Classic & Sports Car UK – September 2019

The ruggedworkhorsethat

became anunlikely champion

September 2019 Classic & Sports Car 63

LETTERS

Letter of the month

Writetoalastair.clements@haymarket.com.LetterofthemonthwinsapersonalisedCarvolutionsketch;seewww.carvolutioncompany.com

ThePeugeot 504 pick-up(C&SC,
August)wasfirstralliedinKenya,and
theGroupBmodelwasthebrainchild
ofPeterHughes,whowontheSafari
Rallyin 1964 inaFordCortina.He
believedintheadage‘winonSunday,
sellonMonday’and,asthegeneral
manageroftheforemostassembly
plantinKenya,hewantedtoshowcase
hisproductinthesharpcompetition
ofinternationalmotorsport.Sohe
formedagrouptotacklethe 1984
AfricanRallyChampionship:ahuge
taskforasmallteamfromKenya.
However,Kenyansarewellknown
fortakingonseeminglyimpossible
taskssothecarwasbuilt,butwe
neededhomologationpapers.FISA
wascontacted,anditdemandedthat
weproduce 20 ‘Evolution’carsfor
GroupB.Theseweredulybuiltand
FISAcametoview–and,fortunately,
approve–theGroupBEvolution 504
Pick-up;probablybecausetheygave
littlecompetitiontothe500bhp
monstersthatothermarqueswere
showcasingontheworldstage.Just
140bhpinaheavypick-upwasnever
goingtochallengeanAudiquattro.
Theteamwasnowreadytotake
onitsfirstevent.TheSafariRally
wasaninauspiciousstart:rockswere

putacrosstheroadoverafastblind

brow;theresultantcrashsmashed

thesuspensionandputusout.

Nextwasa2700kmdriveinthe

rallycartoHararefortheZimbabwe

Challenge.Thisrallywasmuchmore

successful,withfirstplaceoverall,

sotheracetothechampionshipwas

on.TheIvoryCoastwasafarmore

dauntingtask,withacombination

ofmud,forest,dustandthedreaded

Taïforestfacingus.Thiswasarally

ofepicproportions,completely

differenttothemodern-dayshort,

high-speedevents.Thelongesttime

spentnon-stopdrivingwas 33 hours

straight,withtwoone-hourrests–

oneforlunchandoneforsleep!

OncewehadtocarryourPeugeot

overatreetrunk,morethanametre

indiameter,thathadfallenacross

theroad.Herethepick-upwasideal

becausewecouldheadtothenearest

villageandcollecthelpers;aftertwo

tripswehadabout 25 men,whothen

heavedthecaroverthetrunk.The

followingcarsusedourready-made

systemtoalsotraversethetree.

StigBlomqvistandHannuMikkola

werefirstandsecondinquattros,

andwewerealuckyfifthinaWRC

event–astrangeplaceforapick-up.

Thefinalrallyoftheyearwasthe

aptlynamedMillesCollines,or 1000

Hills,continuouslyupanddownwith

acornerevery1-200m,sonoplace

torest–andallofthiswithnopower

steering.Amajorworkoutwhenwe

weredrivingfor 14 hoursaday.

Rwandesedriverswerequickand

duringdaylighthourscouldeasilybeat

us,whichwasadisasterbecausewe

hadtowintherallyoutrighttograb

thetitle.Fortunatelyatnight,because

wewereusingpacenotesandthey

weren’t,wecouldclawbackthetime

welostintheday.Goingintothefinal

daywithanarrowleadwasnerve-

wracking,butwejustmanagedto

FruitsofOpel

I enjoyedyourstoryona 1979Opel
Rekord’smegajourneytoIndia
(C&SC, July).I hada virtuallyiden-
tical 1978 four-doorRekord2.0S,
suppliednewbya standaloneOpel
dealerin theWestMidlands.
YoumentiontheparallelVaux-
hallCarlton/Viscount,butOpel
haditsownUKdealershipsupto
themid-’80swhenitwithdrew

Pride,notprejudice

I readwithinterestthearticleabout

AdamShrieves(Alsoinmygarage,

June).However,oneshortphrase

rankled:thereferencetotheDB7

andplasticandFordparts.Asyou

mighthaveguessed,I owna DB7.

It is a finecarinthetruetradition

ofAstonMartin,andsnobbish

quipssuchas ‘Jagin drag’donotdo

justicetothisbeautiful,fastand

superb-handlinggrandtourer.

Oneofthecriticismslevelledat

theDB7is theuseofFordswitch-

gearandMazdarearlights.Theuse

of componentsfromvolumemanu-

facturesbylow-volumeproducers

isa commonandverypractical

solution.Indeed,it is a practicethat

Astonhasfollowedforyearsand

theswitchesonmyDB7work

everytime,unlikethoseonmyAlfa.

Anotherjibeis thattheDB7is

basedontheXJS.Althoughthis

hasa tenuouslinktothetruth,the

chassisis highlydevelopedfromthe

holdittogetherandtheAfrican

RallyChampionshipwasours.

Wespentanamusingfewhoursthe

followingdayteachingtheRwandese

tousepacenotes,translatingfrom

EnglishtoFrenchviaSwahili.From

thenontheyalwaysralliedwithnotes

andweresignificantlyquicker.Atrue

EntenteCordiale:maybeBrexitwould

beeasiertonegotiateinarallycar...

DavidHorsey

Kenya

DavidsHorseyand

Williamsoncampaigned

thePeugeotwithaplomb

carthatwasdestinedtoreplacethe

XJS.Theengine,whilebasedon

Jaguar’sAJ6,was significantly

modified– and,ofcourse,super-

charged.Justtryto finda partfrom

theXJSpartscataloguethatcan

replacea DB7component.

Soputasideyourprejudicesand

accepttheDB7asa realAston.If

anyonestillhasdoubts,theywould

bewonoverbytheintoxicating

soundofthatsupercharged‘six’.

I thinkevenMrShrieves’grandfa-

therwouldbeconvinced.

ChrisJohns

from the UK. Our family had a ’72 Viaemail

Mk1 Manta, ’76 Ascona 1.9SR, ’79

Mk2 Manta Berlinetta and ’84

Manta GT/E, all from West Mids

Opel dealers. I drove the GT/E all

over eastern Europe with my job,

clocking up 115,000 miles in three

years. High geared, it would hold

125mph at 5500rpm on the auto-

bahn – a car way ahead of its time.

David Clegg

County Galway, Ireland

Ahead of its time?

Reader Clegg lauds

the underrated Manta

Johns’ DB7 is every inch an Aston Martin

REINHARD KLEIN