The Hillman Hunters
Two Hillman Hunters competed in the Marathon.

The outright winner was:
Car 75 a Rootes Motors entry from Gt. Britain driven by Andrew Cowan, Brian Coyle and Colin Malkin. Total points 50.

Also car 45 a RAF Motorsports Association entry from Gt. Britain driven by Flight Lieutenants D. Carrington, J.H. Jones and Squadron Leader  A.S. King, finished in 32nd place (715 points).

Much has been written about the finish of the Marathon. It virtually handed the win to Andrew Cowan and his crew on a silver platter after the disastrous crash of the leading car, a Citroën driven by Jean Claude Ogier (at the time of the crash) with Lucien Bianchi asleep in the passengers  seat.
The winning combination of Cowan, Malkin and Coyle
If Andrew Cowan was not well known before the Marathon, it certainly catapulted him to world recognition immediately afterwards.

Andrew was an accomplished rally driver prior to the 1968 London Sydney Marathon and went on to succeed in many more rallies including the Southern Cross Rally in Australia the next year (1969). He drove the Austin 1800 that had been driven by 'Gelignite' Jack Murray, Evan Green and George Shepheard in the Marathon that finished in 21st. place.

Ironically the launch of the new Hillman Hunter in Australia occurred the day before the Marathon finished.

Andrew Cowan's impressive Rally record
Andrew negotiates the crash site where the end came for Lucien Bianchi's expected win.
At the start. Car 75 driven by Andrew Cowan, Colin Malkin and Brian Coyle from Scotland.
Photo courtesy Alan Sawyer.
NSW Premier Robert Askin flags the winner of the Marathon, Andrew Cowan in his Hillman Hunter
Flt. Lt. David Carrington
Photo courtesy Daily Express
Andrew Cowan, a 31 year old bachelor, had known rally victory. He was a class winner in 1967 and 1968 at Monte Carlo and , in 1962 and 1963, outright winner of the International Scottish Rally driving a Sunbeam Rapier.

The Marathon team of Cowan and Coyle had driven together in international events for four seasons. Four months before the Marathon they became brothers-in-law when Coyle married Cowan's sister, Dorothy. Coyle, 27 from Bearsden, near Glasgow, an engineering graduate, was a partner in a coachwork firm.

The third member in the Hunter was Colin Malkin, 25, a director of a group of garages in Britain's Midlands. Malkin began rallying as soon as he turned 17, and competed successfully in international and national events as a private entrant.

The year of the London-Sydney Marathon was his best. Before setting out from London, he had won outright, the three most coveted British championships in the one season - the RAC Rally Championship of Great Britain; the Motoring News Rally Championship and the British Trials; and the Rally Drivers' Association Gold Star Trophy.

Cowan's win was a promotion man's dream for Rootes Group and Chrysler International. By coincidence, in one of those unplanned things that seem to miraculously happen, the new Hillman Hunter GT, priced at $2,565, was to be released in Australia the same day.

Rootes were already totalling up new sales from people seeking the car which won the Marathon. They were looking for a figure over 10,000, quite a rise on the modest 3,581 of only two years before.
Alan Sawyer
Cowan recalled a time late in the Australian run when his crewman were on the 'hot seat'.

He said: "I did get annoyed with them. I was driving at eleven tenths to keep the car on the road when the two of them complained the seat was getting warm."

"Warm, it was red hot," Malkin said. "I was sitting on two cushions. It wasn't so much that that was bothering me, but I was right near the petrol tank."

Cowan went on: "There was a lot at stake and I didn't want to stop if I could help it. But at the same time we would never take any real risks, and in this game you have to be able to assess risks accurately. The only risk was of a petrol leak and it was quite obvious there wasn't one."

"In fact, a boulder on the road had bent up the exhausts so that it was turned upwards towards the body and this accounted for the hot seats. So we didn't stop - and ten minutes later Colin was sick. Did I stop then? Are you mad? What do you think the window is for?"
Alan Sawyer
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Car 45 a RAF Motorsports Association driven by Flight Lieutenants D. Carrington, J.H. Jones and Squadron Leader  A.S. King,
Photo courtesy Jon Mauleon