From Melbourne to Glasgow to Monte Carlo... [PIC]

In 1953, two intrepid Australian race car enthusiasts, Lex Davison and Stan Jones bought a used 1951 Holden 48-215 with 6000 miles on it, and with one more pilot, Tony Gaze, set out to race in the 38,000 mi, mid-winter, Monte Carlo Rallye. They were given an entrance that had been bestowed upon Gaze who had European experience racing his Maybachs as well as an Aston Martin DB3. The 1st gen Holden was Australia's first home built automobile and weighing about a ton and with its short wheelbase, its 60hp, 215 cid 'grey motor' 6 in stock condition did give the sedan an 80 mph top speed due to its power to weight ratio. Cheating was rampant in those days ( the winner, a Ford Zephyr, replaced its racing engine with a stock one just before the finish line). So they took the car to the performance engineering company, Repco, to have the engine and chassis stealthily modified to still appear stock to the casual glance. Being the first and probably only, Australian car to enter a European race, they were granted an official Australian racing color - dark green and gold ( the 'gold' was the kangaroo). As preparation for the event, they replaced the mph speedometer with a similar diameter Buick that was calibrated in kilometers. 404 cars began the event with only 100 finishing. The car did well in the various test of acceleration and braking. The two's only rally experience was a 200 mi  rally they had entered the prior year with decent success, but had never driven in snow and ice. GM Holden was encouraging but offered no support. Without a factory team, the car was constantly weighed down with the 3 and all their luggage. To their delight, they finished in 64th place. Lex had said that if they had done better, the officials would have torn their car apart. GMH was thrilled with their international exposure giving Lex and Stan a bonus and began a laudatory ad campaign touting the car's success.