Christophe Schwartz:

Christophe was the first European historic racer I reached out to. He is French, but lives in Germany, and is a total Mopar nut. He races a Dodge Charger NASCAR stockcar, a Plymouth Cuda, plus a modern Dodge Viper. The Charger he built for Classic Le Mans, while the Cuda is powered by a big block Hemi. It was because of the Cuda I first contacted Christophe, as I knew he’d based its mechanicals on the Dan Gurney AAR factory Trans-Am Cuda that went to France at the end of the 1970 season, and was eventually fitted with a big block Hemi.

At this stage I was still toying with the idea of taking the Monaro to Europe, and wondered how likely it would be to race an odd-ball car there. Christophe was very helpful, and told me I’d need to provide the FIA with evidence of the racing heritage of the HQ Monaro model in Australia, including period photos and magazine articles.

It was during my conversations with Christophe I began to appreciate just how important it was to work closely with the FIA on attempting to race a car that is an unknown to them, and that attempting to do so from the other side of the world was going to be an incredibly difficult process that would likely not have the outcome I’d hoped for.

It was thanks to all this I finally decided to drop the Monaro idea, and go with the Firebird instead. It’s a decision I’m really happy I made.

Check out Christophe's fascinating blogs here:

http://www.hemicuda-france.com/
http://www.olympia-charger.com/

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