THESE cars might be past their heyday now, but once they were at the top of their game.

Jaguar XK120, Mini Coopers, and Sunbeam Talbots and others tore round hairpin mountain turns and raced through countryside as some of the best-loved rally cars of the 1950s and 1960s.

Dick Edmond will never forget his time with one of these grand cars in particular. In 1953, Edwin Elliott asked Dick to be his number two driver in the International Alpine Rally.

Edwin had recently bought a shiny Sunbeam Talbot 90IIA - registration MWK 17 - the same car Stirling Moss had driven in the Monte Carlo Rally earlier that year.

Dick did not take much persuading. His driving licence had been his 17th birthday present and he started rallying soon after. He then joined York MC and the Northern Sports Car Club, where competition driving got into his blood.

Dick and Edwin's preparations for their adventure featured in the Yorkshire Evening Press before they travelled to Marseille.

That car was perfect, remembers Dick. Although the weather was so hot that all the grass was parched, the car was so well balanced that it was a joy to drive.

"It just kept on rolling, it was so perfect," he said. "When you went into a corner you knew exactly where you were coming out."

Dick, now 76, remembers the roar of the crowds and the excitement he felt at the start of the rally in Marseille. The route covered 3,089kms over some of the toughest roads, he says.

There were none of the comfortable driving conditions of today.

"The car had power assisted breaks but not power assisted steering," said Dick. "When you come down a mountain pass, the steering is quite heavy and you thought my arms are aching, but I've got to get round here somehow'. When you're breaking hard you feel as though your arms are coming out of their sockets. No sooner had you got over that one then another one was coming up. It was quite exhausting."

At the start, the commentator introduced them to the crowd before they started the clock. They waved, crossed the tram lines and left the light behind them, relying on headlamps to guide them through the darkness.

In all, only six cars lasted the four-day rally to finish back in Cannes.

Unfortunately, MWK 17 was not one of them, as it crashed into straw bales on the Circuit of the Dolomites. It had driven 800 miles on the first day, and 160 out of 200 on the second.

Dick and Edwin were taken to hospital, but discharged the same day.

The car was returned to England and rebuilt, later competing in the Tulip Rally in Holland and the RAC Rally in Great Britain.

Edwin continued racing until he was 50. His son, also called Edwin, 68, remembers how much he loved international rallying.

Dick stopped rallying "when people started beating me", then began planning rallies instead.

MWK 17 was later sold and it was only recently that it resurfaced, hidden in a shed in Lincolnshire. It was discovered by a man clearing briars and was found to be aged and weather-beaten. Dick went to see the car and, although he was disappointed with the state it was in, vividly remembers how the vehicle had looked in all its glory.

"I just loved it, it was so unique," he said.

"It was a unique car in so far as it was works prepared with a rally history and it just went faster than any other production motor car."

  • What are your memories of the past? Tell Charlotte Percival on 01904 653051 or email charlotte.percival@ycpc.co.uk