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Peugeot’s 504 pick-up wasn’t the weirdest machine to tackle the world’s special stages and enduros, as these mavericks demonstrate

Oddest cars from the annals of rallying

Rallying remains one of the few categories of motorsport that hasn’t been homogenised to within an inch of its life. Still, there is less diversity of equipment now compared to 30 years ago, or even further back when organisers had a more laissez-faire attitude to eligibility. That, and they actually liked having wildcard entries, if only to garner column inches in the specialist press. Time was, you could enter a blue-chip event in just about anything, even a car of pensionable age. There was nothing to stop you, although

perhaps there should have been. Then homologation specials came along and spoiled all the fun, or rather made rallying more specialised.

Gathered here are 10 of the oddest weapons ever to storm a special stage, or rack up marathon mileages on an event traversing half the globe. Some were fielded by the eccentric, others by works teams for big-name drivers. Some were even constructed by those who pedalled them. Each has a story to tell, and one or two were even successful. If there is a common theme, it’s that they were – and remain – fan favourites. The spoils might have gone to the victors, but the goodwill (mostly) went to these.

1 Citroën SM

Nothing screams ‘rally weapon’ as little as a super-complex, Maserati-engined GT with self-levelling suspension. Not that Citroën’s Service Compétitions department was fazed, and it entered two SMS on the 1971 Moroccan Rally, an event in which it had claimed honours with modified DS21S in 1969 and 1970. Both cars were built to Group 4 regulations and weighed 1680kg apiece, which rendered them on the porky side. Nevertheless, Jean Vinatier and co-driver Pierre Thimonier led from the start and set competitive stage times thereafter, only for their car to be forced out with transmission issues. The sister entry, helmed by Jean Deschaseaux and Jean Plassard, was driven more conservatively and proved reliable, requiring nothing more than routine brake and tyre changes en route to bagging overall victory. Closer to home, Formula One occasional Howden Ganley and Autocar’s

Ray Hutton finished 18th on the 1973 Avon Tour of Britain aboard a stock SM.

Anorak fact Citroën fielded a one-off Group 5 SM in the ’72 TAP Rallye in Portugal. Boasting a truncated chassis and glassfibre bodywork, it came home third overall – and also won its class

2 Jago Geep

If you were to think of a suitable machine for rallying, chances are a Jago Geep kit car wouldn’t be your first choice. It wasn’t Les Robinson’s, either, but in 1977 he faced a dilemma. The lorry driver and amateur rallyist had demolished his Ford Cortina II Lotus on an after-dark event, but the running gear was undamaged. The question of what to do next was answered after he spied an Angliabased Geep in a pub car park in Darlington. He was inspired by the concept of strength and light weight so visited Jago in Chichester and ordered a kit.

There was then the small matter of transferring the parts over. The Lotus Twin Cam engine and ’box didn’t fit, which resulted in the glassfibre bulkhead being cut away and a new steel one being added further back relative to the original.

The car made its competition debut on the Cleveland Stages Rally in July 1978 and finished just outside the top 20. Robinson continued to refine the concept further, and added AWDC (All-wheel Drive Club) events into the mix for 1979.

Anorak fact The Jago’s final outing was on the Waitwith Stages in late 1980, which ended prematurely thanks to a broken gearbox

3 Rolls-royce Silver Cloud

Quite a few Royces have been off-piste, but this one was noteworthy because it was already 13 years old by the time it departed Wembley Stadium to start the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally. The 1957 Silver Cloud was entered by Kent businessman William Smith, who had little experience of rallying. So did his sons, David and Julian, who joined him on the marathon jaunt. The car had no performance modifications, and Smith Snr admitted that he wasn’t competing for overall honours. Instead, this was meant to be the adventure of a lifetime. Driven sedately, and spending most of its time near the bottom of the timesheets, the Cloud made it to Brazil without any major issues, only for a front suspension-related breakage to halt progress. The car was repaired and the team got to Montevideo, Uruguay, but was excluded for being late to a time control – by two days. Anorak fact Tycoon Ray Richards and rally ace Bill Bengry ran a Silver Shadow on the same event. It was later returned to stock form and (allegedly) sold on via a car auction in Herefordshire

4 Ginetta G4 S2

Serial adventurer Peter Leigh Davis acquired his Ginetta G4 in late 1966. It was the 21-year-old’s first car and he still owns it more than half a century later. The Warwickshire man has taken in tens of thousands of competitive miles aboard LAC 64E, but his bid for glory on the 1982 Himalayan Rally was almost over before it began when the car beached itself getting off the starting ramp. Nevertheless, Davis and wingman Roger Mugeridge belied their lack of rally experience and made their way up the order, only to get stuck fast in a sandbank. Davis returned in 1983, the Ginetta by then having a bit more suspension travel. Assisted by new co-driver Jerry Crowley, the duo finished 12th overall. Including transit stages, they covered more than 4000 miles. They drove back to Blighty.

Anorak fact Davis and his G4 beat worksbacked BMW M3s to take class honours on the 4500-mile ADAC Tour d’europe in 1988

5 Ferrari 308GTB

Scroll back to the 1950s and it wasn’t uncommon for amateur drivers to enter Continental events in Ferraris, Kurt Zeller and Alois Willberger’s class win on the 1954 Tulip Rally aboard their Pinin Farina-bodied 166 being among the more memorable successes. Nevertheless, a further three decades would elapse before matters took a turn for the serious, with Ferraris taking the fight to the established order in rounds of the European and World Rally Championships. French dealer/entrant Charles Pozzi commissioned Michelotto of Padua to build the first Group 4 308GTB rally car. Brilliant all-rounder Jeanclaude Andruet steered it into a commanding two-minute lead during the 1981 Tour de Corse, only to retire with a broken fuel pump. That same year, he claimed honours on the Tour de France Automobile to go with a win on the week-long event in a Pozzi 365GTB/4 Competitzione nine years earlier. In 1982, Andruet finished second overall on the Tour de Corse for Ferrari’s best-ever result in a round of the World Rally Championship.

