GET YOU FIRED UP
CLASSIC NEWS / REVIEWS / CLUB NEWS / AUCTION ACTION / GOTAWAYS10 TradeUniqueCars.com.auAFTER 13,687 kilometres
and 36 days, eighty-seven-year-
old Australian Gerry Crown
and co-driver Matt Bryson
driving a 1974 Leyland P76,
have won their third Peking To
Paris rally.
Crown and Bryson narrowly
won the Classic Car class from
a 1973 Porsche 911 driven
by Americans David and
Susan Danglard with another
American pair, Chris and Tjerk
Bury, third in a 1972 Datsun
240Z.
It was the second win for
Crown/Bryson Leyland P
combo, built by Bryson who
won in 2013, their first win in
2010 coming in an EH Holden.
Crown reckoned it was the
toughest rally yet but alsohighly enjoyable and he was
hoping there would be more
87-year-olds competing to
keep him company.
The field of more than 100
classic and vintage cars in this
year’s event wound their way
through China, Mongolia,
Russia, Kazakhstan, Finland,
Estonia, Latvia, Poland,
Germany, Belgium and then
into France.
Matt Bryson is the son of
rally legend and rallying Hall of
Famer John Bryson, who was
co-driver to Evan Green in the
1974 London to Munich World
Cup Rally in a P76.
Bryson senior was an
accomplished competitor as
both driver and co-driver; his
CV includes three victories in87-YEAR-OLD AUSSIE WINS PEKING
TO PARIS RALLY IN LEYLAND P
the Southern Cross Rally and
major placings in the 1968
and 1977 London-to-Sydney
marathons.
The P76 was a locally-
made rival to the Kingswood,
Falcon and Valiant and despite
winning Wheels Car of the
Year award, it was hugely
unpopular with buyers despite
its many innovative features,
most notably that the boot
could fit a 44-gallon drum and
its powerful and smooth 4.4lt
alloy V8.
From its birth in 1973 to its
passing in 1975 only 18,
P76s were built, as the first oil
crisis and subsequent rocketing
fuel prices dampened demand
for big cars.
Today not many surviveand the P76 has a strong cult
following and collectability
factor.
In total nine Aussies were
among the 20 crew in the top 10
cars that tackled the toughest
rally for historic cars with Paul
Hickman and Sebastian Grose,
who we interviewed in UC issue
427 finishing ninth in a Bristol
403.