The fifth season of The Grand Tour is currently underway. Opening the season in September, the famed trio released “A Scandi Flick,” which was an adventure through the icy wastes of the Scandinavian Arctic Circle.
While one of the biggest news about filming this first episode was James May’s crash in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII – where the car was written off and May suffered a broken rib – the other two cars are in returned home. If you’re interested in buying them, well, Jeremy Clarkson’s Audi RS4 B7 is not for sale.
Richard Hammond’s 2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STI V-Limited, on the other hand, has already been purchased by none other than Hammond himself.
Hammond revealed it in the Drivetribe video at the top of this page. Even better, it is also revealed that the car will be for restoration. Luckily, Hammond has a vintage car restoration shop called The smallest cogwhich is perfect for this task.
As expected, the Blobeye WRX STI suffered some damage at Hammond’s hands, although it wasn’t as extensive as one might assume. It has a large dent on the hood, as well as damage to the bumper and pieces that fell off during The Grand Tour was filming. The headlights also need to be restored, as well as some rust which deserves to be dealt with.
Thankfully, the Martini Racing (or just Martin) wrap will be stripped away by The Smallest Cog, returning this Impreza WRX STI to its original Subaru Blue paint job.
As this is a genuine blue JDM sample which was imported from Japan to the UK, the plan is to restore it to its original factory condition. We’ll see what happens in the next few weeks or months, but if you’re a fan of this rally icon, you know that a special car will come out of this project.
