Holden Monaro

[Steve Holmes]

This is bloody good info John, keep it coming.

[Bruce302]

John, yes, same car that I dragged, A previous owner fitted the big tank before I got the car in '77. The filler was in the same location. later on I put in a 300/327 so it went the full circle, nearly.

[John McKechnie]

Bruce, wonder if it survived to modern times and has a nice warm dry garage to rest, lick its wounds and recover.BTW ,what times were you doing and what class? Also looking at thread on NZ Allcomers, there is a R Tanner racing a green Consul, is this the same one that raced your Firebird

[Bruce302]

John,
Not sure if it is the same Robin Tanner in the Consul, I know he dabbled in the hot rod/drag scene and some dirt track activity out Puke way earlier on. My old Monaro managed some mid 13's at 110 mph, not too bad as I drove it all week and it probably still had the spare in it. It must have weighed over 4000 lbs. It was only DYO/match races.

[John McKechnie]

Thats a very good time for a road car Bruce, and I suppose that you were carrying a full 25 gallon tank-50 cents a gallon then.The Kawasaki 500 Mach 3 , which was very light would do 12.2 The GTHO was about 14 secs.Does anybody remember what time Dennis Marwood did with his Camaro at the drags in the early 70s at Wiri.

[Linz]

Hey John, some very good information here. so out of the 22 Bathurst monaro's 81837 imported to NZ by GMH I wonder how many are still on the road. how many private imports do you think there would be?

[John McKechnie]

Linz- you will find that of the ones that GM imported, definitely more came here.
People often viewed the auto as not a true Bathurst., but the correct numbers dont lie
I know of some that have gone back there because Kiwis dont want /cant match the Aussie money
You are sooooooooooooooooo lucky your firewall number shows it was a GMH import , with all the details, you have the tags and matching numbers.
On trade me the is a E49 Charger for $145,000, so you have made a very sensible purchase.

[darren]

Saw Bob Janes HQ Monaro at the Muscle Car Masters today. Beautiful looking car and a credit to the Wall family for it's restoration. Simply awesome car. I'm hoping Pete Geoghegans Monaro will surface again.

[Linz]

I know I am lucky that all the numbers all match, you have made my weekend with that information. I will have to get a copy of the import history from you so I can keep it with the car.
I am working every second weekend to pay for that car so it is worth while now.

[John McKechnie]

Linz- send me a pm with your email address and I will send you what your heart desires.
Now, please tell the story of your Bathurst HK that you had to sell to get your house.
I know viewers out there who would think working every second weekend is a small inconvenience to own what you have.

[Linz]

John- I bought the HK 327 Bathurst Monaro from a farmer just out of Queenstown, it was complete with WOF but was very rough condition. The good points were it had the original engine and original ownership papers and the best thing was the firewall number was on the ownership papers so all the numbers lined up. I started to strip it down and there was so much bog in it it covered the whole garage in bog dust. One of the previous owners told me he spun up on a gravel road and went down a bank and stuffed one side of the car , But the insurance fixed it. But with a bit of work and money I could have finished it.
After a relationship split up and me deciding to keep the house I could not afford both so ended up selling my Monaro.

It was a sad day when the Monaro left my garage, But you have to live somewhere.
I have not seen the car since and the rego number does not come up on Carjam so hopefully it is in someones garage somewhere.

[John McKechnie]

Lin- got any pics to put up mate ?
If you combine the views on this and my Team Cambridge Monaro site, that is a combined total of almost 40,000.
That shows how powerful the Monaro name is and the interest they still generate.
Have sent that page to you, just for you., have a glass of champagne on me and enjoy your weekend off.
The boss of Rare Spares bought one , then sold to a panelbeater. He had it for quite a few years then sold it to Aussies. Was on Ebay some 8 years or so ago- AUS $35K Was blue/blue

[Linz]

John- Thanks for sending the GMH import history of my Monaro. you are right there are 2 R/T E49 Chargers $140K and 160K asking price on Trade Me. That's a lot of gold, They do look good though. I looked at a HT 350 Auto monaro 81837, at a Yard in Ch Ch , Looked like it needed a bit of tiding up, asking price was $60K, It was not advertised for long, Does anyone know if it sold? or maby it was for sale on behalf of. I will try and find some pictures of the 327 HK I owned. It was back in 1991.
Here is a picture of the HT 350 Auto from CHCH

[John McKechnie]

Linz- can I ask for do do a small favour- can you please tell me the measurements from side and bottom of boot lid for the holes to secure the MONARO badge

[Linz]

John- There are 3 pins The side measurements first 140mm 228mm 292mm.
From the bottom of boot lid up starting on the left hand pin 86mm 79mm 79mm

hope this helps
Linz

[John McKechnie]

Linz- thanks for that. The Cambridge Monaro had it in that place.

[Linz]

John- hopefully you can find some more race history.
Check out my Monaro fuel tank it has a big patch cut out of it.
I am guessing something was fitted there to speed up the rufueling when racing.
It takes ages to full that tank at the petrol station and also cost a lot of money.

[John McKechnie]

Linz- On the face of it, I would say that the tank had an accident or rust and this was a cut out to facilitate the repair.

[Aron Peters]

I'm looking to connect with a Forum member - Leo D - regarding some images and an article I'm currently writing. If anyone cane help - or Leo D can contact me directly - I would very much appreciate it.

[Steve Holmes]

Have you had any joy with this yet Aron? I will have his email address if you don't yet have it. Just let me know.