PERKINS Engineering’s latest video shows off one of Larry Perkins’ upcoming restorations – and it’s not a touring car.
The six-time Bathurst 1000 winner shows off a Volkswagen Beetle that he campaigned in both the 1979 Repco Reliability Trial and the inaugural Australasian Safari in 1985.
PRE-ORDER: Perkins Engineering – The Cars, 1986-2008
QUADRUPLE CROWN: The forgotten Bathurst event win
RARE PICS: Mark Skaife’s Jordan F1 test … in a car park!
While Larry may be best associated with Holden machinery, Volkswagens play a key role in the Perkins family’s racing history.
Larry’s father Eddie was a renowned campaigner of Beetles on rally events in the 1950s – in fact, he and brother Lance won the 1956 Mobilgas Round Australia Trial in one!
The resurrection of the event with Repco sponsorship in 1979 drew a Volkswagen entry from the family’s next generation, prepared and driven by Larry and brother Garry.
Holden’s three-car Commodore fleet dominated the event but the little Beetle ran incredibly strongly early, sitting in sixth place on the second day when they rolled near the end of the Blinman stage, west of Broken Hill.
Six years later, Perkins campaigned the same chassis (albeit with a new body) on the Wynn’s Safari, a seven-day, 6,000km test from Sydney to Darwin.
“After six days of this rally were were actually right up the front among the top two or three … but then I broke a steering ball joint,” Perkins explained.
Watch Perkins show off the car and talk about its history in the player below:
