Yeah, yeah, I know, not an interesting subject and silly European cars etc etc. And I agree. But what if I told you that the Finnish rally drivers were very close of winning the overall title in the most prestigious rally event ever, the Monte Carlo? And in a Commando Valiant and Barracuda no less? There are some pretty fascinating stories about the Finnish Chrysler-Plymouth import company, Berner Oy, rally stable which lasted only a few short years but which showed the world that no matter what the competition is, Chrysler is right at the top. But before we go digging deep in the Valiant effort, we have to know a bit about a guy who was essential in making it all happen. These articles are translated by me from the Finnish Mobilisti Magazine without permission. The articles date back about 20 years so I don't think that this will cause the publishers any harm. Furthermore, the world needs to know these stories so very few know about, even in the Mopar world. So, here's the story of a few white Valiants and one red Barracuda. Bear with me as I write these over a few days.

One of the main characters is Esko Keinänen, a man some said, who was born with a steering wheel in has hands. This is his story, it touches the Chrysler years just briefly but is essential in understanding who he was. A good background for the Valiant years.

"Call me Esko, just Esko".

Esko Keinänen was one of the greatest talents in Finnish motorsport history. The great hero of the Helsinki Zoo races (Eläintarhan Ajot) and the son of automotive world multitalent and inventor S.P.J. Keinänen took part in his first race in the spring of 1951, at just 15 years of age. The result was immediately a second place but the success lead to the fact that the young guns' age became painfully obvious and his license was revoked. Esko had to wait for three years against his will but when he returned to the tracks in the summer of 1954 it was the start of a career that took him to the top of international motorsports in places like Nurburgring, Jyväskylä and Monte Carlo.

The talented young man could not have chosen himself a better father than S.P.J. Keinänen. Known for his speedy tactics the car salesman-inventor father could even in the tightly regulated world of early 50:s Finland create possibilities for his son's beginning career. Esko's first car was - typical for the times - a Ford Special. For the public these Specials, very popular in the Nordic countries, became a household name especially via the Helsinki Zoo races. In the mid-50s their time was over in the bigger international races. However, they were run hard in local dirt track and ice races. Between 1954 and 1957 Esko made a name for himself specifically on the horse tracks and iced lakes. Wherever he ran there was a trophy or two to bring home.

Riding with the big boys

Esko started his international career in just about the most magnificent way in August of 1958. Carl-Otto Bremer had acquired a real big racer in the spring of 1957, a Ferrari 750M and managed to get him self a start in the World Championship race at Kristianstad, Sweden due to his good result in the qualifying race in Kiruna, Sweden. Carl-Otto had taken notes of Esko's fearless and wild driving at the Finnish ice tracks and asked him now share driving duties in the 1000km race in Kristianstad. In the midst of the Maserati and Ferrari factory team battle Esko and Carl-Otto finished sensationally 6th in the large sportscar class. Although sensational, the success was not a coincidence. Only a bit over 20 both of them were among the most talented Finnish drivers, two of the very few that got noted internationally.

In the summer of 1958 there was also the first professional Finnish racing team, the in Finland legendary proportions gained Scuderia Askolin. Askolin participated in their biggest international race, the 1000km Nurburgring World Championship race with two cars and four drivers. Lars Finnilä and Fred Geitel ran in the Touring Car class with a Ferrari 250GT, Curt Lincoln and Esko Keinänen would participate with the number one car, a Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa in the big Sports Car class. Something telling about the trust our junior aged hero got is that the Nurburgring race was just about the biggest race in Europe after the 24hr LeMans. There was 22 year old Esko running on Nordschleife with names like Moss, Hawthorn, Musso and Behra. If that didn't teach you about racing, nothing would. In the end Lincoln and Keinänen finished 9th in the big Sports Car class, Finnilä and Geitel third in the Touring Car class. The result was quite good considering the resources. Even if Scuderia Askolin was called the largest private team in the world by some Finns, the fact was that the resources were quite limited. At the fall of 1958 it became painfully obvious that brave effort to create blue and white Finnish professional racing team proved to be impossible. The last race for Scuderia Askolin was the Copenhagen Cup driven in Roskilde in August 1958. The Finns didn't see much success but at least Esko got a funny memory;

"As I was preparing for the race I asked the service guy - at least that's what I thought he was - who was standing close to me, to help me out. I made him run quite a bit and accused him for being too slow. When the price ceremony started I noticed the same guy walking towards the podium with trophies in hand. Turns out the "serviceman" was the protector of the event, Danish Prince Jaques Bourbon Parme...we have been good friends ever since".

