Could there be a better bonding experience between father and son than rebuilding a classic car? We don’t think so. Sure, fishing and camping can be great ways to spend time with the old man but it doesn’t have the long-term contact of building a car.

First published in the March 2008 issue of Street Machine

Jesse Bourke’s dad, Shane, used to race an HG ute in his youth so it was natural that when it came time to choose a project they were swayed in that direction.

“Dad was a mechanic so we thought we could do this as a father-and-son effort with some outside help,” says Jesse. “We looked at a dozen or so Monaros from HK to HG. Most were wrecks, unfortunately.”

This was back before the recent muscle car boom but even so, Monaros were fetching good coin.

“We found what we thought was a reasonable 1969 HT Monaro in Melbourne, in late ’98. The car was a 186S badged as a GTS and had recently had the Powerglide rebuilt. It’d been resprayed without stripes so we weren’t sure if it was original. Nevertheless it was a project and I was stoked,” Jesse says.

He was just 16 years old at the time so this project was going to be a real eye-opener for the young bloke, educating him in the ways of the car world.

The guys struck their first hurdle straight away when they started looking for a paint and panel shop.
“Most of them turned us down,” Jesse recalls. “They preferred to do commercial work only.”

It’s a common story these days. Insurance companies pay big bucks for repairs, so why take on long-term projects that consume a lot of man-hours and workshop space? Eventually their investigations were rewarded with the name of a guy in Kangaroo Flat: Gary O’Brien at Panels and Performance.

“Gary said he would be willing to take a look at the car but only if we were interested in doing the job properly with no shortcuts, otherwise he wouldn’t be our man,” Jesse says. “It turned out to be the best call we made — we found an expert trade professional, a mentor for the project and a good friend.”

Gary’s experience has been honed not only through building cars at his business, which has been operating since 1979, but also by crewing for guys like Allan Grice and Gary Rogers. He also built Auscars during the late 80s and has competed in the Biante Touring Car Masters series for the past four years.

With the car in the workshop, Gary spent two hours looking over it to assess its suitability before deciding it wasn’t too bad. With that call made, he allowed the guys some space in the workshop so they could tear the car down and catalogue all the parts.

“Cataloguing was something I didn’t think was necessary at the time,” Jesse recalls, “but I realised the importance two years down the track when we were putting the car back together.”

Remember that — a little time spent with a few ziplock bags, a marker pen and some cardboard boxes now can save you a lot of grief in the future.

The car wasn’t as good as the guys first thought. All was revealed when it was stripped down to the bare essentials. Rust in the roof, doorsills, bonnet, boot, rear beaver panel and the spare-wheel well caused some concern. Throw in some panel damage from a previous accident and a bit of bodgy repair work, and the Monaro was starting to look rather ordinary.

“Dad was fairly disappointed; he thought he’d done okay with the buy,” says Jesse. “Gary wasn’t fazed — he said that it was half the fun to find and fix.”

On the plus side, the car was a genuine GTS and although it was only a 186S, the original tasty combinations of Platinum Metallic paint and Morocco Red trim gave the guys something to smile about.

Gary crafted a new beaver panel and spare-wheel well and replaced all the rusty and damaged metal with clean steel, which included replacing the whole rear quarter on the left-hand side.

“We spent every weekend for the next 18 months removing the driveline and front end for reconditioning, along with removing panels, cleaning parts and linishing the bodywork under Gary’s instruction,” Jesse says.

Inside, they kept the factory styling, using the original trim as a template for the new material. Luckily they found some original Morocco Red fabric and a NOS hood-lining in the right shade as well.

They weren’t always so lucky: “During the assembly stage I spent a whole weekend on my own at the panel shop assembling and installing the front end and guards,” Jesse says. “Gary returned from Melbourne and came in to check on me. Most of it had to be pulled apart because I had used the wrong washers.”

Since the Monaro was going to be a driver, the guys refitted the original 186S — not too exciting but it chews up miles with ease. After completing the car in late 2002, Jesse spent the next 12 months cruising in the cool coupe and entering the odd show.

“We entered the car in the 2003 Springnats and made the Top 10. It was about this time that I spoke to Dad about doing some modifications.”

The mods became a fresh build that took the GTS off the road for another 18 months. The feeling was that the car needed more muscle, and Jesse wanted to address some areas that were costing points at shows, such as the under-body deadener and the factory-style engine bay.

Being an HT it was natural that a Holden rather than a Chev motor should sit between the front rails, and it turned out that Gary had a brand new 220kW 5.7-litre Holden V8 under wraps.

For more grunt, a mild cam was introduced, along with Yella Terra roller rockers, and a modified Starr Performance intake with a 90mm throttlebody.

The guys sourced a Turbo 700 (4L60E) to throw behind the new donk, with a 2500rpm converter from Dominator. Out back sits a shortened BorgWarner rear end with 3.7 gears, four-pin LSD and 28-spline axles since they didn’t want to fit a nine-inch. Good choice because the BW diff is much lighter and easily handles the power output of the 5.7-litre EFI Holden.

The smoothed engine bay and hidden wiring are obvious improvements but Jesse says there are many other little mods that aren’t easily identified. Too many to count but they add up to a kick-arse job.

Drop spindles and bigger brakes were added during the rebuild, along with a set of 17in American Racing wheels. Finished just before Summernats 19, the guys hauled the GTS up to Canberra planning to enter the Street class but at scrutineering they were told to enter Elite. Unsure, they consulted with Summernats chief judge Owen Webb who took one look and said Elite was the right class for the HT. Along with winning a place among the Top 60 Elite they also scored Second Top Coupe in the country’s biggest show.

Since then there’s been more driving — including an incident where the front universal joint let go and created a bit more work — and a trip to Summernats 20 where the Monaro again made the Top 60, this time adding a win for Top Retrotech.

Summernats 21 welcomed the car back, this time featuring a thumping stereo system — including a neat boot install — from Bendigo Auto Sound, and a set of 20in Intro wheels to refresh the looks.

The changes worked — Jesse and his Monaro scored a Top 20 place in the January event, which is an awesome feat for a car that sees its fair share of the open road.

“Overall there’s not much else to be done with the car except enjoy it,” Jesse says. “It gets driven most weekends but not in the rain.

“It’s been a long and very rewarding journey. I learnt a lot about the value of good advice, about making and having good friends and the satisfaction from a father and son project.”

JESSE BOURKE
1969 HT GTS MONARO

THANKS
Sincere thanks to Mum (for all her tax cheques) and Dad; Gary O’Brien, Panels and Performance one of the last true metal craftsmen; Bendigo Auto Sound, Dantrim, RTN Motors and Showwheels.