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One day to go and it’s the little things that make a difference!

When Doug Harris and Michael Butler decided to enter the 1970 Daily Mirror ‘London to Mexico’ World Cup Rally, Doug wisely chose a new Ford Escort and bought it straight from the showroom.

But while Ford’s Competitions Department at Boreham were busy building seven identical 1850GTs, five of which would go on to finish in the top ten, Doug went for a 1300GT, newly launched and promising simplicity and reliability due to ease of maintenance and its light weight.

Registration No: CMF730H

Chassis No: BB48JC33356

Introduced in January 1968, Ford’s original Escort was the latest of a line of small family cars, specifically engineered to be simple, cheap to buy and economical to run. Like previous small Fords, the Escorts had front-mounted engines, driving the rear wheels, and had independent front suspension, and a beam rear axle suspended on leaf springs. The Escort, though, was the first small Ford to use the robust little ‘cross-flow’ ‘Kent’ engine, which proved to be remarkably tuneable for use in races and rallies.

Ford soon built up a range of Escorts – two-door and four-door saloons, an estate car and a light panel van – along with a choice of 1.1-litre and 1.3-litre engine sizes, of which the most highly tuned was the 72bhp unit which powered the 1300GT model. From mid-1968, too, there was also the limited-production Twin Cam, which was related to the celebrated Lotus-Cortina model, for it featured a 1.6-litre 2ohc Lotus-developed engine, and a heavy duty drive line. 

Escorts of this type were in production until the end of 1974, with a total of more than one million being produced in the UK alone at the Halewood factory, near Liverpool. Tens of thousands were of the GT derivative.

Although the Twin-Cam, and that car’s successor, the RS1600 were most suitable for motorsport use, the 1300GT was also very competitive in 1.3-litre classes. For the 16,000 mile London – Mexico Daily Mirror World Cup rally of April-May 1970, which included a complete circumnavigation of Europe and South America, Doug Harris bought a standard 1300GT, prepared it with all available factory-supplied pieces to stiffen up the body structure, and improve the chassis, and contested the event as a genuine private owner. Although only 23 of the original 96 starters finished this gruelling event, Harris (and co-driver Mike Butler) carried out their own on-event service and repairs, and completed the event, their Escort being the smallest-engined car to make it to Mexico City, and also the winner of its capacity class.

After the event the car was used in minor events, then completely re-engineered for the UDT World Cup Rally of 1974, when cars had to be driven from London to Kano in Nigeria, and return by way of Turkey and Yugoslavia to the finish in Munich. This is thought to be the only car (and certainly the only Ford) which competed in both the original World Cup rallies.

For the second event the car was given a 1998cc overhead-camshaft ‘Pinto’ engine, along with the flared wheel-arches which featured on so many Escort competition cars of this type. Like many other cars on that event, the Escort did not survive the double crossing of the Sahara desert.

In later years it became a club rally car, and endured at least one major special-stage accident, but the original body shell, much of the trim, and the engine survived, and has been restored to ‘1974 World Cup’ visual condition, and a 1998cc Pinto engine is still fitted to the car. Period features still present include the roll cage, the competition turrets for the rear dampers, and Bilstein competition struts and dampers, the appropriate Halda navigational equipment, a plumbed-in fire extinguisher, and a ZF limited-slip differential.

Today, this very car, which has competed in two World Cup Rallies and countless other events is privately owned by enthusiast Keith Smart. He has kindly agreed to display the car on our Stand (595, Hall 3) at this weekend’s Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, where it will sit alongside three of the Boreham commissioned Escorts as we celebrate 55 years since this giant-killing Marathon Rally took place.

We look forward to seeing you on our Stand over the weekend!

Remember to use our Club Code CCCNOV5644 when ordering your tickets to obtain a discount.

Three days to go and the excitement builds….

Today we reveal the second of four famous Ford Escorts that will grace our show stand at the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show from Friday to Sunday 7-9 November as we showcase the most demanding Marathon Rally ever known.

It’s Sunday 19th April 1970 and Poland’s Sobieslaw Zasada and co-driver Marek Wachoski leave the start ramp at London’s Wembley Stadium and navigate the streets of the Capital en-route for Mexico City, some 39 days and over 16,000 miles away.

The Daily Mirror ‘London to Mexico’ World Cup Rally is on, and Ford of Britain has built seven identical Ford Escort 1850GTs in an attempt to win this, the longest, toughest and most gruelling rally in history.

Zasada and Machowski would go on to finish 8th place in the event whilst fellow Ford Works drivers Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm would take victory in Mexico.

Zasada’s car was sold off after the event and went through a series of private owners until David Aldridge acquired the car in 2009 and realising its history, made the decision to return the car to its original specification and condition.

