THE 2026 HISTORIC MARATHON & CLASSIC CAR ENDURANCE EVENT SHOW, GAYDON, WARWICKSHIRE

The Date: Sunday 19th April 2026

On Sunday 19th April 2026, the Historic Marathon Rally Group will be hosting the biggest and best Rally Show as we bring together all of the cars and all of the people involved in every Marathon Rally and Classic Car Endurance Event since the 1960’s.

From London to Sydney, London to Mexico, London-Sahara-Munich, Paris-Peking, Around the World in Eighty Days, The Inca Trail, Le-Jog, Monte Carlo Historique and from the hundreds of challenging rallies of the past sixty years up to the present day, all comers are invited to a day of displays, reunions, new connections and stories from the past.

So if you are lucky enough to own a competing car or have had some kind of involvement in Marathon and Historic Rallying, make a note of the date in your diary – Sunday 19th April 2026 – and watch this space for more details or contact us at [email protected] for more information

NEC Restoration Show 2025. Hall 5, Stand no. 745….come and see us!

The Historic Marathon Rally Group (HMRG) will have a stand at the Classic Car and Restoration Show from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd March at the NEC Birmingham. Hall5, Stand 745.

http://necrestorationshow.com

If you wish to take advantage of our Club Discount when ordering tickets, please use the code CCC5M660

Our stand will comprise two interesting cars for lovers of the unusual.

Firstly, we will be displaying the ongoing restoration of a very rare 1972 Gilbern Invader MkII Estate, owned by HMRG Committee member Michael Ryman. This particular Ford 3.0 litre Essex V6 car powered model was rescued in primer from a garden in Woking, Surrey, having been dismantled by its long term owner who had given up the good restoration fight after completing a full engine rebuild and installation. With just 26000 miles from new and accompanied by every single piece of documented paperwork since the date of original order, we at the HMRG wanted to showcase the car now that it has been finished in Rolls Royce Champagne Beige metallic and just as its painstaking reassembly commences.

Secondly, and in keeping with our usual habit of presenting unusual historic rally cars, how about Bob Beale’s now famous Volkswagen Beetle, a former Monte Carlo Historique competitor and surely the most outrageous 60 year old rally car known!

Bob will be showing this car on our Stand at the Show, so if you fancy dropping in for a friendly chat and finding out a bit more about the cars and the people, don’t hesitate to book your ticket soon!

We look forward to seeing you in Birmingham! Remember…Hall 5, Stand 745.

Join us at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon, Warwickshire on Sunday 13th July 2025 to celebrate 70 years since BMC’s Competition Department was established in Abingdon.

This will be a huge day in the history of BMC Competition with Clubs, Cars and Competitors sharing space with enthusiasts and supporters from around the globe.

The Historic Marathon Rally Group will present a range of significant rally cars associated with BMC together with invited guests in an unrivalled atmosphere.

Make it a date, put it in your diary and enjoy a great day out!

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE – EX- MARATHON RALLY CARS – BELIEVED TO BE IN HIDING SOMEWHERE IN THE UK OR OVERSEAS

The search continues for elusive ex-Marathon Rally Cars to build upon our exciting Members and Owners line up of wonderful cars that form the register of Historic Marathon Rally cars still in existence.

Do YOU own, or have any information that might lead to the discovery of an ex-Marathon Rally Car from the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s or ’90s that isn’t yet on our register or is lying low somewhere and waiting to be found?

Please call us on 07989 075937 or e-mail us at [email protected] if you have any information that will help to reunite the car with the passionate folk at The Historic Marathon Rally Group.

Thank you!

What’s the most unusual long-distance Marathon Rally car you can think of?

Would you believe that 50 years ago, Michael Fothergill and Peter Jackson sat in their choice of steed at Wembley Stadium on 5th May 1974 waiting for the flag to drop that would send them on their way in an old but strong and trusty Hillman Minx 1500 running Car No.37, from London to Munich via two crossings of the terrifying Sahara Desert as they started the UDT World Cup Rally?

46 years later, HMRG Member Ralph Humby was in lockdown and did what most petrolheads do…..he bought a car on e-Bay. Not just any car….but the very same Hillman Minx, unaware of its unusual back story.

This little Minx was trailered up from Hampshire and featured at our Historic Marathon Rally Show on Sunday 21st April 2024, as Ralph continues his faithful restoration using old photographs and film footage as his only reference.

The rest, as they say, is history!

What could be nicer than a visit to a Marina on a sunny day?

When Major John Hemsley and co-driver John Skinner decided what car they’d use on the 1974 UDT London-Sahara-Munich World Cup Rally, they didn’t mess about.

Their Morris Marina V8 Coupé was a mighty machine but, like many competing cars, suffered from several punctures in the hostile wastes of the Sahara and Algeria before its axle snapped in Niger and they retired from the event.

On Sunday, April 21st at Gaydon, HMRG Member Ian Dixon’s wonderful and beautifully recreated replica of the original car attracted huge interest at the Historic Marathon Rally Show and is pictured here, faithfully paying homage to the original and long lost Car No.8 on the ’74 event.

The second photo was taken on the first day of the actual rally 50 years ago this May, where the original Marina V8 was parked up behind another car you can also see at Gaydon next weekend, the Team Dunton Ford Capri 2.8V6 of David Skittrall and co-driver Brian Peacock, which ran as Car No.2 on the rally and which, despite near-death in the Sahara whilst lost for three days, made it to the Olympic Stadium on 25th May 1974 to be awarded a Certificate of Performance.