The Ford Entries
Complete list of Fords entered in the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon
Car 1 RTS Motorway Remoulds Gt. Britain Ford Cortina GT B. Bengry
Car 2 Ford Motor Co. (Aust) Australia Ford Falcon GT H.L. Firth
Car 3 Avon / R.A.F. Gt. Britain Ford Cortina GT F/O. N. Colman
Car 6 Combined Ins. Co. of America Australia Ford Fairmont C.T. Hodges
Car 9 A.A. Bombelli Switzerland Ford Lotus Cortina A.A. Bombelli
Car 14 Ford Deutschland Germany Ford 20MRS D. Glemser
Car 15 G.P. Franklin Gt. Britain Ford Cortina GT G.P. Franklin
Car 18 M.A. Colvill Gt. Britain Ford Cortina M. Greenwood
Car 23 P.R.H. Wilson Gt. Britain Ford Corsair 2000E P.R.H. Wilson
Car 24 Ford Motor Co. (Aust) Australia Ford Falcon GT I.M. Vaughan
Car 29 Ford Motor Co. (Aust) Australia Ford Falcon GT B. Hodgson
Car 34 K. Brierley Gt. Britain Ford Lotus Cortina K. Brierley
Car 38 Ford Motor Co. Gt. Britain Ford Lotus Cortina B. Soderstrom
Car 42 P.G. Graham Gt. Britain Ford Savage V6 P.G. Graham
Car 48 Ford Motor Co. Gt. Britain Ford Lotus Cortina R. Clark
Car 50 Ford Motor Co. Gt. Britain Ford Lotus Cortina N. Brittan
Car 60 Terry Thomas Gt. Britain Ford Cortina 1600E P.R. Capelin
Car 66 T.E. Buckingham Gt. Britain Ford Cortina GT T.E. Buckingham
Car 72 E. McMillen Gt. Britain Ford Lotus Cortina E. McMillen
Car 73 Ford Motor Co. Gt. Britain Ford Lotus Cortina E. Jackson
Car 78 Supersport Engines Ltd. Gt. Britain Ford Escort J.R. Gavin
Car 81 Dr. B. Wadia India Ford Lotus Cortina Dr. B. Wadia
Car 82 D.G. Bray Gt. Britain Ford Lotus Cortina D.G. Bray
Car 85 Tecalemit Ltd. Gt. Britain Ford Lotus Cortina - twin cam P. Harper
Car 89 Longlife Group Gt. Britain Ford Cortina R. Clark
Car 90 British Army Motoring Gt. Britain Ford Lotus Cortina Capt. D. Harrison
Car 92 Ford Deutschland Germany Ford 20MRS H.E. Kleint
Car 93 Henry Ford and Son Ireland Ford Lotus Cortina Miss R. Smith
Car 96 R. Rogers Gt. Britain Ford Cortina 1600E R. Rogers
Car 97 Lunwin Products Pty. Ltd. Australia Ford Falcon GT R.G. Lunn
There were thirty factory and privately entered Ford cars.
This represented an incredible 30% of the total entries in the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon.
There were twelve Ford Lotus Cortina's from Britain and Ireland, one of them was a twin-cam, car 85, driven by P. Harper. Four Ford Cortina GT's from Britain, three works Ford Falcon GT's from Australia, three Ford Taunus 20MRS from Germany and Belgium, two Ford Cortina's from Britain, two Ford Cortina 1600E's from Great Britain, a Ford Corsair 2000E from Great Britain, a Ford Escort from Great Britain, a Ford Fairmont from Australia and a Ford Savage V6 from Great Britain.
For the Ford enthusiasts, the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon provided great interest, and for the Ford Company it was a real test-bed for their products. No other marque came even close to the number of cars and models that Ford entered. The Great Britain and Ireland engine sizes ranged from the 1600E's, the works Ford Lotus 1800 Cortina's, the 3 litre V6 Ford Cortina Savage, then on to the four 302 V8 Ford Falcon GT muscle cars from Australia and the 'luxurious' Australian Ford Fairmont.
-----------------------------------------
The factories came up with bulk money. There were 11 works Ford twin -cam Cortinas from the British and Irish factories. Three Ford Taunus 20MRS from Germany and Belgium, and three Ford Falcon XT GT's from Australia.
THE BIG BLUE
Story courtesy Mark Oastler - Australian Muscle Car Magazine (AMC)
Among the 98 cars were three entered by the Ford Motor Company of Australia. In fact, Ford UK had entered six cars while Ford of Germany had entered three cars.
Under the rules of the Marathon, three cars constituted a team - Ford had four official teams entered, the most of any one manufacturer.
Ford Australia, through managing director Bill Bourke - a renowned revhead - and sales and marketing director Keith Horner were keen to participate.
Preparations began in October 1967, a full year before the event but as team manager for the Marathon John Gowland, said, "That would be considered an impossible time-frame today but even with all the other preparations that were going on - we were running a team of Falcons in the Australian Rally Championship as well as Bathurst - we committed ourselves to the event.
"Management agreed to us preparing three cars but insisted that we go out and get sponsorship. Dunlop Tyres, BP (fuels and oils) and Qantas readily agreed to join us and sponsor us."
Ford had won Bathurst in 1967 with the XR Falcon GT, a memorable first time out victory for Harry Firth and Fred Gibson. In March 1968 the company planned to release the XT Falcon and so the decision was taken to prepare three XT Falcon GT's even though the car was not yet in production.
Gowland: "Because of the pressure we were under at the factory we sub-contracted out the preparation of the three Marathon cars to Harry Firth who had a garage in Melbourne. We decided on a GT that would be powered by a 302 cubic inch V8, with a four-speed manual gearbox."
Selecting the team members was fairly straight forward, too, according to Gowland: Harry Firth wanted in, no matter what! We teamed him with Graham Hoinville and Gary Chapman. Graham, like Harry, had vast rallying experience and Gary was a first-class navigator.
Our second team comprised Ian Vaughan, who in addition to his day job at Ford, was a top-flight rally driver. Bob Forsyth who was his regular navigator and Jack Ellis, another very experienced long distance rally driver; and our third team consisted of just two men - Bruce Hodgson and Don Rutherford, both very experienced long distance rally drivers."
As Ian Vaughan said, "The event was virtually non-stop from London to Bombay so we reckoned three drivers were essential. Having said that, Bruce and Doug coped with the rigours amazingly well. It was also why we had a 'portaloo' in each car and one of the reasons why we carried our own water and food. The other reason was the poor quality of local drinking water, especially across the Middle East and India."
The XT Falcon GT missed out on a 1968 Bathurst win but would later that year cover itself in glory (and a lot of dust) with a stunning London-Sydney Marathon result.
Mark Oastler
Roger Clark and Ove Andersson were pre-event favourites.
Home I A Tale Of Two Cities I How It All Began I The Entrants I The Rules I Timetable I The Route I Their Story I Photo Albums
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Ladies I How They Finished I BMC I Ford I Holden I Other Marques I Site Map I Memorabilia I Credits/About Us I Links
Home I A Tale Of Two Cities I How It All Began I The Entrants I The Rules I Timetable I The Route I Their Story I Photo Albums
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Ladies I How They Finished I BMC I Ford I Holden I Other Marques I Site Map I Memorabilia I Credits/About Us I Links
