Pete Geoghegan Monaro leads Burns & Co. February auction
Burns & Co. Auctions are starting 2022 with a bang, hosting an online auction on Sunday 6 February that features 99 lots, made up of desirable classic cars, late model performance and luxury cars, barn finds, project cars, motorcycles, collectables and memorabilia.
Leading the consignment list is a piece of Australian motor racing history in the form Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan’s HJ Monaro GTS Sports Sedan.
One of the most successful drivers in Australian motorsport, the legendary Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan was a five-time Australian Touring Car Champion, winner of the 1973 Bathurst 1000 alongside Allan Moffat, Australian TT Champion, GT Champion and Sports Car Champion in a career that stretched over more than two decades.
In the early-1970s, Sports Sedan racing (aka Group B under CAMS rules) was growing, so Geoghegan joined many of his contemporaries in taking on the category. The car he raced, entered by Laurie O’Neill Racing and finished in Craven Mild livery (back when tobacco sponsorship was OK), was an HJ Monaro GTS 2-door with all the non-factory goodies that the Sports Sedan category allowed.
That meant a worked 5.7-litre (350ci) V8 with fuel injection, F5000-spec Hewland transaxle, rear-mounted oil cooler, a complex independent rear suspension system and huge 15x10 GT40-style wheels, which necessitated replacing the factory guards with flared fibreglass units. Fibreglass was used in other areas and all the glass was replaced with lighter Perspex.
Most of the original build of the Geoghegan was done by John Sheppard, one of the key figures behind Bob Jane Racing and from 1978, head of the Holden Dealer Team.
Although it looked like a pumped-up HJ Monaro coupe when it made its debut (and won on debut) in 1975, the car Sheppard built started life as an HQ and only had HJ panels added after the HJ Series was released in October, 1974, to give the race car a modern look. Ironically, this change made the Geoghegan car illegal for the inaugural Australian Sports Sedan Championship in 1976.
Sports Sedan rules drafted by CAMS for the championship limited engine capacity to 5.1 litres, with larger capacities allowed only if the production car equivalent was available in the same form. Of course, the 5.7 was not available in an HJ road car, necessitating the appearance change, which was limited to the grille and front panels.
In the ’76 Australian Sports Sedan Championship, Geoghegan’s best result in this car was a second at Sandown, but the car was a drawcard wherever it went.
As such, it was already well known when Garry Rogers bought it in 1977, and his success in the car enabled him to go Touring Car racing later on, then form his own team.
Rogers sold the Sports Sedan to Phil Lucas in 1979 and it passed through five other owners after that, but had been unused for years and partly disassembled when Kerry Turley bought it in 2006.
Turley had previously purchased the Goss/Bartlett XB Falcon GT from the 1975 Bathurst 1000 and had it restored, but doing the same with the Geoghegan Monaro Sports Sedan would prove much more challenging. The loose rules in Sports Sedan saw a level of individualisation amongst the cars that were entered, making the identification of some parts a challenge, let alone finding replacements. Additionally, changes made by subsequent owners needed to be undone, as Turley intended the car to be restored back to its 1975 spec, including the HJ panels and Craven Mild gold & white livery.
Ultimately, the restoration of the Monaro took 15 years and only made its debut in 2021.
The full story of this car’s restoration can be read in Issue 127 of Australian Muscle Car magazine.
Freshly restored and a genuine piece of Australian motorsport history, the ex-Pete Geoghegan Monaro Sports Sedan is expected to be the top seller in the 6 February Burns & Co. online auction.
See more on this car HERE.
Pre-bidding for registered bidders is open now, with selling commencing from 12 Noon on Sunday, 6 February, at Burns & Co’s Melbourne auction rooms in Bayswater.
For auction details, pre-auction inspection times, how to register for bidding and the full auction catalogue, click HERE.