UPDATE II: Coincidently, Daniel Strohl published a story today discussing the “Last Overland” journey of 1955 which went from London to Singapore.

UPDATE: After five years of occasional searching, I finally snagged a copy of this book from the US. It’s more of a detailed travelogue than I’d expected, with specifics on the mileage and other details from the trip. It was a quick, fun read.

From the original November 2, 2013, post:  It is 1957 and you are stuck in Singapore fighting on behalf of the British government.  You are ready to leave.  You want to get home.  How do you get there?  Maybe you should buy yourself a junked MB and drive home? It’s only 13,000 miles …..

To add to the fun, with the exception of a school wall map, you have no maps of any kind (though you do have a compass and protractor), let alone mileage markers or directions.  And, it’s likely that gas stations will be few and far between.  Finally, you will likely encounter various factions of people not so friendly to you and your buddy.  Now, that sounds like an adventure!

And, it was a true adventure for Roy Follows and Noel Dudgeon, starting as two Colonial Police officers as part of a force battling Chinese Communists near the end of the Malayan Emergency.  Ready to head home, the pair bought an MB in February of 1958 and begin a long journey home full constant brake-downs, broken parts, and other obstacles.  Here are some pics of from the book, included a compiled map from the back and front covers.

I never did understand why they named the jeep “Pliuet 1”.

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