88 replies to this topic

[REDA9X]

Another interesting slant to the 79 car is that it did not start life as a a9x race shell but a humble gmpa hatchback shell.
It was hanging from rafters in workshop and John Sheppard,s apprentice Roy Swan was given the task of removing
all the body deadner enough to fill a 25 litre bucket. Also remember Monaro motors had the jig from holdens to put a9x floorpan in as they converted about 14-15 L34s.

The 79 car was an A9X race shell from day one, not just a spare shell. People always say it was the last GMP&A shell built, but it wasn't, the chassis number tells the true story. That car was returned to the factory exactly as it sat in the back of the workshop, but with lots of the trim missing, this is also the reason the car always had an SLR ashtray rather than SS. Brock later became very supersticious about having that ashtray in the car. The next owner fitted an SS one. If you look at the article done on the HDT workshop in 78 you can see the 79 car sitting at the back of the workshop as a simple white roller. Harveys car is in the foreground being half stripped back, the first of Brocks 78 cars is being prepared (later destroyed), the Brock sedan is on the hoist and the L34 converted to A9X specs is just visable in the foreground.

[REDA9X]

No need to get personal, it's a trait usually exercised by someone with low inteligence, which I'm sure I would normally reserve for someone else besides yourself Wayne. I'm getting a bit sick of it to be totally honest, maybe I need to "get a life" right.
I'm sure Roy does remember doing that to one of the shells, but it wasn't this one.
HDT had several hatches not only in the workshop, but in a storeage facility, this was just one of them. The fact is the Harvey car was not one of the 33 GMP&A race shells, so it was more than likely that car he remembers, or possibly even the Garry Rogers car which was apparently going to be Brocks car, but was given to Garry after he wrote off his car at Amaroo in 79.
The fact is it was over 30 years ago and those cars were simply tools at the time, i have no doubt Roy would not be lying, and I don't appreciate the accusation. I seem to remember another member of the team telling everyone the 79 car was built brand new prior to Sandown also, which simply wasn't correct either. Memorys fade, but if you were to look at the list of chassis numbers of the race shells you will find this car is one of the 33.

[REDA9X]

Ok, this comes up a bit, so lets have a quick look at the HDT shells, going back to the L34's.
HDT started with 2 L34's, one for Brock, one for Bond, I'll call them L34 1 (Brock) and L34 2 (Bond).
L34 1 was raced by Brock till he left at the end of 75 then used as a spare
L34 2 was raced by bond and damaged very badly at Amaroo in 76.

Harry bought a new shell cut it in half and welded the rear of it to L34 2.The front half of the new shell went to another driver, going off memory it was Skelton. The damaged parts of those two cars were roughly welded together and the plan was to send them to Alan Grice who caused the accident at Amaroo, but they ended up at the tip.

What happened to L34 1 in 77 I won't comment on for good reasons, but when Harvey came and Bond left, harvey initially raced L34 2. At the Symmons Plains round Harvey complained the car would only turn in one direction. This is where Harvey and Firth disagree (and part of the reason you don't believe everything someone from the team tells you after 30 odd years), again, i won't comment for good reason on why, but a new shell was purchased, this became L34 3, however log books may say something else.

At the end of 77 when the A9X was released, L34 2 and L34 3 were upgraded to A9X specs. These then became A9X 1 (L34 2) and A9X 2 (L34 3).
Meanwhile Harry had been using his own hatchback to develop the A9X, rego HF001.

In early Harry had an SS hatchback specially delivered to him that was converted to become an A9X hatchback race car, this was the car Harvey drove at the end of 77 and during some of 78, Brock drove this car during 78 also, I'll call this car A9X 3.

In 78 John Sheppard took over, an article was done on the workshop for a magazine, photos showed A9X 3 in the foreground in pieces, A9X 1 parked next to it, (you can just see the rear spoiler), A9X 2 on the hoist, and 2 plain white hatches.

The first plain white hatch is the new car being prepared for Brock, this would be the car he was supposed to start the 78 season with, I will call it A9X 4. The second hatch at the rear of the workshop is the car Brock would drive in 79, I'll call it A9X 5.

A9X 3 was being stripped down, however the team grumbled so Sheppo told them to put it back together.

A9X 4 was prepared as Brocks car after he had started the season with A9X 2.

A9X 4 was later destroyed at the Amaroo round. Harvey had been complaining about his car A9X 3, so he took A9X 4 out in practice, his foot got jammed and he slammed into the wall at over 100km/h destroying the car. Harvey sat out that round and Brock drove A9X 3. At the next few rounds Harvey drove A9X 2 while Brock continued to use A9X 3. If you look at the Wanaroo round pictures you will see Harvey is driving a sedan, this is the reason why. The Wannaroo round was the famous HDT 123. Wayne Negus had his own HDT hatch he prepared himself, however the car came through HDT so I will call it HDT 6.

Another shell was used to repair A9X 4 and so became A9X 7, the shell from A9X 4 went to the wreckers, along with A9X 1 and 2.

In 79 Harvey was given A9X 7, A9X 3 became the test vehicle and A9X 5 was prepared as a race car for Brock.

A9X 5 had been at the back of the workshop and many of it's parts had been removed over the preivious year or so, it was returned to the factory and Mike Prowse pushed the car around on a trolley getting whatever bit's he could get his hands on at the time to complete the car. The Marlboro paintwork was then completed IN THE FACTORY without signage and the car returned to HDT. Brock loved the UC SLE trim because it matched the trim in his UC he had been given to drive on the road.

