In 1903, Horatio Nelson Jackson and Sewall K Crocker became the first overlanders to drive a motor car across the United States from West to East. Quite an achievement!
But it was not until 1927 that the first attempt to drive from London to Singapore and on to Australia was even contemplated. A whopping 24years of motor car development was required before attempt. And it was a failure... all due to bad British engineering and the lack of testing. So purely tested, that the car had not even completed 30miles of testing (45km).
Key to this expedition was a veteran Australian overlander: Francis Birtles. His job title was "overlander" as he had started his overland career on bicycles and slowly progressed to the motor car as it became more popular. He would go on to set many Australian motoring records. (Australia is just about the same size as North America).
Back to 1928... feeling the failure of the 1st expedition, Francis Birtles set out in his trusted Bean 14 motor car for Singapore and Australia.
The challenge of this route was the 60-odd hills in Burma.
Months after setting out from London he eventually arrived in Calcutta, India where he chanced upon a young Canadian whose bicycle had just been stolen. Together, they headed for the Naga hills...
Toiling for over a month, the team of two dragged, pully'ed and pushed the Bean 14 car over the hills. Eventually they reached the other side only to encounter the Monsoon weather. With the onset of Malaria, Birtles opted to ship the vehicle a distance of 700km before continuing his overland adventure from Penang to Singapore and eventually across Australia.
700km was all that had prevented him from becoming the first person to drive from London to Singapore. An achievement that would be accredited to the joint Oxford-Cambridge expedition in 1955. The route was so easy then, that the two Land Rovers crossed from West to East before heading back from Singapore to London.
Birtles, the overlander, had no WWII roads to follow like the Oxford Cambridge expedition. Still, his achievement, if little remembered was remarkable.
Read more via the Overland Live blog
But it was not until 1927 that the first attempt to drive from London to Singapore and on to Australia was even contemplated. A whopping 24years of motor car development was required before attempt. And it was a failure... all due to bad British engineering and the lack of testing. So purely tested, that the car had not even completed 30miles of testing (45km).
Key to this expedition was a veteran Australian overlander: Francis Birtles. His job title was "overlander" as he had started his overland career on bicycles and slowly progressed to the motor car as it became more popular. He would go on to set many Australian motoring records. (Australia is just about the same size as North America).
Back to 1928... feeling the failure of the 1st expedition, Francis Birtles set out in his trusted Bean 14 motor car for Singapore and Australia.
The challenge of this route was the 60-odd hills in Burma.
Months after setting out from London he eventually arrived in Calcutta, India where he chanced upon a young Canadian whose bicycle had just been stolen. Together, they headed for the Naga hills...
Toiling for over a month, the team of two dragged, pully'ed and pushed the Bean 14 car over the hills. Eventually they reached the other side only to encounter the Monsoon weather. With the onset of Malaria, Birtles opted to ship the vehicle a distance of 700km before continuing his overland adventure from Penang to Singapore and eventually across Australia.
700km was all that had prevented him from becoming the first person to drive from London to Singapore. An achievement that would be accredited to the joint Oxford-Cambridge expedition in 1955. The route was so easy then, that the two Land Rovers crossed from West to East before heading back from Singapore to London.
Birtles, the overlander, had no WWII roads to follow like the Oxford Cambridge expedition. Still, his achievement, if little remembered was remarkable.
Read more via the Overland Live blog
Last edited:
