When Major John Hemsley and co-driver John Skinner decided what car they’d use on the 1974 UDT London-Sahara-Munich World Cup Rally, they didn’t mess about.
Their Morris Marina V8 Coupé was a mighty machine but, like many competing cars, suffered from several punctures in the hostile wastes of the Sahara and Algeria before its axle snapped in Niger and they retired from the event.
On Sunday, April 21st at Gaydon, HMRG Member Ian Dixon’s wonderful and beautifully recreated replica of the original car attracted huge interest at the Historic Marathon Rally Show and is pictured here, faithfully paying homage to the original and long lost Car No.8 on the ’74 event.
The second photo was taken on the first day of the actual rally 50 years ago this May, where the original Marina V8 was parked up behind another car you can also see at Gaydon next weekend, the Team Dunton Ford Capri 2.8V6 of David Skittrall and co-driver Brian Peacock, which ran as Car No.2 on the rally and which, despite near-death in the Sahara whilst lost for three days, made it to the Olympic Stadium on 25th May 1974 to be awarded a Certificate of Performance.