Towards the rally paths

Carl-Otto Bremer had also been at Nurburgring, he had driven a Ferrari with the Swede Gunnar Carlson. Their effort had however ended at the 29th lap. Quite upset about this Otto- a known Saab rally star - had told Esko that; "Sure, you can drive on the race tracks but in a rally on unknown roads, you'd probably end up sucking your thumb several times. I'll promise to eat my hat if you can finish in the top 20 at the Grand Race in Jyväskylä". More gloves in his face than that didn't Esko need. If he could get a car he'd be feeding Otto his hat at Jyväskylä in August. He'd even bring some mustard along. The Peugeot importer gave Esko a 403 to drive and when the dust had settled in Jyväskylä there was a complete unknown for the rally world in 4th place - Esko Keinänen. It is not known if Otto ate his hat or chewed on his helmet but the fact remains, due to his friend Esko found what would be his own game , in a big way.

The rally season of 1959 began with another big event the Finnish winter rally, Hankiralli. Here Esko and Otto would really find out who's who as Otto had some trouble in the earlier race. The fiery race resulted in a win for Esko and Kai Nuortila, Otto and Jussi Lampi had to settle for second place for a change. These two cars were in their own class, no one else had a chance to fight for the win.

In the spring Esko continued from where he had been after Nurburgring. After the end of Scuderia Askolin the Ferraris had gone to Sweden but the Jaguar D Curt Lincoln had bought in 1955 and later painted in the Askolin colors was still in Finland. In 1959 Esko made his debut at the Helsinki Zoo Race with this car. In the big Sports Car class Carl-Otto Bremer took a magnificent win in his Ferrari in front of the delighted audience. Aston Martin driver Graham Whitehead finished second. In fourth place was Esko in his outdated Jaguar. If the star was falling at the asphalt tracks the Jaguar was still tough to beat on the dirt and ice tracks. Esko toured these in the 59 and 60 seasons, usually taking home the winning trophy.

After finding the rally genre it started to fill Esko's schedule more and more. 1959 was the first year for the Finnish Rally Championship series. Jyväskylä was that year in Swedish hands but even there Esko was the best Finn in 5th place. After the last race, Helsinki Rally, the points were counted and the first Finnish Rally Champion was the Peugeot team Keinänen - Nuortila.

International breakthrough - 1961 Monte Carlo

In the 1960 season Esko started a three year long partnership with Suomen Koneliike which imported Alfa Romeo and Skoda. With the latter Esko would write a chapter in the Finnish rally history. The factory as well as the import company were quite committed to the effort so the base for success was present. Esko ended up in 3rd place in the Finnish championship, Carl Otto won and a rising star, Rauno Aaltonen (my mum worked at his car dealership as a young girl), took second with same amount of points as Esko. The 1961 season started for Esko with the most legendary of them all - the Monte Carlo. Esko driving in Monte Carlo was also the breakthrough for the Finnish rally drivers internationally. By driving Esko and Rainer Eklund took a class win and an incredible third place overall. But as usual, the French changed the rules afterwards to suit their own drivers better and dropped Esko and Rainer in 6th place overall. But nevertheless, Esko was instantly an international rally star and Skoda a force to be reckoned with in rally circles.

In August the Grand Race in Jyväskylä had the famous swedes dropped from the top three. Rauno Aaltonen won after superb driving in his big Mercedes 220S, Pauli Toivonen was second in his Citroen ID and Esko third in his Skoda Octavia. Each took class wins in their respective classes. In October Esko won the first ever Nordic Rally. Rauno Aaltonen was the Finnish Rally Champion.

Well there's a cool bit of Mopar racing history I didn't know anything about! Thanks for posting that.

What powered those Valiants, do you know?

I have always wanted a pair of Valiantits...

Thanks for sharing, your translation was perfect, I think.

Cool, thanks for sharing. I know about Scott Harvey, but that's about all I know about the rallying efforts.
I'll be interested to know about the engines & drivetrains...

That is very interesting and cool.

I love to watch WRC Rally racing but it is just too hard to follow here in the US.

I was just a kid then, with a newly printed 1965 drivers license, and really didn't know a lot about rallys, but I knew about these Valiants.

I tried to get dad (Mr. 63436) to order one, but no joy, he didn't think he would ever sell it, and me at 16 and still in high school, with no money, a poor credit risk at the bank.

Finally, around 1968 or 69 I got a Formula S used, even had the fast manual steering! And, in Vermont on the potholed, frost heaved roads, I wished for power steering!

After moving to Florida in the early 80s I found a 66 V100, dark blue, 273 4bbl 4 spd, but it had been a drag car, and had a straight axle and fenderwell headers, so I passed. Low mileage, solid, decent car, too,but I thought I could find a better one, so I passed on it.

If I found the same car now I would be all over it.

very interesting article.
a piece of Mopar history that needs telling before it gets lost.
thank you for posting.

Not into rallys as such, but will still be waiting for the next chapter.