Bathurst & Holden HK & HQ Classics: Classic Restos Series 47

[@georgewinters3191]

Good episode Fletch, I could live on a diet of Monaro GTS’s. Had a ‘68 GTS 186/s , silver with black interior, loved that car. Thanks to those who keep the marque alive and feed our memories👍

[@noelgibson5956]

What I wouldn't give to have an as new HT GTS 350..........in red with black interior!

[@BillyMillion]

No you couldn’t. You need food and water too or you would literally die. You cannot eat a car.

[@donaldhollums3278]

Great episode, Mr. Fletch. Hurry up with the next one!

[@ShannonsInsurance]

Hi Donald, thank you for commenting and glad to hear you liked the episode. Stay tuned for more to come. - Andres.

[@noelgibson5956]

I've had more Holden's than any other brand........but wouldn't say they were the best brand. Chrysler in the 60's ate Holden's for lunch......until the HK! In the 70's, Ford was better. Holden had the V8 RTS Torana for a while......which was Holden's 70's high point imo. My VK Commodore and HG Kingswood could never keep up with Ford's from the same era.......and the Trimatics were rubbish. Still.......I wish Ford, Holden, Chrysler............and Toyota and Mitsubishi, were still manufacturing here. I'm still mourning what we've lost as I type.

[@lukestocks4370]

Good on you Johnny. Nice wheels

[@johnd8892]

Did the HQ Monaro ever race in the Bathurst 500/1000 ? Did the HQ Monaro four door ever have the 350 V8 as an engine option?

[@CaptainGreyboots]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_HQ

[@noelgibson5956]

No and yes.

[@steveskrobot9496]

Yes the HQ GTS 4 door came out with the 4 bolt 350 TH400 option. Back in the 90's me & my mate drove up to Sydney to pick up a HQ GTS in this configuration from the Bible (The Trading Post) for $3300. Honest to god, it was the same colour scheme inside & exteriour as the one in this video. Like Fletch mentions, it had the red & chrome Tri-Matic badge. Lucky bastard still owns it today but he did a colour change respray which he probably regrets.

[@stevedriver1476]

Holden Drivers used and some dealers supported drivers using the Lc, LJ, toranas.1. Hq,s didnt race in the 500 and 2nd. lots of 350 monaros were 4 door. Holden used old stock body panels and shells to make 350 monaros in 4 door, SS monaro,s that were 253ci 4 door belmonts with no chrome and came in orange or green, i did see a few purple ones in the 70,s. The first Hq had white front blinkers and came out in late 71 and wouldn,t be as easy to build to race as anXU-1. The Toranes and 350HQ,s were also used in the Australian Rally Scene. This was more or less series production racing and old photo,s sho cars had rego plates on them. A Hq 350 wouldn,t last 2 laps and wouldn,t have brakes after 1 lap where a torana wich WAS A VAUXHALL not an Aussie invention could keep going. The 350Hq would have neen a good thing but the factory brakes were pethetic for racing as the car only had 14 inch wheels. BoB Jane ran a 350HQ up against Moffats Mustang in the next catagory i think it was called Improved Touring cars where they ran Fuel injection, flared guards and hot motors and a South Australian called Malcolm Ramsay ran a 308 HQ 4 door sponsored by 5AD in Adelaide it was often 1/2 a lap behind the front runners but ahead of the rest of the field. I saw that race Live as a kid. They were all good cars.

[@jgsheehan8810]

I remember a privateer racing a 4dr HQ Monaro 350 at Bathurst one year. Maybe Ron Dickson ? who later raced a Camaro 350

[@peterbarber7613]

Just wondering why they had 2 museum's there

[@stevedriver1476]

I owned an 81837 HK 327 for 26 years and dont regret selling it they were a poor mans camaro with a 250hp early model and the 275hp later. These cars had the same engines that were in 4 door 1968 Impalas and belairs and were not a performance engines. My car along with all 81837 HK,s has tramp rods, a 28 gallon fuel tank and were all manual. The car in the Bathurst Museum and often bandied around as a 327HK is in fact a 80837 model and i have seen the stamp on the firewall in the museum its a 307 and they were even more lame than the 327 with an over square engine and 2bbl carb. Even Green stopped the GM FORD Valiant thing actually putting big blocks in the cars. The Wyong Motors car of McPhee may have been a 307 shell as John Goss often used Falcon 500 shells to build GTHO,s and XA,XB Gt,s as they were cheaper.

[@GhostOfRT300]

What a pity the other 9 cars were missing

[@jacquer3771]

Monaro....yeah

[@smiddysmidton8313]

Australian cars were always poor imitations of the US parent company cars , including these GTS monaros and GT falcons. They were slow and weak in comparison to US muscle but what price Aussie nostagia