Rusty blown 350 Chev-powered HQ Monaro

This blown Chev-powered rusty HQ Monaro was a real head turner at Summernats 31

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COULD THIS be Australia’s most ambitious muscle car restoration? Possibly – but not yet because owner Darrin Davis, who bought it three years ago, is happy to cruise the rusty and mutilated Monaro for a while just the way it is.

 “It was one of those ‘one day’ cars,” Darrin told SM. “You know – the owner is gonna restore it ‘one day’! It was in bits but what I got was complete.”

Found in Newcastle, the old gal might have been complete when Darrin bought it (with 350 Chev and TH400 three-speed auto), but the Orange, NSW bloke’s initial plan for the car was as a parts pig.

 “Someone had started to do something with it about 15 years ago,” he explained. “Then it just sat around. Many of the dents in it are from cattle bumping against it!”

 Although it’s going to be a heck of a task to get it pristine again, Darrin’s plans are grand, and with the values of these Monaros going up, he now considers the car worthy of a restoration.

“I’ll get stuck into this in another five years or so,” he said.

 In the meantime, it’s for cruising at Summernats and other events such as the Running On Empty festival scheduled for October 2018 in Cobar. This isn’t the first rusty Monaro Darrin has debuted at Summernats either, back at ‘Nats 27 he brought a well-patinaed LS-powered HQ.

 Darrin will be celebrating his personal quarter-century at Summernats next year (entries are already open), most likely in an old Holden in need of paint.

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