There had been fast Fords before, most notably the 1963 Lotus Cortina, but the arrival of the Rallye Sport brand moved things up a gear.

In the 1960s the German and British divisions of Ford were run separately and when the former decided to introduce a special edition Taunus 15M Rallye Sport it was the start of something big in 1968. However, once Ford of Britain had set up its Advanced Vehicle Operations (AVO) division in 1970, there would be no holding back. AVO would be joined by SVE (Special Vehicle Engineering) in 1980, by which point the RS brand had attained cult status.

Now, 50 years after the RS brand first appeared, its popularity shows no sign of waning. Here’s why Ford RS is special: