Well it seems after 18+ months of hassle after hassle, budget blow outs, police reports, Road worthy issues, Engine trouble, Rust repairs, minor customising work etc etc. Ive become bored/frustrated with my 1973 HQ Monaro coupe. It started off as a quick tart up job that turn out bigger than ben huir.

Firstly the car was purchased late 2004 when I had my licence suspended. The car was supposed to be ready by mid May 2005 in time for when I got my licence back. Once we got the car home I noticed a few suspect things and thought that there was a bit more work than intially thought involved (however coming from a family that has always had project cars in the garage thats kind of expected) there However in January 2005 we took the car into the panel shop and my suspicions were not only confirmed but the damage was worse than excepted. The pelenum had to be totally replaced as did the floor parts of the firewall that the rear window surrond didnt exist. The rear quater had upto 5 inches of bog in it.

So May came and went and the monaro was no where near completed. We had made up by a tool maker brass bushed hinges so the doors closed and opperated like a merc, had all of the chrome/stainless worked back into perfect shape and polished, had the two upper windscreen stainless trims made because the coupe window is slightly larger than the sedan window and as such we couldnt get any coupe window trims becasue they are rare as rocking horse crap. we had deleted the locks on all the doors and welded and filed the holes, new side glass was custom made (again because the coupe glass isnt available like the sedan glass). The instrument panel had been removed tieded up and made to work and refitted (this is still to be replaced at a later date by either a GTS cluster or a custom set of VDO gauges) seat belt have been replaced and lenses source for the interior lights. A Rhino RAM alarm was fitted boot locks deleted and smoothed and a commodore boor release was added. every thing was starting to go well. The car was stripped back to bare metal and reprayed in an original HQ yellow color as a base then we added some peal colors then a solid coat of the original yellow again. it was sanded back between coats and allowed to cure for weeks before next coats were applied. A total of 7 coats of 2 pack were applied. Time for rego...

Well we get the RWC done and the guy testing was told not to let any thing get through thats not roadworthy to go really hard on it so every thing is micky mouse. We take it to vic roads and it was knocked back - not just knocked back but it had a SVI number attached to it! well none of us are entirely sure but we were made to replace the engine with a new engine. how ever it took from january of this year until june to find out what needed to be replaced or verified - or even if I was ever going to be able to register the car! there was talk of the car being distroyed by the police because of the SVI number. Yeah great just what I want to hear after pouring in excess of 15k into it. And to make matters worse we had been given clearance by vicroads that the car was stolen and all the numbers associated matched the original records - yet we still had not a leg to stand on if the car was to be distroyed. Basically we were bent over and there was some dirty big gimp behind us with a big pineapple he was trying to lodge up our asses. Well clearance ame through from Victoria police organised motor vehicle theift squad the car could be registered. OK time to get another RWC and go to the Vicroads branch. So we call up the guy who did the RWC to book the car in for another RWC and he kept putting us off, turns out he had the RWC inspectors in his workshop over the week then he called us monday (a week later) to tell us that he had lost his RWC licence. Great. So we go to another RWC tester only to find out that the wanker had passed the car even though it had some faults and we had told him to not pass it unless it was 100% right - TOSSER!

Any way now Im being offered by dad the MG ZT-T Wagon which is currently mums if I give the Monaro to him. How ever that will be owned by me but I will loose my company car. the company however will continue to pay for all expences on the MG as they do with my company car (rego insurance servicing and maintenace fuel and tyres etc). So im totally confused as to what to do. I would love to keep the Monaro but it pisses me off and I just cant deal with the crap any more. My other option is to keep my company car and to take dads HQ SS (1 of around 400 ever built) or else I could possibly talk him into giving me his FJ windowless panelvan (one of less than 20 known of in existance still) Oh and for those of you who dont know I work for my parents company as a manager.

Meh Im confused as to what I should do...


