Marathon
Man
Our
tribute to one of Yorkshire's driving forces - Rally
driver and wheeler dealer Eric Jackson
You
may have bought your first used Ford from Eric Jackson's
Polar Motor Company, but in '63 he took a Ford Corsair
on the world's longest test drive.
____________________________________
Summer
1963, Egypt.
"How
many times to I have to tell you? Iım not a ruddy
Israeli spy, Iım a used car dealer from Barnsley."
Well
of course.
And what was a used car dealer from Barnsley doing
arguing with an Egyptian border patrol guard? Why,
racing an ocean liner from Cape Town to Southampton
in his Ford Cortina.
Of
course.
As
well as being known in the rallying world in the
sixties and seventies, Eric Jackson was also known
as Marathon Man. Give him a challenge and he was off.
Driving round the world, racing ocean liners, driving
to Timbuktu, just name it really and crossing the
Sahara to him was like you or me driving over Woodhead,
The legend started in a pub.
But, of course.
There
are those who will remember Potty Edwards, the market
trader. Potty, for those without long memories, was
the bloke who used to give Barnsley market shoppers
a real display of showmanship by juggling tea sets
and dinner services and at the same time giving his
"am I asking thirty quid? Am I asking twenty five
quid?" patter. Potty, during a probably less than
sober conversation, bet Eric that he couldnıt drive
to Timbuktu and back in a fortnight. Now there was
a challenge not to be ignored.. So he did.
Of
course.
Now,
the ultimate challenge came in 1967 when Eric
read a certain book. "Around the world in eighty days?
I could drive it in almost half the time." This time
he chose a Ford Corsair and yes, with his co-driver
Ken Chambers, completed the trip in a mere forty three
days. I doubt that anyone can prove me wrong when
I say that the record remains unbroken to this day.
They
flew to New York to start the journey from there.
It was incident free right until San Francisco where
they were pulled over by a traffic cop for speeding.
Says Jackson "I was in the left hand seat and got
a right bollocking from the cop until he was embarrassed
to see that I had no steering wheel. He sent us on
our way"
In
Ceylon, they hit a water buffalo, in Pakistan
they narrowly avoided a bandit ambush when they drove
straight through a chain that was suspended across
the road which ripped off the roof rack containing
necessary spare parts. There is some rumour that a
damaged radiator and a lack of water containers meant
that there were regular piss stops..
Jacksonıs rallying career continued throughout the
sixties and seventies when he shone in the Monte Carlo
Rally, the East African Safari Rally and other legendary
events, including the London to Sydney run. In the
last one he was running well in sixth place until
third placed Roger Clark cannibalised his car for
parts in the chaotic home stretch. And in between
these activities, running his business ( The legenday
Polar Motor Company) and bringing up a family, Eric
Jackson still found time to race Jim Clark and other
motorsport luminaries around a bobsleigh track in
the northern Italian mountains in a Mark One Ford
Cortina.
Like you do.
And
the last we heard, just a few months ago, Jackson,
at the age of seventy six, was taking part in the
Don Barrow Millennium Rally. He had fun during his
tearing around the globe, but did it make him rich
as well as famous?. Says Jackson "I never made a copper
coin from it. For a Yorkshireman, that was pretty
crazy, wasnıt it?"
Of
course.
