Famous Holden Rallies to Shannons Sale

MELBOURNE – Aug 3, 2010: Long before all-wheel-drive turbocharged pocket rockets, Victoria’s fastest and most successful rally car in 1968 was an HK Holden Kingswood fitted with a 307-cid V8 engine and a two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission!

On Monday August 16 the car that took Bob Watson and navigator Jim McAuliffe to victory in the State title will be a rare and sought-after interesting historic rally car when it will go under the hammer alongside five other classic Holdens at Shannons Melbourne classic auction.

The well-travelled Kingswood is one of just a handful of famous rally cars that have escaped the crusher of the years and is also notable as one of very few competition cars built in-house by Holden at a time when General Motors corporate policy did not include motor sport.

The car and its identical twin for Tony Roberts/Mike Osborne were both built under Bob Watson's supervision in the Service Garage at GM-H Fishermens Bend for the ‘Victorian Holden Dealer Team’ and waged a fierce in-house battle for the 1968 title. Watson won five of the six VRC rounds to give him and McAuliffe their first title and a plaque in the car details the victories.

In its final form with its Brian Sampson-tuned 307 V8 engine, Watson recalls the Kingswood would do the standing quarter mile in 16.2 secs fully laden with all its rally gear – impressive in 1968 when a GT-HO Falcon took around 15 seconds for the standing quarter!

After the 1968 rally season, one of Watson's service crew bought the car to tow a caravan around Australia. He got to Merimbula and decided that was far enough, and the car sat in a paddock for years until it was acquired and restored by a member of the Historic Rally Association.

Shannons expect it to sell in the $26,000-$32,000 range.

The famous rally Kingswood is one of six classic Holdens in the Shannons August 16 sale.

HK enthusiasts also have the choice of a Monaro 307 GTS V8 Coupe ($56,000-$64,000) and a six cylinder 186 HK Premier Sedan ($8,000-$12,000).

Meanwhile there is also a very original and well-presented 1970 HG 186 manual Premier Station Wagon ($8,000-$11,000) and a four-door 1972 HQ SS sedan with the desirable 4.2-litre V8 and four-speed manual gearbox combination ($25,000-$30,000).

Finally for ‘Brock’ enthusiasts, Shannons are offering an original and well-maintained 1985 ‘Formula Blue’ VK Commodore Group A SS Sedan – number 362 of 500 built – and are quoting a guiding range of $48,000-$54,000.