Grandpa’s axe
Rambling across the Albert Park Golf Course during the 2017 Australian Grand Prix, we stumbled across a display of historic rally cars that included a HT Monaro GTS. It was presented in Holden Dealer Team livery and it looked the real deal.
Naturally with an interest in rally and muscle cars, and with an eye for a story for the pages of this fine journal, we engaged the owner, Luke Dimech, in a chat which revealed that this car had a history stretching back 45 years and a lineage that could indeed be tracked directly to the old Harry Firth Holden Dealer Team and the Monaro rally cars the team built and ran in the 1970 Ampol Trial – as well as a whole lot of other events.
Luke told us that the car had been purchased from long-time Victorian rallyist Ken Cusack in 2014 and had been subjected to a restoration to bring it back to some of its past glory.
Luke had indulged in rallying himself in his youth. But he was also a Monaro fan, having owned two six-cylinder HT Monaros while at university. So when this car popped up for sale on ebay, he was immediately interested.
After making a one-off $17,000 bid for the Monaro, Luke woke up the next morning to discover he now owned the car. This uncovered a few logistical headaches (including how to tell his wife!): how to get it back from rural Victoria to his home in Queensland, and what to do with it.
“I saw it on Ebay and it ticked all the boxes. It was a rally car and it was a Monaro – two of my favourites!” he laughed. “I actually bid for it expecting it to go for a lot more, but I think I was the only bidder and when I checked in the morning I
