Beschreibung
For sale in our forthcoming auction « Parisienne 2021 by Artcurial Motorcars » in Paris, on 5 february 2021.
French title
Chassis no. VF3741R76E5100012
- Entered in the Tour de Corse 1985
- T16 road version with exceptional history
- For sale by the first owner's son
- Recent work, preserved in the spirit of its time
This Peugeot 205 T16 is known as a 200-series car, as 200 road versions were built to homologate it in Group B. It is the 12th car in the series, making it one of the first for which the structure and body were built by Heuliez before the car was assembled by Peugeot.
It is an understatement to say that at the start of the 1980s, Corsica was a land of rallying. The Tour de Corse, a round in the World Rally Championship, was at its height, and the island's roads resounded to the wail of the monstrous Group B cars. For the Leandris, rallying was a family business, as both François and Matthieu had excelled in the sport since the start of the 1980s. Matthieu, a dynamic entrepreneur who competed in a Group A Opel Ascona, saw Vatanen and Salonen sweep past in 1984 in their tremendous T16 Evo 1s. This convinced him to sell his Opel and buy a T16, the car he had dreamt of. He was convinced that this car, once set up, would be much faster than the R5 Turbo Cévennes, which then dominated rallies on the island. He bought his car from Gilbert Casanova's dealership in Ajaccio and had him prepare it. He had it fitted with a competition kit for private customers, with a bolted aluminium roll cage, modified 4-into-1 manifold, safety equipment, racing harnesses and bucket seats.
Leandri and his co-driver Gilbert Luigi then took part in the Rallye du Maquis in 1984. While they were in fourth place overall, they had to retire due to an electrical problem. May 1985 saw the start of the Tour de Corse, after many painstaking recces in the weeks beforehand. The car was entered in the WRC rally as number 32. For the occasion Casanova supplied Leandri with some magnesium competition wheels which had been left by the PTS team after the 1984 Tour de Corse and were originally intended for Salonen and Vatanen's T16s. After a good start, the crew had to retire following an electrical problem and a fire around the battery which was soon brought under control.
Aware that the budget needed to be competitive with a car like this was too high, Leandri sold it to an enthusiast on the Côte d'Azur. From 2004 to 2017 it was owned by an enthusiast from the Puy-de-Dôme who had the engine rebuilt and the car repainted in PTS colours. He consigned the car for sale at Artcurial Motorcars' auction at Rétromobile in 2017. It was during the historical research to prepare the catalogue in January 2017 that Matthieu Leandri's son learned of the sale of his father's car. He had only one idea in mind: to return the car to Corsica and bring back the memories of his father and his success in rallying with it. In March 2017, the job was done. The car's homecoming was an emotional moment: although it had been kitted out with an Evo 2 spoiler and was in PTS livery, all the period details, the bolted roll cage and interior remained unchanged since 1984. They decided to restore the car to its 1985 Tour de Corse specification. An outlay of more than 15, 000 euros was needed to repaint it completely in its original Winchester grey. The odometer shows today around 43 500 km.
Our road test convinced us of the car's performance: it probably develops more than 250bhp, while remaining completely faithful to the spirit of its time, with its very special history and overall patina. How blessed was the time when you could buy a car designed to be homologated to compete in world-class events at the highest level!
After rekindling the memories of his father, Franz Leandri now believes the car is better suited to a collection than to use in competition. In his own words, "In a rallying family, you aren't really collectors." This is the sole reason for which he hopes that the car will go to a T16 enthusiast who will appreciate its extraordinary history.
Auction estimate : €180 000 / 240 000
Link to see all the pictures : artcurial. com/ fr/ lot-1984-peugeot-205-turbo-16-4058-15
