: Subaru
Model: Impreza Series McRae
Registration: N434 BCE
Chassis No: JF1GC8KD3TG013524
Engine No: 489352
Mileage: 80,649
•: #170 of 200 cars
•: Recent £12,000 underside restoration
•: £7,000 engine rebuild

The Impreza Series McRae launched in 1995 was the first in a run of limited edition Subaru Imprezas. The build run was limited to 200 cars and was created to commemorate Colin McRae's first World Rally Championship win, for both driver and manufacturer, with the Subaru 555 World Rally Team. The Series McRae cars were built in the UK by Prodrive and were painted in Rally Blue mica. The specification included unique Recaro seats featuring open headrests, front wing and bonnet mounted badges and a numbered plaque on the centre console.

This example was originally supplied in Dublin in 1996, with its first UK registration being in 1998, since then it has had just three UK owners. Our vendor purchased this car in 2018 and has been involved in building race cars for over 25 years, owning various different Subaru's throughout that time and commenting that this Series McRae is by far his favourite to drive. It was quickly decided to set about a full underside restoration, where virtually every moving part was replaced, fuel lines, brake lines, bushes and so on, around £12,000 was spent on the underside and it has covered just 1500 miles since completion. The engine was also fully stripped down and rebuilt using original parts, costing £7,000 and having only covered around 8000 miles since, our vendor reports the engine is a joy. A new cambelt and water pump were fitted at around 79,000 miles, as well as the very highly regarded cylinder four cooling modification, which allows for more consistent cooling around the whole engine block, improving the performance and longevity of the engine. The engine, gearbox and differential oil have also all been changed in the last 250 miles.

During the build, the original TD05H turbo was rebuilt, balanced and ceramic coated by Rally Aspects. The braking system consists of genuine Subaru four pot front calipers from a 1997 Impreza, which are much better than the original two pot calipers fitted and Mintex discs and pads. The rear setup consists of vented Mintex discs and pads. A period correct stainless steel Haward & Scott copy of the original Prodrive exhaust is fitted with a high flow catalytic converter. The gearbox was inspected and found to be in excellent order, with an improvement being made to the shift linkage, using nylon bushes and a Group N rear mount. The rear differential has been stripped and completely rebuilt, new UJ's and centre donut fitted with propshaft balanced. The suspension is all to original Subaru specification, not lowered or stiffened, but it has all been improved using newer components such as Sachs front top mounts and suspension legs, OEM Subaru springs and uprated anti roll bars. All four hub assemblies and uprights have been replaced with OEM items, new bearings, ABS sensors and rings, OEM front wishbones and rear trailing arms, new rear subframe, Powerflex polybushes all round and all bolts were zinc coated. The interior of the car was in exceptional condition already, with the unique Recaro seats having no sagging or damaged bolsters to worry about and no UK damage to the plastics. The car is also fitted with an extremely rare OEM six CD changer, which took the vendor a very long time to source and a lot of money to purchase.

The series McRae is an extremely rare car today, according to HowManyLeft, only 8 cars are currently registered in the UK, with 62 SORN. This example presents in excellent condition throughout and needs to be seen to be fully appreciated. Our vendor was invited to display the car with the Prodrive Subaru Heritage collection at Bicester alongside N1 WRC, McRae's 1996 WRC campaign car, and it has also been shows at various other events around the UK. Supplied to auction with a V5C registration document and an MoT test certificate valid until August 2024. Consigned by Fraser Smith