So for any of you who have read this far do you have any suggestions...?

sick!

personally after all that, if you sold the thing, within a year you'll regret it, no doubt about it. i'd be closing it up and sticking it under covers for about a year, get your mind into other things, and im certain you'll have the spark for it again. failing that, if i had the $$ id take it, sounds like a real nice machine with alot of work in there - keep it dude

it's a shame not to see the HQ on the road after all this work, but sometimes it's easier to let it go.
i guess if your dad takes it on you can always take it out for a spin or get it back off him at a later date.

the FJ would be cool but you would be starting from the begining again (im guessing its the car thats in the top shed near the SS?

the SS.... hot! but i dont know, would be fun.

MG? different and SS1-2NW goodness

put a tarp over it and set it aside. I have a car like this that is sitting in my other workshop out west. started as a $70 shell and has that many changes to it that I can't let it go. been there since 2002 with a tarp over it.

fj windowless panno....they look sooooooooo damn sexxxxy

Easy choice ... take the MG - get in and drive. Nothing more to worry about.

Yeah other than its FWD and Auto
Although I noticed when i took it up to whitfield that you dont really notice its FWD till you hit the double apex corners at double the rated speed...

And Fudds right it would make a good SS1-2NW monster - even a ST-A car...

And with such a large dash I think that it could make a nice little SQ setup with the PPI PC series amps ive got and the Boston sub and radiator and prehaps a set of nice 2way or maybe even 3 ways... big doors...

*sigh* going out to dinner with the oldies now to discuss it now

Personally, After all the time and money you have spent on the Monaro .. I think you'd be crazy to give it up. I know there have been some issues along the way .. But what serious build up doesnt have its fair share of issues? Some of us would love to undertake such a large rebuild and for it to go smoothly .. But really, Where would the enjoyment come from when its done? I believe you'll be repayed 10 fold the first time you drive it and the sense of satisfaction that it finally made it on the road again will make it all worth it!

Otherwise .. Pics .. and how much do you want for it?!

Haha offers so far are $20,000 - $25,000.

Looking at prehaps an E36 328i manual coupe...

Then again I'd really love to do up a Rover 3500...

I know of a 318is E36 about to be on the market, complete with in dash touchscreen and horns

Meh 4 cylinders are for girls unless they have a hair drier strapped to 'em of course

Gimme my NA 4cyl SP20 against a V8 dinosour on a twisties run any day of the week =)

I'll back myself in every time

No one mentioned that V8's were better.
How ever your little SP20 doesnt have a chance in hell against a decient engineered V8 (think Morgans and AMs MGs Triumphs Mercs Rovers etc) even in the twisty stuff. and most definately not against something like a 328i or M3 or even for that matter a 323i or one of the new 6 cylinder Audi TT's the list goes on. Your NA SP20 is a shopping jeep thats all.

OoOoooo he's calling your car a chicks car!

personally i think you would be crazy to sell it, a guy i use to live next door to and am still very good friends with had himself a monaro aswell (not sure what kind though) to start with it was a bush basher on his farm, he took it from there to perth and slowly started to do work on it (at 18yrs old), the car sat in his shed most the time getting work done but was taken out every now and then

not sure how much money was spent on it in the end but this monaro was off its nut, everything was knew, never used and went absolutely awesomely even ran nos down the quarter without a stress in the world, now he decided that he wanted psuedo echo to play at his wife for 5 years bday party (her 30th), 2 weeks after the party she left him, no car now and he is absolutely pissed that he ever let it go, nothing will replace his car so he says

just to rub it in, when the car was taken off him the guy turnt and said to him "thankyou for building my dream" and drove it out the drive way, he reckons he will never forget the look on the guy face as he said it

not to say you will regret it like he has but after all this, stick with it champ, put the cover on it, leave for 9 months or so and get back in to it

wish you all the luck

Well a decision has been made the car is now registered in Dads name. He has given me about $30k to playwith for a company car. Im thinking maybe an E36 M3 coupe manual at this stage. But I dont think I can drive one on my P's. (this is why you shouldnt loose your licence kiddies) So I'm going to talk to dad and our accountant about just taking the cash and paying off my debts and putting a deposit for a house down then by next may when im off my P's I should be able to afford an M3 and be able to drive it too....

We'll see...

fark i wish i had an M3 for a company car! *looks at falcon in the driveway.....pos*

I know a bloke who could hook you up with a sweet EA Falcon

Ended up with the MG ZT-T.

Now where to pull the 0ga through...