80 replies to this topic

[REDA9X]

Ok, let me clear this up.
HDT had 2 sedans and one hatch when John Sheppard took over in 78. Since we are talking about sedans, I'll call them 1 and 2.

1 is the car in the original picture. This car was used at Sandown by Brock in 78 and then a few rounds by Harvey after he destroyed Brocks new hatch in practice at Amaroo. This car was then used at Bathurst as the "T" car as shown in the previous pics. This car was built from an LX GMP&A shell and converted to A9X specs at the end of 77 . This car is now owned by Chiomi.



2. was never used in the time John Sheppard ran HDT. HDT used the car for promotion purposes only and it was painted up as 05, this is why sometimes there is confusion with the cars, however there are obvious differences between them and if you know what you are looking for it's easy to pick. This car started as an L34 and was crashed heavily by Colin Bond at Amaroo Park in 76. Harry bought a new shell and cut the rear end off and welded it to the front of this car. The front of the new shell was used to repair Skeltions car also damaged in the same accident. Harry then got the two damaged halves, roughly welded them together with the intention of sending them to Grice who had caused the accident.
When Harvey became the only full time driver with HDT in 77 he was given this car to use, only to find it turned one way but not so well the other. He demanded a new shell and so a new shell was purchased and this became number 1.This car was used by Charlie O'Brien at Bathurst and sandown in 77. This car is now owned by Peter Champion.

The pictures below show the two cars, you can see the 05 car with for sale on it is car 2, which is also pictured with 8 on the door. The other two pictures with 05 on the door are car 1.

Attached Files

•  big_6017_N_HDT_78.jpg   28.23K   24 downloads
•  big_6132_N_Brock_78.jpg   32.2K   16 downloads
•  big_6165_N_OBri_77.jpg   35.12K   12 downloads
•  77710.jpg   48.41K   9 downloads
•  77735.jpg   59.31K   9 downloads
•  78019.jpg   42.49K   10 downloads
•  78801.jpg   48.2K   12 downloads

[its Paul]

Sorry Red, I'm a bit slow :-) does Peter Champion own number 8?

Thank you Red for your's and every one eles's input, it has been an interesting read.

Paul.

[its Paul]

Also the sedan under cover, is that the 77 car?

[REDA9X]

Yes, Champion has car 8 painted as 05, (number 2) but he advertises it as 05 (number 1).

[REDA9X]

Also the sedan under cover, is that the 77 car?

The sedan under the cover is number 1 at Bathurst 78 as the T car

[its Paul]

Thanks Red.

[its Paul]

bathurst a9x toranas a photographic history,is the book i have paul

Thanks Chris, I'll chase a copy.

Cheers.

[u1 71]

how many promotional hdt a9x sedans and hatches were there.were any of these cars gmpa shells and how many survive today.does the sedan with the full cage and big hotwires still exist.

Edited by u1 71, 04 November 2011 - 03:04 AM.

[its Paul]

The photo (05 car) I put up at the begining of this thread is the "T" car that Chris (ASS308) posted, as RED stated, this car began its life as an L34, then smashed and was half cut repaired, it drove very ordinary so then was reshelled with a GMP&A shell and later upgraded to A9X options. This car in todays language is not a "Factory" A9X, but in its day it was, in my opinion this car with its history is more than an A9X, Its a mutt with culture...
As far as GMP&A shells goes, it was that a General Motors Part & Accessories, if you destroyed your car (road car) you could buy a new shell and swap it all over the tags would have MODEL : GMP&A how many there were ???? Red's your man.

The sedan with the full cage and big hotwires I think you are referring to the number 8 car (05 promotional), This car was used by Charlie O'Brien at Bathurst and sandown in 77. This car still exists and is now owned by Peter Champion. as Red states above.

I hope I dont have it all muddled up.

[u1 71]

in the 80 s there was a car yard along parramatta road i think it was called performance car centre that had a blue a9x sedan that they sold as brocks race car.i saw this car at a car show it was wild.i remember the roll cage went through the back seat and had blue velour inserts.from memory it had the big hotwires and a repco 5000 motor in it and 4 wheel discs,which hdt car is this

[u1 71]

i know a holden dealer who gave one promo a9x sedan to his son .

[REDA9X]

To answer the promo car question, MARLBORO had 3 cars assigned to them for promotional purposes, a sedan and two hatches. They had sequential rego plates I think the sedan was IXT373, the two hatches were IXT 374 and IXT 375. One hatch is here in Sydney, I think the other has gone to WA now? I believe the sedan is in SA with outacontrol? Of the two hatches one had a roll cage, the other didn't. They were both featured in magazines of the day, one with Brock against a Ferrari and one just on a test drive. There are several other cars that were either owned by Holden or dealers that were painted up in Marlboro colours but they were not marlboro promo cars in the true sense in that they didn't go to race meetings with the team or with marlboro on display days. All of the promo cars were just road cars painted up, some had various bits done to them during their lives but they were essentially stock cars when assigned to Marlboro. Just for the record the factory never produced A9X sedan race cars, they were all GMP&A shells which required modifications to bring them to A9X specs. Parramatta road was always claiming to have some ex Brock race car so I'd take that with a grain of salt however when Brock was at Bill Pattersons during 1977 they had the L34 and a GMP&A shell they initially built as an L34 replacement but it was only run once in that form. There is a picture of the two Brock brothers racing them at a meeting as L34's as 05 and 50 from memory. That car was changed to an A9X and raced at Bathurst, the L34 stayed as an L34 and Brock raced the hatch. The A9X sedan was later painted blue and made into a road car, a forum member here owned it a while before it was eventually changed back to a race car and is raced today in Group C. The L34 was sold and became the Citizen A9X, later became a road car and was stolen in Lithgow never to be seen again.

[05Torana]

According to the Holden Torana Performance handbook there are seven cars with dealer codes 214 & 215 (Promotional duties).
Three are hatchbacks and four are sedans
Three sedans & 1 hatchback are under the 214 code and 1 sedan & 2 hatchbacks are under the 215 code
There is a photo from a previous thread that shows one of the four door promo's in MHDT trim and utilising the steel road rims.
Does any member have a photo of the 4 door promo that can confirm the registration number ?

[REDA9X]

Many were assigned for promotional duties, but things change you can't just go off that list. A good example would be the first hatch being assigned as a promo car but it never was, JNO652 was the hatch that did all the promotional duties for the magazines and from memory it's not assigned a promotional duties dealer code.