Sunday August 5 th 1979 was a chilly afternoon at the Melbourne Showgrounds when 167 cars embarked on an adventure that would see them compete in what many regard as the toughest long-distance rally since the Continent to Continent epics of the early 20 th Century, and the last great round Australia trial.

The 1979 Repco Round Australia Reliability Trial was a 14 day event, where competitors in only rear wheel drive cars travelled 19,000 km over some ridiculously tough roads, that would see only 13 cars completed the entire route.

One of those cars was Car number 7, a Volvo 244 DL sedan, driven by rally legend Ross Dunkerton, co-driven by motoring journalist Peter McKay and navigated by Geoff Jones, that finished 4 th outright behind the 3 Holden Racing Team Commodores and ahead of the Ford Motor Company Team Cortina.

Peter McKay joins me for this month’s Famous Last Words podcast to recount his memories of the 79 Repco Reliability Trial, especially the dust, gates, in car drama’s, broken suspension and even more dust.

40 years and 337 gates later Peter McKay relives Repco madness