You may wonder what a mid-1980s Group A car is doing on a site about 1990s SuperTouring, but amazingly this car does have some genuine SuperTouring history.

One of two cars run in the 1986 German Touring Car Championship by RSM Marko team and imported into Australia by local AMG distributer Bob Jane in time for that year’s Bathurst 1000. This car was driven by Denny Hulme and Franz Klammer to 9th place, whilst the sister car of Andrew Miedecke and Jorg van Ommen crashed at the first corner and failed to complete a lap.

Following the Sun Pacific 300 race at Calder Park a fortnight later both cars were purchased by Llynden Riethmuller and Phil Ward and from 1987 were run under the Riethmuller-Ward International Motorsport banner. This car became know as the '01' chassis and the sister car as '02'. Over the next few years Ward would alternate between both cars, although the '01' car would predominantly be used.

By 1991 the Australian series had dropped Group A regulations in favour of it's own V8 formula so both cars were mothballed. In late 1993 this car was taken out of storage and converted to meet the new 2.0-litre regulation ready for the 1994 Australian Class II Championship. Ward would drive the car for the first half of the year until it was replaced by a more recent 1992-built car with Peter McKay taking over this car at the Lakeside round. McKay would also share the car with Jamie Miller at the Bathurst 1000. At the end of the season the car would become the team's spare car but remain unused in 1995.

In 1996 both this and the later 1992 car were sold to Ecurie Atlanta for a planned entry in the North American Touring Car Championship. Martin Stretton drove the later car at the opening round of the season at Lime Rock but crashed out of the first race, and the team were not seen of again.

Both cars were sold to Florida based Mercedes-Benz dealership where they remained until 2004 before being purchased by Hall Miller, who sold both cars in 2012. The ‘01 car was purchased by Australian Mercedes-Benz dealer Meon Nehrybecki

Some reports suggest it was the two ‘86 cars that were sold to America, however Hall Miller has stated that the two cars he owned were the '01' 1986 car and the later 1992 car. It’s believed that the '02' car remained with Ward in Australia and was converted to later DTM-style bodywork, although never raced.

The car would eventually return to Australia when it was purchased by Andrew Miedecke.