SALUTE TO SURVIVORS

OLD HOLDEN ENTHUSIASTS NEVER DIE – THEY JUST HIT THE SUNSHINE COAST FOR THE SECOND ANNUAL HKTG NATIONALS

- ASHLEIGH WILSON

WITH a camera in one hand and a beer in the other, I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the HT Holden turning 50 than riding shotgun in a Monaro as the power pedal hit the floor.

More than 150 survivors, restored and ratted builds travelled from across the country to the Sunshine Coast for the second annual HKTG Holden Nationals. The four-day shindig began on Friday night, where the HKTG Holden Owners Club of Queensland started the party at the Aussie World theme park for registration and a couple of cold ones.

On Saturday morning, the Glasshouse Mountains Sports Club hosted the hordes of old Holdens. Entrants lined up in rows, bonnets popped for onlookers to admire the many rebuilt originals, a salute to the survivors. Monaros, Broughams, Premiers, Kingswood and Belmonts were all on display, each row of the show ’n’ shine representing a moment in Holden’s history. Every year, make, model and colour was on display.

Era-correct restorations sat among LS-swapped rigs and blown, injected beasts. A variety of cars made the trip from Perth, Adelaide, Victoria and New South Wales. The turnout was impressive. There was even a Kingswood that sat on a boat for month to get there from New Zealand!

If you ask me, the late 60s was the pinnacle of automotive sexiness, both Aussie and Yankee. So it’s no surprise that it was a red-hot ’69 Monaro that first grabbed my attention. She’s definitely the hot sister in the HT’s line-up; nice curves, not exactly pure, but everyone wants a peek of what she’s hiding. The show-spec GTS drew a crowd with its slick and smooth engine bay, which holds an impressive, mirror-finished fuel injection set-up attached to a 5.0-litre Commodore-donated donk.