Rally racing legend Prodrive will offer its own in-house restoration program – CNET

If you're the kind of person who's got a stash of ex-Colin McRae Subaru rally cars that need restoration, why not send them back to the company that built them?

Plenty of vehicle manufacturers are getting involved with historic cars these days. Car companies like Porsche and Mercedes have extensive classic car parts programs, and even companies like Lamborghini and Ferrari offer in-house classic restoration programs.

That all makes sense, given the continual rise of values for classic vehicles, but what do you do if you're a person of means and your tastes skew toward the racier side of things, as in actual race cars? Well, if you're into classic WRC rally cars or even modern Le Mans GT cars, the racing legends at Prodrive in the UK have you sorted.

The British firm announced the launch of its Prodrive Legends program on Wednesday that will aid collectors in the authentication process when purchasing a vehicle -- something important, as cars with established competition history often command a premium. It will also offer both mechanical work and complete restoration for Prodrive-built racing cars.

"Many of these cars are now appreciating classics with immense value to their passionate owners," said Paul Howarth, head of motorsport operations for Prodrive, in a statement. "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."

If you're thinking that this seems like a big effort for a relatively small company you're right. But Prodrive is a legendary company in the racing community, and it's built a whole hell of a lot of winning race cars over its 35 year history -- including Subaru rally cars, Aston Martin GT racers and even BMW E30 M3s. A restoration by the company that built the car is likely to command a premium in the market.

"Quite simply, there is nobody in a better position to rebuild a Prodrive car we literally know them inside out and many of the people we have on the Prodrive Legends team built the cars originally," said Howarth. "What's more, 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."

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Rally racing legend Prodrive will offer its own in-house restoration program - CNET