Bean 14 motor vehicle

Bean Cars Ltd collection

Bean 14 motor vehicle

Francis Birtles drove this modified Bean 14 motor vehicle in two record-breaking journeys. In 1926 Barlow Motors, Bean Car's Melbourne agent, commissioned him to drive the vehicle from Darwin to Melbourne. At 4 o'clock on the morning of 23 October, Birtles and co-driver Alec Barlow left Darwin on the 3380-mile dash to Melbourne. Travelling through Katherine, Dajarra, Cunnamulla, Bourke, Sydney and Albury, they arrived in Melbourne eight days and 13 hours later, a record for the time.

Twelve months later, on 19 October, Birtles and the Bean left Australia House in London on a 281-day journey that would take them through Europe, Egypt, Persia, India, Burma (now Myanmar) and Malaya to Darwin. Much of their route had never been travelled by motor vehicle before. The journey ended at the Elizabeth Street post office in Melbourne where Birtles was asked to drive on by the police because he was creating a traffic hazard. This journey was not repeated until 1955-1956.

Bean Cars Ltd presented the Bean to the Australian Government in January 1929 on condition that it was 'placed in the Museum at Canberra'. It became part of the National Historical Collection in 1980.