Australian Muscle Car

Australian Muscle Car is a fresh, proudly Australian publication dedicated to preserving the legend of the unique ‘Australian made’ Ford vs Holden muscle car heritage. From 1960s classic Bathurst muscle to the super sophisticated Falcon and Commodore performance cars of the new millennium and everything in between.

Steve Normoyle

Australian Muscle Car

HDT Monaro breaks sales record

Supercars back on track

Nothing new under the (setting) sun

Brock doco not over the top

DJR book

Auction update

Wally’s Words • The pen is mightier than the sword

Adventures with Brocky: tales from Peter Brock’s PR chief

Paul Newby

AMC BEST LETTER

Premature emasculation • In 1970 at Bathurst, Holden’s dynamic new Torana GTR XU-1 was defeated by Ford’s Phase II version of the XW Falcon GT-HO. There was a new-model Holden which might have beaten Ford on the Mountain that year, but Holden had chosen to leave it behind. So it was that as the bellowing growl of the GT-HO’s new Cleveland 351 V8 echoed around Mount Panorama, Holden’s own heavyweight V8 contender sat languishing in silence in Holden dealer showrooms across the country.

Colin Bond • Colin Bond won Bathurst in a Holden Dealer Team Monaro in 1969. He thinks a good GTS 350 could have done the job again in 1970.

Dealer principle

Brock’s sprint debut

Bob Morris • Bob Morris’ touring car career kicked off in 1970 an ex-HDT Monaro GTS 350. It led to a factory HDT drive at Bathurst, but in a new Torana XU-1 that was significantly slower around the Mountain than Morris’ Monaro had been over the Easter weekend that year.

Ian Tate: • As right-hand man to Harry Firth, Ian Tate was deeply involved not only with the Holden Dealer Team Monaro HT GTS 350 race effort in 1969 and early ‘70, but also the development of the XU-1 and the 1970 endurance race campaign.

Skating on thin ice in a Monaro… • The decision to switch from the GTS 350 to a hot version of the six-cylinder LC Torana for Series Production racing was not an error of judgement. It was, says Joe Felice, Holden’s motorsport chief at the time, the only option.

What would Harry have done? • Had it been up to Harry Firth, Holden would have continued racing the Monaro in 1970 and would have gone to the Mountain that year with a new Bathurst version of the HG model Monaro. Here are the two Monaro HG GTS homologation packages Firth put to Holden.

Harry Firth’s lightweight HG Monaro 308 proposal

Old Man Emu

Harry Firth’s ‘Old Man Emu’ HG Monaro GTS 350 proposal

The last HT • There was one Monaro in the 1970 race. It loomed as something of a dark horse after some promising sprint race performances – and it was getting just a little bit of help from Harry Firth – but it met an unusual end early on in the race.

The lone HG

Command performer • A pair of Holden Dealer Team HT Monaro GTS 350s would have been competitive in the 1970 Bathurst 500. That premise is supported by solid facts – the lap times and race results not just from that year but also the first half of 1971. But had Holden gone to the Mountain with Monaros in 1970, it would have been with the new HG model, not the HT. So, what of the 1970 version of the Monaro GTS 350?

Out of Africa • The mild makeover the Monaro received for the HG model’s 1970 release was way too subtle for most Aussie Holden enthusiasts’ liking. It was left to General Motors’ stylists in South Africa to give it the facelift it deserved. And when they did, GMSA’s HG-based Chevrolet SS added a quirky twist to the legend of original-shape Monaro.

Retro Vision

The life Of Digby • Digby Cooke might not be a household name in motorsport but the likes of Colin Bond, Allan Moffat and Peter Brock well knew who he...