At the risk of sounding a little negative about it, there are a few little things about this trip that erk me.
Firstly, he doesn't know is dad's history as well as he should. Evan's trip was done in November 1965, not 1966. (Sounds a bit pedantic I know, but hey, if you're going to mention it, at least get it right).
Secondly, they did not do anywhere near the same trip as Evan, because the old Gunbarrel Hwy is closed to traffic. Evan finished the crossing at Carnarvon, not Perth (where this trip ended) so used very different roads from Giles.
Like Brett Nicho, I would have been a lot more impressed with the trip done in a Classic Mini, but then I'm sure they would not have got as much sponsorship for the trip. I would also have liked to see the trip done in November, like the original - when it is A LOT hotter. I reckon it would be a bit of a doddle in April - unless it rained.
Evan's journey was real pioneering stuff - the first cars to cross Australia from East to West through the centre (although I heard yesterday that perhaps a Riley did the trip in the 1920s - will look into that), the first private cars to travel on the Gunbarrel Hwy (7 years after the road was built, they did it at almost the hottest time of the year - mainly as part of a global test in extreme conditions of a new oil for Castrol (not GTX as I previously thought) and they didn't finish when they got to the West coast, but continued up to Darwin, then south to Adelaide, thus making it a figure-eight trip of marathon proportions.
The film is the event is called Crossroads Alice (and is available on DVD from The Mini Experience - shameless plug) and is really interesting.
It was also covered in detail in Evan's book Journeys With Gelignite Jack (1966) which was reprinted some years later as Hit The Road Jack. You may be able to find copies of these books through
www.abebooks.com
Cheers,
Watto.
