1969 Holden Monaro GTS

This car was built in Melbourne in September 1969 as a 80737 186S manual Monaro in White with a Black vinyl roof. It was then converted prior to being road registered to a 350 4 speed specification for racing and was first registered in Melbourne in 1971 with its current 1968 Chevrolet Camaro 4 bolt 350 engine. It was raced in Melbourne and then converted to automatic for use as a drag car during the 1970’s. At the same time the rear guards were tubbed for the larger tyres used for drag racing and the engine was converted to a mechanical drag cam engine and bored out 30 thou to its current capacity of 355 cubic inches. At some stage the car was repainted from white to Spanish Red with the black vinyl roof being retained. In 1987 it was imported to New Zealand for use as personal transport and occasional drag meetings at Teratonga Raceway in Invercargill. I purchased the car from the son of the first New Zealand owner. I purchased the car in September 2009 and contracted a Nelson based Auto Restoration Company Autofocus to undertake a full ground up restoration which took one year to the day. No filler or second hand parts were used – only new OEM where possible and Rare Spares when not. All work was done by one dedicated coachbuilder from start to finish and over 1000 hours tradesman hours was invested. The car was finished in Monza Blue Resene Epoxy Urethane base and clear to a show car finish. My father disassembled the engine and the parts were machined as required at Precision Regrinds in Nelson. The engine was fitted with a Lazer 276 hydraulic cam, the heads were flowed and fitted with new valves and hardened seats. The crank was polished and new SCAT rods fitted and whole assembly balanced. The transmission was overhauled and shift kitted and a high stall converted fitted. The car was run up on the 20th October 2010 and was run in around the South Island over the following Christmas period. The only fault was a minor oil leak from the two piece rear main seal caused by the high oil pressure caused partly by the high volume pump and the 1.5 thou crank to bearing clearance installed by the engine builder. This has subsided over time as the engine beds in. In March 2012 i imported the car to Brisbane which is where it resides today and is fully compliant to Queensland state laws. A full set of photographs of the restoration is available on request. This car represents one of the finest examples of the model and although not completely original as it was built it is with the exception of the transmission exactly how it was first registered in Australia in 1971. Developing around 400hp at the flywheel the performance is best described as enthusiastic over the legal speed limit to insanity if all 4 barrels of the 780 Holley are opened wide.

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