How often does a Ken Block-driven rally car come up for sale? Not often. So if you want to snag this one, the rare chance is listed right now on Bring a Trailer. And you’re going to want to be a little less picky about the CarFax than on your typical used car.
According to the listing, this is the very car that Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino ran at the first-ever X Games Rally event in 2006. The two took a bronze medal at that event, behind Colin McRae and gold medal-winner Travis Pastrana.
Block, shoe mogul turned pro driver and the co-owner of Hoonigan Industries, was killed in a snowmobile accident earlier this year.
Rally-Ready Subaru
The car is a 2004 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS. According to the listing (and history report), it had a salvage title by the end of 2005. It was the perfect starting place for Vermont SportsCar to transform the Scoob into a racer.
Vermont SportsCar yanked the 2.5L engine and replaced it with a 2.0L turbocharged flat-four. A dog-box five-speed manual was fitted. The car gained a driver-controlled center diff and Cusco differentials for the front and rear. Plus, the shop added rally-ready shocks from Ohlins, a full roll cage, Recaro seats, and all of the little bits that make a road car a rally car.
At some point, the car was fitted with a new nose. The original 2004 “Blobeye” front bumper and grille were replaced with the later “Hawkeye.” Video from the X Games Rally events shows that this change was made early on in the car’s life — probably to make it look current for the team’s Subaru sponsors.
Driven Fast & Hard
In 2009, Mark Fox bought the car and took it to the New England Forest Rally. He finished last, in ninth place.
Today, the car is finished in a Monster Energy livery instead of the Subaru Rally colors it had when Block was behind the wheel. The listing doesn’t say how many times the car has raced since 2009, if at all. But it does say that “blemishes are noted around the body.”
“Blemishes” sounds like the understatement of the year. This is a rally car, built for crashing down forest roads at speeds most of us only dream about. You can still watch footage of Block hustling the car at the X Games, complete with jumps and at least one good wall tap. It has no doubt taken plenty of hard knocks in the years since. It comes with the territory.
Ken Block Subaru Signatures
If you want to take the car rallying, it will need some work. The seats and belts are expired. And like any well-used rally car, every bolt could use a check, too. But the car comes with a complete build book from Vermont SportsCar to help you do it. Block signed the build book, so you could put it on display along with the car.
Block signed the dash, too, though the ink seems to have faded over the years. Travis Pastrana’s signature, below the rally sticker, is much more visible.
The auction ends on Dec. 20.