Brock used A9X 5 through the entire 79 season, however for some reason he told everyone, (and I think it was on one of the videos) that this car was brand new prior to Bathurst or Sandown. the fact was the cars were stripped down prior to Sandown and rebuilt.

A9X 5 came first at Sandown, with A9X 7 coming second.

At Bathurst, A9X 5 went on to have that famous win, while A9X 7 crashed on Griffend bend, flipping the fence.

Holden hired Jim Shepherd to rebuilt A9X 7 for a museum back in the Richards Brock signage from the 78 win, and supplied all the parts to finish the job. Holden pulled out of the deal leaving Jim with the car. He asked Harvey to drive the car in a sports sedan race, however after a datson rubbed a tyre down the side, harvey pulled into the pits and the car sat idle for a few years before it was sold.

A9X 5 went on to become a prized possession of Brock until 1993.

So whats around today?

L34 1 reappeared and is used in Group C today, interestingly it's never been converted to A9X and is owned by Mick and Anna.

L34 2/ A9X 1 lives in the Peter Champion Museum, incorectly painted as Brocks car (A9X 2), the fact was it never raced under John Sheppards management.

l34 3/ A9X 2 lives in Victoria and is raced in Group C owned by Tony and Chiomi.

A9X 3 is raced by Paul Stubber as the 77 Harvey car

A9X 4 is surrounded by controvesy, some people believe it is a myth, one person claims to own the car, the tag and the story behind it causes the main problems, but I won't get into that.

A9X 5 is in the Bowden ownership

A9X 6 is the Negus car owned by Paul Stubber

A9X 7 is the car owned by the Bowdens represented as the Brock Richards 78 bathurst winning car.

HF 001 ended up in Broken Hill and is now in Victoria and has been under restoration for a number of years. Harry has verified this car and all the paperwork exists to prove the car is HF001. The car in QLD was a HF customer car and the tags don't match for HF001

Now, to add to this, there were other spares that HDT had possession of. One, I will call HDT 8 was apparently being prepared to race when Garry Rogers destroyed his car at Amaroo in 79. A shell was sourced from HDT and a restoration a few years ago apparently revealed the HDT paintwork underneath. Interestingly this car doesn't have the A9X trim either.

At least one more shell existed in the HDT storage, but this shell was never raced or prepared at all and was cut up.

Hopefully that will answer a few questions.

[WhiteA9XS]

hey red i already knew all that !!

so you think the camerons have the brock l34 and not the bond l34 ? i think that would make micks day !

[lcgtr1970]

In 78 John Sheppard took over, an article was done on the workshop for a magazine, photos showed A9X 3 in the foreground in pieces, A9X 1 parked next to it, (you can just see the rear spoiler), A9X 2 on the hoist, and 2 plain white hatches.

The first plain white hatch is the new car being prepared for Brock, this would be the car he was supposed to start the 78 season with, I will call it A9X 4. The second hatch at the rear of the workshop is the car Brock would drive in 79, I'll call it A9X 5.

does anyone have this/these pics they can post up? its been mentioned a few times here and i want to see it.

[REDA9X]

hey red i already knew all that !!

so you think the camerons have the brock l34 and not the bond l34 ? i think that would make micks day !

Sorry I bothered typing it then

I'm sure Mick has the Brock car and I know for a fact the car in PC's museum is the car damaged at Amaroo, Harry has confirmed that.

[Racehatch]

Sorry I bothered typing it then

Thanks for posting Red, I found it very interesting!

[WhiteA9XS]

Thanks Red, I can only imagine the researse that went in making that a absolute and diffinitive breakdown of where and who the cars went too.

But I have one last story / myth for you, A few years ago a car (HDT A9X Hatch) emerged that was I believe advertiesed as the car the Ron Harrop crashed in practise at Bathurst, this car had been deemed to badly damaged to be worth repairing and the shell stripped of anything worthwhile and dumped, a local farmer grabbed it and stuck it in his shed for the next 30+ years. Finally it was sold to an enthusit who restored it and the car sold and went to NZ where is has been modified to run a bigger engine etc. When advertised for sale it was advertised as a geniune Ex works HDT car

i think your talking about this car , it was for sale on trade me a few years ago ...

red , would you like to comment on this car ???

Edited by WhiteA9XS, 24 April 2010 - 06:53 PM.

[REDA9X]

I think I already covered that, read back A9X 4.....

[WhiteA9XS]

I think I already covered that, read back A9X 4.....

thought there was only 4 hatches built

[REDA9X]

LOOK UP^

[A9X]

The first plain white hatch is the new car being prepared for Brock, this would be the car he was supposed to start the 78 season with, I will call it A9X 4. The second hatch at the rear of the workshop is the car Brock would drive in 79, I'll call it A9X 5.

A9X 3 was being stripped down, however the team grumbled so Sheppo told them to put it back together.

A9X 4 was prepared as Brocks car after he had started the season with A9X 2.

A9X 4 was later destroyed at the Amaroo round. Harvey had been complaining about his car A9X 3, so he took A9X 4 out in practice, his foot got jammed and he slammed into the wall at over 100km/h destroying the car.

Another shell was used to repair A9X 4 and so became A9X 7, the shell from A9X 4 went to the wreckers, along with A9X 1 and 2.

A9X 4 is surrounded by controvesy, some people believe it is a myth, one person claims to own the car, the tag and the story behind it causes the main problems, but I won't get into that.

Hopefully that will answer a few questions.

[REDA9X]

I see.
So is what you are saying is that this may/ maynot be an ex hdt shell,

basically, yes. A shell certainly existed, whether this is it or not is the unknown for a variety of reasons