PIRELLI CLASSIC MARATHON ANGLIA
Three decades ago, this Anglia helped give the burgeoning historic rallying scene a big push, and now the 1988 Pirelli Classic Marathon finisher is back and ready for more Alpine stage action.
Almost exactly as it was when it finished the 1988 Classic Marathon, Auboné Braddon’s latest find is a bona fide motorsport hero.
Historic motorsport was very different 35 years ago. In fact, on the rallying side it was very much in its infancy, with the recently-formed Historic Rally Car Register (HRCR) starting to organise dedicated events to showcase the ex-works rally cars owned by its members.
With the launch of the first-ever international rally for classic cars — Pirelli Classic Marathon — in 1988 though, historic rallying got a huge dose of publicity. Designed to relive the golden age of rallying, the Classic Marathon devised by the HRCR’s Philip Young was a six-day blast from London to Italy and back — taking in some of the classic rally stages of the ’50s and ’60s along the way.
The rally caught the imagination of the media in a big way, and crucially was filmed by the BBC for a Top Gear special called The Great Chase (watch it at www.classicfordmag.co.uk). The one-hour programme was apparently seen by 6 million people at the time, and one of those was Anglia fan, Auboné Braddon, who was more than surprised to see a 105E taking part with ’60s rallying stars, Anne Hall and Val Morley inside. “It was the first time I recall seeing Anglias being classed as classics.” recalls Auboné.
Some three decades on, and Auboné is now the proud owner of the same Anglia, and amazingly it’s pretty much in the same condition that it finished the rally in.
Classic mission
With the original Classic Marathon open to cars up to 1967, former works driver, Anne Hall could have had her pick of the cars she competed in back in the day — Jaguars,
“I WASN’T REALLY LOOKING FOR ANOTHER ANGLIA AT THE TIME, BUT SOMETIMES YOU JUST CAN’T SAY NO...”
Rovers, Standard Triumphs, even MercedesBenz. But with an entry secured for Anne on the event, and former co-driver, Val, the next job was to find a source a suitable car, and this was tasked to Roger Ludgate of LDD Conversions — and with the pair’s previous history with the Anglia (see boxout on page 68), a 105E was deemed the perfect choice.
Roger soon tracked down a suitable base — a 50,000-mile Deluxe in Vulcan Grey in rust-free shape and perfect for conversion. The regulations surrounding historic motorsport were possibly not as strict back then, as Roger was able add some improvements to the Anglia during the build, the main one being to swap the original 997cc Pre-Crossflow for a worked 1500 from a Cortina GT, as well as the now-obligatory 2000E gearbox with its better ratios.
“I don’t know too much about what’s been done to the engine as we’ve not needed to take it apart,” admits Auboné, “but it’s definitely got a hotter cam in there. It pulls really well, and is very tractable — it must have been great fun on some of the Alpine stages.”
Roger also upgraded the suspension, adding Mk2 Cortina struts (converted to adjustable platforms) which instantly gained the Anglia discs at the front.
It’s the interior where most of the work appeared to have gone, though — hardly surprising when its occupants were spending six solid days in there — with a period Aleybars rear roll cage, more supportive classic-style bucket seats (with headrests), a smaller and thicket Momo steering wheel, and the Terratrip and maplight for co-driver, Val.
Fine finish
It won’t be a surprise to hear that Anne, Val and the Anglia did brilliantly on the Classic Marathon. Out of the 80 cars that finished the 2300-mile thrash, the trio finished 18th overall and took home the Ladies’ Cup, too — a great result. After that though, the fate of the Anglia is largely unknown. It was sold to another rally driver, Peter Binns, but seems to have been unused for much of the following two decades until it passed into the hands of Peter Alexander of PA Motorsport.
“I bought it from Peter Alexander, who’s the chief instructor at Brands Hatch” says Auboné. “He’s owned a few 105Es, and as
the Anglia 105E Owners’ Club’s Historian, I’ve helped him out with information in the past. He told me he wasn’t using it as much as he’d like and knowing I’d look after the car, wondered if I wanted it. I wasn’t really looking for another Anglia at that point, but sometimes you can’t say no!”
Auboné bought the car from Peter unseen, but luckily he was fairly acquainted with it, having given it a good look over when it appeared on the club’s stand at the NEC a few years back. “In fact, when it arrived at the house, it was exactly as Peter described, if not better.” Of course, having been sat around for so long, getting the Anglia back up and running properly wasn’t without a few issues, but with the help of family and friends, Auboné was able to get these sorted easily. “The fuel tank had rusted on the inside, and the car would run for a mile or so, then stop, so my Dad helped me change that. Peter thought he could hear a hint of piston slap, but my friend, Romany came over to take a look and found the timing was out and it was pinking, so he tuned it up nicely.”
The Anglia then went off to local specialist, John Reed at KMJ Restorations for recommissioning and MoT. “John went right through the car and did a brilliant job” reckons Auboné, “he even found time to carefully touch in an ‘i’ of Pirelli where it had faded on the irreplaceable front rally plate.”
Meanwhile, Auboné busied himself with researching the car’s history and tracking down some period extras. “I found a suitable crash helmet at an antiques fair that would have been correct for the years Ford rallied the Anglia, and club Chairman, Shaun Wray managed to find one of the finisher’s trophies from the 1988 Marathon — a bargain £10!”
Braddon’s dozen
With 12 Anglias in his collection, Auboné has perhaps unsurprisingly, not had a huge amount of time to devote this piece of historic rallying history. “Although I’ve had it for a year now, I’ve not been far in it. John Reed and I took it to one of Haynes’ breakfast meets at their museum though, and the reception it got was fantastic — I’m really looking forward to getting it out and about once the events hopefully resume this summer.”
“IT’S ONLY BEEN TO A FEW MEETS SO FAR BUT THE RECEPTION HAS BEEN FANTASTIC”