Famous Austin 1800 Rally Car driven by Australians Evan Green and Roy Denny who won both the 1969 Alpine and Snowy Rallies in Australia. The car, as shown here in 1969 on a showroom floor in the King's Cross area of Sydney, was registered as AKO 258 but had previously been registered as SMO 225G and placed 5th in the famous London-Sydney Marathon rally.

Driving the car, number 61, in that 1968 event was the well known driver Rauno Aaltonen along with Henry Lidden and Paul Easter. The car was later used for autocrossing and rallycross but was dismanteled for parts in 1970, not all that long after this picture was taken in December of '69 while my husband was on R&R in Sydney from Vietnam.

Thanks to Ken Green of Birmingham, England, and John Roach of Perth, Western Australia, for their help in getting the facts straight about this historic car.

 

The Interior of the Austin 18000 MK II Rally car as seen in Sydney, Australia, in December 1969.

 

Very Impressive Record of this Austin 1800 is shown here in the sales showroom in December 1969. The sign's reference to finishing 1st and placing 2nd outright actually refers to another Austin 1800 in that same event. As you can see in the top photo's cutline, no mention is made of this car's competing in the Southern Cross Rally.

 

 

1970 SCCA ARRC National C Sedan Championship Mini Cooper driven by Ed Spreen has been fully restored by its current owner Gordon King of Folly Beach, South Carolina. Steve Gibbs of Newport News, Virginia, did the restoration for King. It is shown here in its December '05 debut after a layoff of five years. King and Gibbs were in direct contact with Spreen, now living in Boerne, Texas, during the restoration after my husband helped get them in touch last year.

 

Continued