1974 Leyland P76 replica of the car driven by Evan Green and John Bryson in the 1974 World Cup Rally.

Leyland P76 registration P38X2. Born 1974. Philip is the the third owner and obtained the car with the intention of creating a replica of the car that Evan Green and John Bryson entered and drove in the 1974 World Cup Rally which started in London and finished in Munich, travelling via France, Spain, Morocco, the Sahara Desert, Sicily and the Targa Florio stage which they won, Italy, a few other European Countries and of course Germany. The best , perhaps only, satisfactory description of the birth, life and events surrounding that event are best related in the book by Evan Green titled "A Bootful Of Right Arms". A short pause while those have not read the book go and do so.

The preparation detailed so beautifully by Evan (a motoring journalist by profession and also an author with several published books to his credit) in that book was closely adhered to. The exceptions were the instruments by StackDash (obviously unavailable in 1974) and tyres by Khumo

Preparation was done with the major assistance of the following:

Body: including fibreglass bonnet and bootlid and window glass replacement with polycarbonate, fixed by Mike Hull, Straightline Panelbeating, Hamilton. Mike had used P76's for competition racing, is a better than competent panel beater and a world leader in P76 (amongst other marques) restoration).

Engine: Martin Saggers, Milford.

Suspension and Brakes: Anthony Hewitt, Autolign, Mt Wellington. What Anthony doesn't know about competition suspension preparation could be written on a pinhead.

Differential and Red Line Lubricants: Dave Mills, Road and Track Performance, Pukekohe.

On the 14 November 2009 at Hampton Downs the car received the Certificate of first official laps at a best recorded time of 1m.30.948secs.

This vehicle is the best-handling P76 ever made and a tribute to the vision and actions of Evan Green and his various crews who prepared the original. Which is owned by John Bryson and, I recently heard, under restoration in Sydney.

Competition History

First Long Distance Rally (LDR): TransAm – Start, New York (USA), Finish Anchorage (Alaska) via Vancouver. Placed 2nd. That was within a year of me selling it.

Next LDR: Peking to Paris. Overall winner (the year after 1st LDR.) The year that Canberra hosted the 40 years of P76 launch. The event was mentioned at the celebrations.

Next LDR: (the year later again) The Road to Mandalay (start, Singapore, finish Myanmar) Second overall. It was leading until the last day, lost 1st place by 2 (TWO) seconds.

Next LDR: (2016) Peking to Paris again, 6th place.

Details, reports and photos, go to www.endurorally.com and follow the links to each of the events. (The Photo Galleries will amaze you.)

It is interesting to learn that the driver (Gerry Crown) celebrated his 80th birthday on the first LDR.