Rallying was still something of a gentlemanly sport in the early 1950s. Companies tended to spend available funds on motor racing, and in Britain it was only Jowett, Sunbeam-Talbot and Jaguar (by supporting Ian Appleyard) who took things seriously. However, the tide was turning. The Monte Carlo rally was revived in 1949, the first RAC International rally followed in 1951, and events like the Alpine (France), Tulip (Holland) and Lisbon (Portugal) began to attract attention.
Anxious to promote their cars in every possible way, Ford dealers started to lobby for Ford to get involved, and it was no coincidence that Cuth Harrison, who owned a Ford franchise in Sheffield, not only led this movement, but made sure that he would become team captain if it ever came to pass.
Accordingly for the 1953 season, Ford-UK’s first-ever works Competitions Department was set up at the Lincoln