Come and see this famous motor car on Stand 595, Hall 3 at the NEC this weekend as we reunite four 1970 World Cup Rally Escorts for the first time in 55 years!

Four days until we reunite four famous Ford Escorts at the NEC

We are counting down to the start of the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show and every day this week will be bringing you details of each of the Ford Escorts that we are reuniting for the first time in 55 years Stand 595, Hall 3 at the Show. Our theme is set around the 1970 Daily Mirror World Cup Rally that saw 96 cars leave London’s Wembley Stadium on Sunday 19th April 1970 and crossing Continents and oceans before arriving more than 16,000 miles and 39 days later at Mexico City’s Aztec Stadium.

Ford of Britain entered seven identical ‘Works’ Escorts, each the product of a year’s testing and development. Fitted with 1834cc Cortina-derived Kent Crossflow engines and ZF 5 speed gearboxes, the relative simplicity and durability of the cars saw Ford take five places in the top ten by the time the rally was over.

Car 85, a ‘works’ Escort built by British Vita to Ford Boreham’s specification was driven by Colin Malkin and co-driven by well-known journalist, rally man and today auction house specialist valuer, assessor and arbitrator Richard Hudson-Evans, and is one of the four stars of our show at the NEC.

Join us at the show and marvel at the achievements of all four Escorts, including a diminutive 1300GT that made it to Mexico City on 27th May 1970. More details of that car and crew will appear here this week!

Meantime, enjoy the fact that Car 85’s co-driver Richard Hudson-Evans will himself be reunited with his ‘old’ car and its private owners today, Simon Spinks and Jim Grayson, over the coming weekend. He hasn’t seen the car since a huge head-on crash with a truck in Yugoslavia ended his and Colin’s World Cup Rally entry after just three days on the event.

Here’s some more details of the car as it is today.

Escort FTW 47H Spinks Grayson Nov 2025 PDFDownload

We look forward to seeing you from 7-9 November at the NEC!

Counting the days until we reunite four famous Ford Escorts from the toughest rally ever known…the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally

At this year’s Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show from 7-9 November at the NEC, we’ll be on Stand 595, Hall 3 doing what we do best…..reuniting not one, two or three but FOUR famous Ford Escorts that took part in what has become regarded as the toughest and most challenging rally of all time….the 1970 Daily Mirror London to Mexico World Cup Rally.

Leaving London’s Wembley Stadium on Sunday 19th April 1970, 106 entrants headed South towards their anticipated finish on May 27th, after travelling through ten European, eight South American and seven Central American countries, with four water crossings thrown in to the mix. Over 16,000 miles (25,750kms) in just over 5 weeks, 17 of the longest, fastest, highest and most demanding special stages ever laid out, with the promise of making every competitor more tired, more exhilarated, more downcast and yet more satisfied than on any event they had ever tackled.

FTW 48H, a ‘Works’ Escort driven on the 1970 event by Colin Malkin and Richard Hudson-Evans…..still competing today and with us alongside three other surviving World Cup Escorts on STAND 595, HALL 3, 7-9 November. Fifty five years separates these two photo’s, the first taken at a Passage Control in Germany on April 20th 1970, the second taken more recently before the same car competed on the 2025 Pearl of India rally, in the hands of private owner Simon Spinks. He and co-driver Jim Grayson finished 3rd on this year’s event, a remarkable achievement in a car originally built in 1969!

Over the coming days leading up to the NEC Classic Motor Show, we’ll be bringing you daily snippets about the most challenging rally of all, together with more insight into the ‘Famous Four’……the Escorts that we’ll feature on our Show Stand, together for the first time in fifty five years!

Don’t forget to use our special Discount `Code CCCNOV5644 to get £4 off your usual ticket price when ordering online.

Buy your NEC Classic Motor Show tickets using our Club Code CCCNOV5644 to get discounted prices!

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We hope to see you there, where you’ll see not only the famous Hannu Mikkola/Gunnar Palm 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally winning Escort FEV1H, but three other Escorts from the very same event, reunited after 55 years in the wilderness!

http://www.necclassicmotorshow.com/

We’ll be at the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show 2025 at the NEC…come and see us and find out what we’re up to!

The Historic Marathon Rally Group has a stand at the NEC from 7th-9th November 2025.

We can be found in Hall 3, Stand 595

Our Discount Code is CCCNOV5644

The Club Code unlocks a £4.00 discount off single-day adult ticket prices or £2.00 off family, child and multi-day tickets. The Club discount will be applied to the advance ticket prices purchased before midnight on Thursday November 6th and the show open ticket prices thereafter.

Full ticket information at: http://www.necclassicmotorshow.com/ticket-information

We look forward to seeing you there!

In the meantime, here’s a little teaser showing what Stand 595, Hall 3 is all about!

HMRG, the BMC & Leyland Show and Abingdon ’70

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]