The Cambridge Monaro

[@malcolmirving9485]

The HT grill you mentioned was the first ABS plastic grill Holden ever used.

[@chocodiledundee1]

Amazingly beautiful history, thank you so much for helping to save this car what most probably would’ve been destroyed and most probably never been found out how precious it really was , in this case the car had done communication with you to help it find a real home and real love and appreciation as everything is made of the same components what is energy ! Well done marvellous automotive historical documents of Australia and New Zealand 🇳🇿 acervo

[@nealenewton4193]

Terrific upload...! This car was featured in an Australian Muscle Car magazine some years ago. Great to see footage of a classic from the day. I've always admired how a country the size of NZ has contributed to so much important race cars. As a boy we'd be cheering for Bruce McLaren as much as our own Sir Jack Brabham. I can remember when Bruce lost his life testing one of his own monster Can Am cars,such a great loss. Thanks again 😁👍

[@theroaringseason380]

thank you!

[@PiefacePete46]

NZ is a bit like the lint trap in your clothes dryer... some amazing things have ended up there! 😜

[@georgesheweiry3492]

You forgot to say that John searched high and low to find that rear wing, but try as he may, one could not be found. Now he was videoing the rebuild of the car and when it was getting to the end of the build he mentioned his inability to locate one. Now previous to this, I had been egged on by a bunch of people who still had their old race cars to start a class for them, Historic Sports Sedans so we all could run our old race cars again, and 12 agreed to have their cars ready for the first race 13 odd months later. Unfortunately 3 weeks before the event that I had to guarantee to the Auckland Car Club a minimum of 10 cars, (for the first round) I found out there were only 3. Now I had put my name on this and no one was going to think they could f--k me over real easy! So I went out and bought 2 race cars and got my brother and some of our mates to run with us for that weekend. I had 13 cars. The next meeting a few weeks later after giving them all a rarking I had one more and so I canned it. Nek minute John was online berating me for not keeping it going, but surprisingly was shut down by a whole heap of good people who came to my aid. Now I had been watching his rebuild online and was impressed by his determination and attention to detail. So I put aside his unfair lambasting of me and contacted him to say that I actually had one of those rear wings. Funnily after a sheepish start he quickly got around to, can I come now and have a look, and I virtually hung up the ph and he was there. His mouth dropped to the ground when he realised it was the correct wing, and then with a face full of dread from thoughts of his online rant, he sheepishly asked-----how much? Now because of it's rarity and what had previously gone down, I knew I could easily get from him $2500!!! But I told him I was impressed by his attention to detail and the mammoth task he had taken on and done a great job i told him that it was my contribution to his project, to which for a change he was quite speechless! And that is how he got his ultra rare rear wing

[@Penguinracer]

What a heart warming story Steve. Your social history of NZ racing cars, their owners and drivers is a fascinating insight into a small close-knit racing fraternity. Great work!👍

[@theroaringseason380]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. Its interesting the emotions these old cars stir up

[@MartinMcMartin]

So cool to see a restored car being used again, and not just be a dust catcher in a collection somewhere.

[@theroaringseason380]

Agreed!

[@PiefacePete46]

I was about to recommend you invest in a new camera when I realised that was not the reason I was seeing a misty picture!... This takes me back to memorable times spent touring around the South Island events with Allan Dick in the "Trusty Dog", (a 1950's Rover 90). The car had a column mounted gear lever which was held in place with a knurled nut which could be undone by hand. It became the trendy thing for "anonymous" people to souvenir the lever after a few bevvies. 🥴 I vaguely remember names like Brent Hawes and Leo Leonard among the accused, but surely that couldn't be right! 😜 Luckily, you could still change gear with a screwdriver jammed in the socket! Thanks again for another wonderful video... Jeez I'm old!

[@allandick4281]

Well, well, well. J P Colvin. Hope you are well John. Been a long, long, long time. Probably 1971/72.

[@barrycuda3769]

Thank you ,very interesting, I love getting the details on historic NZ race cars . A couple of years ago , I was painting a customers house, and noticed he had a late model Mc Laren in his garage, and this got us talking about cars , and it turned out that he was the long term owner of the Cambridge Lola T70 , which I actually remember being repainted at the car painting shop I worked at in the early nineties. I'm wondering what other Cambridge sponsored race cars there were ? , I know of the '68 Camaro.

[@theroaringseason380]

Thanks! Rothmans ran the Cambridge sponsorship for two seasons and the Cambridge supported cars included David Oxton's Elfin Formula Ford, Frank Radisich's McLaren M10, the Coppins Camaro, Rodger Anderson's BMW 2002, Barry Phillips' Mini Cooper, as well as the Lola T70 etc. Amazingly, most still survive

[@glennducey22]

Also Bryan Faloon's Rorstan and Graham Watson's Brabham

[@PiefacePete46]

Until I saw the Monaro, I had completely forgotten about this livery... surprising now I see how many cars were featured.

[@patriciafennell7761]

awesome video

[@donbrashsux]

Beautiful HK ..Must have been hard to stop this ol girl

[@gregatkinson5929]

Makes you think of Norm Beechey ( Stormin Norman)

[@lanceferris1884]

Can you do a feature on the ford super falcon than raced in NZ in 70-72 season ? This was raced by lan geohagen.. would Love to hear that story if you able..

[@theroaringseason380]

I'd love to although the car is in Australia. But I know the family fairly well so who knows...

[@ldnwholesale8552]

David Bowden owns the car. In his collection in Qld

[@MySteamChannel]

Using a HT front grill but all is forgiven - Monaro fan & owner from Oz.

[@ldnwholesale8552]

Hk the realall other since were pretenders!! And if you know these models there is a LOT of differences. Front suspension, trans crossmember and parts of the floor and ofcourse the alloy grille instead of the shitty plastic one.

[@darrincassidy9045]

Norm Beachys HK ended up in a paddock in Western Australia, what a shame.

[@samward6322]

It’s restored now

[@ldnwholesale8552]

@@samward6322 Different car. Norm had a HK,, the junk in WA now then the HT 350 which he won the title in. In David Bowdens collection fully restored.

[@darrincassidy9045]

@@samward6322 Restored as the track car or road car?

[@simonellerton1412]

The 307 hk was the slowest v8 bathurst for holden .. Fun fact

[@MySteamChannel]

The HK 307 was not a Bathurst model, it was only a retail model with the designated build code of 80837. The Bathurst model HK used the 327 for retail & racing & was designated build code 81837.

[@ldnwholesale8552]

Noone ever raced a 307 Monaro at Bathurst. In fact they were never ever raced seriously ever.

[@MacOne53]

Fender(?) flares.

[@theroaringseason380]

Yeah, the flares that cover the wide wheels

[@PiefacePete46]

Don't panic... they're not missing off your Stratocaster! ! 😜