The Roaring Season

Norm Beechey's Monaro, pictured at Symmons Plains in 1972. By this stage, both the Monaro's and Beechey's careers were winding down, and no race wins were recorded in thats years ATCC.

Note Michael Stillwell's Escort twin-cam in the background on the trailer. This car nearly won the '72 ATCC thanks to the points system which heavily rewarded class points.

The Indy Speed Shop Camaro in its early guise.

Tony Edmonson's ex-John McCormack Repco Charger. A formidable machine, though it seems the Roller is at least as interesting for these punters.

The Indy Speed Shop Camaro again, this time sporting a later paint scheme.

Bob Jane's famous HQ Monaro, that started life in 1972 as an Improving Production car, before being forced to become a Sports Sedan from 1973. For a brief period, circa 1976, Bob ditched the Monaros traditional orange paint in favor of this very vivid yellow. The car was only in this guise for a short time, before it was painted orange again.

Steve Holmes wrote:Tony Edmonson's ex-John McCormack Repco Charger. A formidable machine, though it seems the Roller is at least as interesting for these punters.

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The RR is that of Don Elliots ...owner of the Charger...pic is at Symmons Plains

Ellis wrote:The RR is that of Don Elliots ...owner of the Charger...pic is at Symmons Plains

Thanks for that info Ellis.

The rather bulbous rear-end of Pete Geoghegan's Monaro, in its 1976 iteration.

Good to see the Sidchrome Mustang still wearing Kiwi rego plates in the Land of Oz

Well spotted John!

Time to revive this excellent thread. This is one of my all-time favorite Australian touring cars; Bryan Thomson's 427 cu.in big block 1968 Camaro. This car was built from a drag race car, which I assume at some stage had been a road car in Australia, because it was right hand drive.

Thomson's local race track was Calder Park, and he figured that as Calder was essentially a series of drag strips joined by a couple of corners, if he built a car that went like a bullet in a straight line, it'd be pretty competitive during the highly competitive Improved Production era.

Its a cool car that still exists today, although it did get pretty cut up as it evolved into a Sports Sedan in the 1970s.

Steve...it ran once at Baypark, definitely was not a front runner but looked great in a straight line and sounded better.
Glad to have been there to see these Aussies run

John McKechnie wrote:Steve...it ran once at Baypark, definitely was not a front runner but looked great in a straight line and sounded better.
Glad to have been there to see these Aussies run

Yes you are absolutely right John. It was late 1970, and Terry Allan was also entered from Australia in his big block 1967 Camaro, as was Joe Chamberlain over from the US in yet another Camaro.

I think Thomson qualified quite well but struggled on the tight Bay Park layout with too much power and not enough grip. Still, that thundering big block must have left quite an impression!

John McCormack Ansett Charger.

Bob Jane's Camaro in 1971 when it still had the alloy 427 big block.

Don Elliott's Mustang from Tasmania, which I think was driven by Robin Pare. If you look really closely at the red and green stripes, they appear to be made from strips of tape. Pretty cool!

I'm not sure what happened here. Looks to be two photos overlaid on each other. Not to worry. This is a rare shot of Bob Jane's Mustang when it was still blue. It had been one of the Shelby factory team cars that contested the 1968 Trans-Am series, before Jane bought it. Note the bumpers and headlights which it didn't wear in the Trans-Am. The blue didn't stay for long before it was repainted.