LIVING HISTORY

HAVING RETAINED BOTH THE SAME OWNER AND MUCH OF ITS PERIOD CHARACTER FOR NEARLY 35 YEARS, GLENN MUNDAY'S HQ SS IS A TRUE 80s SURVIVOR

-  CRAIG PARKER

EVER wondered which car was the first to ever rip a skid on the Summernats burnout pad? Well, it was the HQ SS you see here. This Quey and its owner, Glenn Munday, were right in the thick of it at the very first 'Nats in 1988.

Happily, Glenn's HQ has somehow survived the subsequent 34 years essentially as-is, so we thought it high time we got the full story on the car from the man himself.

Your HQ christened the Summernats burnout pad. How did that come about?

I remember it like it was yesterday. [Car-crafting legend] Peter Fitzpatrick and I were really good friends with [Summernats promoter] Chic Henry, and we helped him out when he ran the last Street Machine Nationals at Canberra for the Australian Street Machine Federation, after which Chic broke away to put on his own show. In the lead-up to Summernats 1, Chic had a promotional day for the opening of the new burnout track and needed a couple of cars. He called Fitzy and me, and we were like, "Hell yeah." Fitzy brought his 'Broomstick' Brougham and Chic also had his Chev there. Near the end of proceedings, Chic came up to us: "The TV cameras want one of us to do a burnout." I told Fitzy to go for it, but he said, "Nah, you do it." I had the virgin asphalt all to myself, not a single mark on it. I went from the startline down to the pad, did a doughnut and kept into it all the way back to the startline. Fitzy and I still grin about it.

How do you know Fitzy and Chic?