1967 Mustang Wins East African Safari Classic RallyBy Brian Lohnes Posted 12/02/09
In a come-from-behind win, driver Ian Duncan piloted his 1967 Mustang to victory at the 2009 running of the East African Safari Classic Rally. Duncan suffered an electrical failure during one of the late stages of the rally, but managed to repair the car in the field and storm back into the lead ahead of Bjorn Waldegaard, a former race winner in a Datsun 260Z. This marks the first ever win for a Mustang in rally competition.
The 351 powered, four-speed shifted 1967 Mustang was the only burly V8-powered entry in the race and was competing against dedicated rally cars. Duncan, a noted international rally racer built the car himself and obviously did a fine job as the only real gremlin, after bounding through the desert for days, was the electrical problem during stage eight and a clutch issue earlier in this ten-day, punishing race.
You can read the story of Duncan's great victory here. Score one for the good guys!
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Written by Blazerteam Jan 31 2010
Lots of cool pics here folks ;).
http://www.mcklein-imagedatabase.com/imagedatabase/index.php?index=12&idb_cmd=show_collection&idb_collection_id=4873&idb_page=1
Written by Brian Lohnes
Dec 02 2009
Possible that those cars sold on the African continent could have used left over '67 US sheet metal?
Entry form says '67.
Brian
Written by studemax
Dec 02 2009
Looks more like a '68, folks.
Written by JRoberts Dec 02 2009
I did a little Googling and found that in 1963 a Falcon Sprint placed first in class, but not first overall. I couldn't find anything about the results in 1964.
Written by JRoberts Dec 02 2009
Now this is fantastic. It it almost impossible to believe that this is the first big time rally victory for a Mustang. It is amazing that Ford didn't back the early Mustangs on the international rally scene. They certainly had the goods to make it a successful bid.
Maybe somebody here knows about the success rate of the Falcons that the factory campaigned on the European rally circuit in 1963 and 1964. Did they ever win. I was thinking that they possibly won the Monte Carlo rally, but am not sure.
Written by BangShift Forum Admin Dec 02 2009
http://www.bangshift.com/blog/1967-Mustang-Wins-East-African-Safari-Classic-Rally.html
Written by JRoberts Feb 01 2010
[quote author=Blazerteam link=topic=17673.msg364998#msg364998 date=1264976517]
Lots of cool pics here folks ;).
http://www.mcklein-imagedatabase.com/imagedatabase/index.php?index=12&idb_cmd=show_collection&idb_collection_id=4873&idb_page=1
[/quote]
Thanks for this link. You are right very cool pics!