If you went down to the woods (well, sun-kissed Gaydon anyway!) today, Sunday 13th July 2025, you were probably, just as we were…..completely blown away by the sheer scale of the The BMC & Leyland Show featuring Abingdon ’70 at The British Motor Museum, Gaydon. Here’s a quick look at some of the happenings throughout the day, brought to you by the Historic Marathon Rally Group, in attendance with a line-up of great Marathon cars and supporting the main event and Abingdon’s 70th Anniversary.
First car to catch our eye, and to demonstrate that the breadth of BMC & BLMC competition cars went from the ridiculous to the sublime, was this Austin Allegro 1300 from 1974, 51 years on from making its international rallying debut on the Welsh Rally, entered by Howells Garages, leading Leyland Special Tuning Distributors based in Cardiff and Newport. Brought to Gaydon by Andy ‘ACE’ Harrison of ACESPEED. Read the story below and smile out loud ….
Then it was time to marvel at the world outside, beneath the bonnet and within the cockpit of one of the most famous MGC’s of all time, ‘Romeo’, one of a pair of MGC ‘Sebrings’ (the other being known as ‘Mabel’) assembled by BMC at Abingdon to run in the 1967 Targa Florio. In 1968, the MGC GTS, as it was by then known, raced at Sebring and on the 84 hour Marathon de la Route at the Nurburgring in Germany. The final outing for both cars was in 1969 at Sebring, when the MGC competition project was cancelled. With such names as Hopkirk, Makinen and Fall adding glitter behind the wheel, this surely is one of THE most special cars of the Show.
But it didn’t stop there of course…..From the recreated BMC transporters with their cargo of precious Mini Coopers to the vast array of Austin Healey 3000’s, Triumph saloons big and small, MGA’s, MGB’s and MGC’s of the ’50s, ’60’s and ’70s, there truly was something for everyone.
David Scothorn, HMRG Committee member brought along his ex-Monte-Carlo MGA Coupé in all its patinated glory.
Simon Wilkinson of Colne Classics in Clacton, Essex drove down and back in his ex Pirelli Classic Marathon MGC roadster, thankful in the intense weekend heat for the air vent fitted into the hardtop. Seen here displayed next to Ian Dixon’s stunning restored ex-1974 London-Sahara-Munich World Cup Rally Marina V8 Coupé, this MGC was bought brand new in 1969 by a private individual who then took it motor racing two weeks after taking delivery. Those were the days! Eventually converted into a rally car and used extensively, Simon acquired the car by happenstance and has tamed it down by fitting suspension and seats and various bits that make it a far more civilised and usable car on the road without losing any of its mighty performance.
Now, HMRG’s very own Bronwyn ‘Bron’ Burrell needs no real introduction. Famously reunited some ten years ago with ‘Puff the Magic Wagon’ the very Austin Maxi she co-drove in a three-woman team on the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally at the tender age of 24, and still rallying the car regularly and successfully with her ‘spectacularly gifted’ co-driver Suzanne Barker, not only is Bron also a pretty useful golfer but it turns out she makes exceedingly good jams and marmalades
Specially for the Abingdon 70th and HMRG’s much needed coffers, which supports our Group’s activities and future plans, Bron made 25 jars of MARATHON MARMALADE, yummy on your toast with its ‘hint of whiskey’ flavouring, using a carefully selected peaty scotch to make any breakfast kick start one’s day.
All twenty five jars were sold, along with three of Bron’s personally owned rally books…so thanks to everyone who were kind and generous enough to part with their hard-earned….and it was a pleasure to meet every single person who clearly enjoys a tipple before eight o’clock in the morning!
One of the biggest treats for us at HMRG is meeting people from all over the globe who share our passion, and it never ceases to amaze us and delight us to learn just what a small, weird and wonderful world we live in and to hear the stories from the lips of people you’d never imagine had lived such interesting lives just by looking at them.
One such visitor today was Alan Zafer, seen below handing over some filthy lucre for a jar of Bron’s finest, whilst casually letting slip that he worked in the PR Department for BMC back in the sixties and seventies and travelled the globe as part of the Competitions Department team with Peter Browning and later Stuart Turner ensuring that BMC / BLMC got the Press they needed during the 1968 London to Sydney Marathon and the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally. Alan, enjoy your Marathon Marmalade and thanks for adding to our storybook.
The man himself would we are sure have loved to still be around to have been at Gaydon today but you’ll have been spoilt for choice amongst a whole gaggle of ex-works Mini Cooper ‘S’ models……
So if you transported yourself to Gaydon on Sunday 13th July and witnessed history in all its technicolour glory, we thank you for taking the time to come and hope you had as much fun as we at HMRG did!
Here are a few more images that captured the mood today……we hope you enjoy these too!
The Historic Marathon Rally Group is bringing together cars and competitors from ALL of the Historic Marathons and Endurance Rallies from 1968 to 2025 for a GRAND REUNION at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon on Sunday 19th April 2026. If you would like to join us, or know anyone associated with, or enthusiastic about these giant-killing rallies that tested man, woman and machine, we’d love to hear from you by e-mail at [email protected]