Peking to Paris

[Landy Smurf]

On May 15, 2005 five cars led by Lang Kidby departed Beijing for Paris retracing the original route with very similar cars to the originals; a 1907 Spyker, a 1907 and a 1912 De Dion-Bouton, a 1907 Itala and a Contal Cycle-car replica. This journey was televised by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in a four-part documentary series entitled Peking to Paris. The show was hosted by Warren Brown, one of two drivers on the Itala and a cartoonist with Sydney newspaper The Daily Telegraph. The Australian crew (driving westward) ran across the Italian Fiat 500 (driving eastward) in a non-planned meeting, somewhere around Krasnojarsk, Russia.

i loved watching this when it was on tv and just got it the other day. definately one of the best expeditions i have seen. the fact that it is a reanactment makes even better considering how old the cars are. definately worth a watch:)

[jerryd]

I've got the book and the dvd, it's a great achievement by all concerned :)

I was hoping to bump into Warren at the landrover expo and get him to sign my book but it was too wet to be wandering around :D

[Landy Smurf]

i was thinking the same with the dvd but i wont be able to get there for quite a few years :(

[MR LR]

Was an excellent series, we watched it religiously, have the DVD and the book.

But the reason was that the Itala was restored by Malcolm Garthon, my father.

He was a Land Rover dealer in Hurstville, in the family business started by Arthur.

Warren bought RR's and LR's off dad, hence getting to know about the Itala and when it was for sale they snatched it up, replaced the Brooklyn Green paintwork with bright red, the racer body with a touring body like the original (much larger capacity) Itala and put the thing in a container.

The car also participated in the 2007 P to P and AFAIK is somewhere in Europe :( with a Volga truck motor as it broke yet another cranksaft :( when i'm rich and famous i'll track it down :) any questions fire away. :)

Cheers
Will

[33chinacars]

Great series . Loved it. Just incredable what those old cars went through

Gary

[BigJon]

One of the mechanics who went along as support is a mate of mine. Ant, owns his own LR workshop in Coffs Harbour.

[dobbo]

.

He was a Land Rover dealer in Hurstville, in the family business started by Arthur.


Cheers
Will


And if were still there, I'd be driving a Land Rover today

[MR LR]

One of the mechanics who went along as support is a mate of mine. Ant, owns his own LR workshop in Coffs Harbour.
Anthony used to work at Garthon's, awesome bloke, really knows his stuff :)

Cheers
Will

[MR LR]

And if were still there, I'd be driving a Land Rover today
Mmm well we still have the td5 from back in the days, and i've got a tdi, had them since new. Dad works at Trivetts Alexandria these days, but it's a different game now.

Cheers
Will

[Landy Smurf]

Was an excellent series, we watched it religiously, have the DVD and the book.

But the reason was that the Itala was restored by Malcolm Garthon, my father.

He was a Land Rover dealer in Hurstville, in the family business started by Arthur.

Warren bought RR's and LR's off dad, hence getting to know about the Itala and when it was for sale they snatched it up, replaced the Brooklyn Green paintwork with bright red, the racer body with a touring body like the original (much larger capacity) Itala and put the thing in a container.

The car also participated in the 2007 P to P and AFAIK is somewhere in Europe :( with a Volga truck motor as it broke yet another cranksaft :( when i'm rich and famous i'll track it down :) any questions fire away. :)

Cheers
Will

you are one lucky kid.i like the red over the original grey looks alot better:)

[MR LR]

you are one lucky kid.i like the red over the original grey looks alot better:)
Thanks :)

Yes that was the reason they chose it, the guards are also different as they are the racer guards that dad had on it, but otherwise the rest of the body was built to be as near as possible to the original and it included a rear seat between the 2 big fuel tanks for a second passenger.
I won't go into details of the landcruiser steering box though... :p

For interests sake here is a photo of what the car looked like on it's last rally with us, http://www.vccansw.org/photos/img228.jpg (you can just make out my little motorbike helmet on the passenger seat :) )

Cheers
Will

[Landy Smurf]

the racing mudguards looked alot better then those big v guards that were on the original, well at least i think so

[Landy Smurf]

how come it got painted black?

[MR LR]

Yeah they do, AFAIK the original guards doubled as sand tracks for the Gobi, but there were backup cars this time so they didn't need any of that.

Was never black, that is Brooklyn Green, the Sherwood Range Rover colour, my RRC pedal car was painted with the same paint :)

Cheers
Will

[Landy Smurf]

oh ok my bad. do i remember hearing on the dvd that your dad built his own glider or plane and flew it somwhere to somwhere else lol i just cant remember where hence the somwheres

[MR LR]

Thats alright :)

Nah, not over his dead body lol, he's not real keen on gliders etc lol

Lang Kidby has done a few crazy things like that, but i've never met him, Warren was our connection as well as Anthony the mechanic on the expedition.

Cheers
Will

[Landy Smurf]

yes i was getting lang and your dad mixed up

[long stroke]

I work for Ant who was the mechanic on the trip as Bigjon said!:)

[MR LR]

I work for Ant who was the mechanic on the trip as Bigjon said!:)
Nice mate :) he's a top bloke

Say g'day for me :)

Cheers
William Garthon