Anorak fact In all, 11 Group 4 308GTBS were made, along with four Group B evolutions. These later iterations were 30kg heavier than the first-generation cars

6 Morgan Plus 8

Malvern’s finest has form in rallying: witness the second-place finish on the 1951 RAC Rally of Great Britain for its second-generation principal, Peter Morgan, with a Plus 4. However, the sport had morphed out of all recognition by the time his Plus 8 was entered in the 1980 running of the Rallye Monte-carlo. The V8 roadster was prepared by Libra Motive for Collector Car publisher/editor Philip Young, whose idea this adventure was in the first place. The Plus 8 received (even) stiffer suspension, a sturdy sumpguard, knobbly Kleber tyres and spotlights prior to the event. Matters didn’t get off to a stellar start as the Morgan made it from Dover to Calais, only to discover that the time control hadn’t been set up. Then 30 minutes were lost trying to find someone to stamp the route cards. Young and his co-driver, former works BMC star Tony Ambrose, also seemed to be the subject of much ire among the rally’s spectators. Far from being amused by the rosbifs in their silly little car, they instead took to pelting the pair with snowballs and worse.

Anorak fact Late in the day, the British Morgan crew was directed off-route by a gendarme. They were subsequently disqualified from the rally for… having been off-route

7 Lotus 26R

Lotus has claimed scalps in just about every category of motorsport, from hillclimbs and sprints to circuit racing and even sporting trials. A Lotus – any Lotus – isn’t an obvious choice of rally car, however. Someone clearly forgot to tell London-born star Brian Culcheth, though. In the early 1960s, Culcheth read pacenotes for the likes of Sir Peter Moon, Ian ‘Tiny’ Lewis and Roger Clark internationally, while driving his own Austin-healey ‘Sebring’ Sprite and a Mini closer to home. He raised eyebrows in the mid-’60s when he graduated to a Lotus 26R, the trackorientated Elan variant, but then he was the sales manager at marque specialist/entrant Ian Walker Racing. In fact, the boss sat alongside Culcheth for the 1966 Lyon-charbonnièresstuttgart Rally. They were running in fourth place when a conrod went through the block. Culcheth then received an offer to join the BMC Competitions Department…

Anorak fact Lotus made two 26Rs for rallying, one being sold to Australia. Culcheth’s car was later campaigned by Terry Hunt

8 Saab 95

Erik Carlsson and Saab were inextricably linked, but both are sadly no longer with us. The likeable Swede racked up several significant wins, not least his victories on the Rallye Monte-carlo in 1962 and ’63 aboard a Saab 96. He maintained to the end that he should also have won in 1961, which would have made it a hat-trick. Not only that, but the ‘lost’ first win would also have been achieved in a 95 estate variant. That year, Saab and DKW were arch rivals, and Carlsson opined that his two-stroke competition wasn’t above spreading rumours that he was cheating. The decision to run a 95 on the ’61 Monte was made because it was the only model in the range with four speeds. He felt that having the extra gear would help on the Alpine passes. Unfortunately for him, DKW blanketed the top three positions that year.

Anorak fact Carlsson came out of retirement to drive a Saab 96 V4 on the 1969 Baja 1000. He finished third. A year later, he placed fifth before retiring again

9 Bentley 8 Litre

You could never accuse Keith Schellenberg of being unadventurous. The former Winter Olympian had form in motorsport, but his entry for the 1968 London-sydney Marathon beggared belief. The Yorkshireman wasn’t about to enter a ghastly ‘modern’ in the 10,000-mile event. Instead, he fielded a 1930 8 Litre Bentley. Ably assisted by Norman Barclay and Patrick Lindsay, all was going well until a fractured oil pipe halted progress in Turkey. Worse was to come: the Bentley left the gnarly mountain road to Erzincan and slithered down an embankment before rolling twice into a riverbed. Lindsay broke his shoulder, which prompted a stay in hospital. The others carried on without him, losing three hours in a paddyfield trying to locate a lost wheel before a group of angry Kurds chased them away. The Bentley never made it as far as Australia, but not because of an accident: Schellenberg and Barclay missed a vital ferry crossing after they stopped to see the Taj Mahal by moonlight.

Anorak fact Schellenberg, business partner Frances Shand-kydd and friend Bruce Ropner were instrumental in creating the Croft circuit, which opened for business in 1964

10 Lightspeed Magenta

You could easily fill these pages with anecdotes involving Philip Young and his ‘unusual’ choices of competition tools. The man who effectively created the discipline of historic rallying began his motorsport career on the ’77 London-sydney Marathon. Then a Daily Mail journalist, he participated in ‘The Scrapyard Special,’ a Magenta kit car based on an MG 1100 donor car that had been purchased for just £50. The finished item, entered as the ‘Re-tread Manufacturers’ Association MG Magenta’ certainly made headlines, not least because Young was briefly imprisoned in Tehran after driving the wrong way up a one-way street. However, the team didn’t finish the event because they missed a ferry in Madras; the one that contained the rest of the remaining competitors.

Anorak fact In 1980, Young participated in the Himalayan Rally aboard the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Morris Minor