Today, most have been sorted, and a Mk1 RS is a sublime car to drive – all the finesse of the Mk1 Focus chassis but with real pace, huge grip, and even more feedback. No wonder good ones go for comfortably more than £20,000 today.

Ford Sierra RS Cosworth

Nothing gets an enthusiast’s blood racing like a homologation special, and the Ford Sierra Cosworth is one of the most recognisable – in no small part due to that enormous ‘whale tail’ spoiler sitting on the tailgate.

The Sierra RS Cosworth was conceived to pick up Ford’s fortunes in saloon car racing, and it did just that. While the car was developed by Ford Motorsport, it’s named for the company that built its turbocharged 2.0-litre twin-cam ‘YB’ engine, which was good for 204bhp out of the box (with the potential for more). It launched in 1986, a year before Ford homologated and launched the even more potent RS500, which went on to dominate Group A touring car racing in the late 1980s – and it wasn’t a bad rally car either.

Ford Escort

Ford used the Escort badge globally, but it’s most recognisable as the six generations of European family car that bore the name – from the characterful and rally-winning rear-wheel drive models of the late 1960s, to the occasionally maligned but enormously popular front-drive car that ended production in 2002, having crossed over with the Focus for a few years.

Along the way, it spent several years as Britain’s best-selling car, often only ousted by the smaller and cheaper Fiesta. The first two generations are considered true classic cars today, not just for their rallying successes but also the huge nostalgia among those who remember seeing them everywhere. But the Escort really had range, sold as everything from hatchbacks and saloons to convertibles, vans, and of course, as 1992’s rallying-inspired Escort RS Cosworth.

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