I'm now convinced that auction buzz is a seasonal thing. Earlier this year, it seemed like every week there would be a new high-profile Porsche auction somewhere on the surface of this great big planet. Well, it's August now, and just about every week a high-profile Aussie muscle car is making similar headlines.
First there was the first GTSR W1 available to the public, then last weekend an integral machine from Holden's touring-car past sold for half a mil, and now there's these six classics all coming at once for next Monday's Shannons Winter Auction in Sydney.
By no means are the six of them an exhaustive representation of what will be on show at the auction (click here to view the full auction line up), but they do represent the six motors that are most likely to get tongues wagging and paddles flying through the air.
Heading the list are a pair of early '70s Falcons; a Vermillion Fire red XY GT, and a Diamond White XW GTHO Phase II. While the XY is a prize all on its own, and is expected to fetch in the ballpark of AU$130,000–$145,000 (NZ$142,000–$158,000), it's the GTHO that's the star of the show.
It is of course one of the most hallowed cars from the Australian Touring Car Championship era. But, more than that, it was seen as a world beater in its era — the first time anyone had produced an Australian car that could out muscle the boys from Europe and America. It's reportedly one of only 44 built in this colour, and one of just 13 to combine that colour with the 'dark saddly vinyl' interior. And it even has some Kiwi in its lineage of former owners.
“Repainted in 1976, the Falcon was sold to a Kiwi who moved to Alice Springs a couple of years later before passing to the current owner in 2002 with 72,000 miles on the clock,” say Shannons.
“The GT-HO has been cosmetically refurbished in the current owner’s hands, with fresh paint, the upholstery redone and sporting a set of 5-slot rims with wheel trims and caps.”
The price for all this? AU$190,000–$210,000 (NZ$207,000–$229,000). Not a bad price at all I'd say for an HO.
Among the other classics for sale are this car's chief ATCC rivals from Holden and Chrysler; in the form of a 1972 Holden Torana XU-1 and a 1972 Valiant VH Charger E55 Coupe. It's the Torana that's expected to fetch the higher price, at AU$100,000–$115,000 (NZ$109,000–$125,000).
Its history as the basis for the car that helped carve Peter Brock into a Bathurst mastermind will no doubt help that value, but what will help even more is the distinct lime-ish 'March 17 Green' colour. It pops next to the browns and whites of the '70s period, and in this application it's also highly rare and sought after.
Speaking of Brock, for those after something a little more modern would probably dig the two HDT-fettled Holden VK Commodores. Both of them are certain to sell, as they have no reserve price. While one is a humble Calais, the other — an SS — will be in demand. Part of that is down to the visual changes HDT gave it when it went under their knife in Bertie Street way back when. Its bodywork has been changed up to Group Three specs, and it's expected to sell for around NZ$50,000.
