First published in the April 2008 issue of Street Machine

So what inspires a young bloke to buy a car that he isn’t able to drive? “My old man had one back in the day,” Scott McGeachie says, “and I liked the shape.” The model in question was the ever-popular HR, and back when Scott used to catch the bus to school he would peer at this particular example through the windows. “I passed it every day for six months when I was 16. One day it was for sale — I picked it up that night. Dad drove it home as I was on my Ls.” With his brother Luke owning an EH, it was only natural that Scott would follow his family pedigree and drive a neat early Holden. However, the old girl was far from neat; she was more rough and rusty. With Scott not able to drive the HR anyway, the decision was made to give her a makeover so she’d be ready when he got his Ps. As usual, the quick tidy-up soon snowballed.

“The build got out of control. I started doing it up to drive on my Ps. It was three years too late!” he laughs. With the HR now in much nicer condition than intended, it was elevated to weekend cruiser status. Obviously not content with a nice, sensible daily driver like a Camry, Scott’s driveway saw a few mini-trucks come and go over the years. By playing around with mini-trucks, he was able to practise his fabrication work and enjoy the HR at the same time. However, the HR was slated for bigger things, like a second makeover. “The first build got out of control,” Scott says, “but with this one, we decided to go all out.”

The ‘we’ he’s referring includes the good mates who are critical to any build, especially one as nice as this. And when your circle of mates includes guys like Sam Rayner (EH Bomb, SM, May ’04), it ensures the end result is something special.

First of all, the dodgy work from the first build had to be rectified. “The panel-beater I had do the car when I first built it, his work was never up to scratch. So when it came time to fix it, both passenger-side doors were replaced to get the gaps all lined up.” Scott says.

But that wasn’t the end of the dramas. “When you’re fitting parts that are meant to bolt straight on — never trust a part that’s made for a specific car!”

Needless to say, the fabrication experience from working on those mini-trucks came in handy.

As well as repairing the earlier work, they also gave the body a number of new mods to tidy it up. The fuel filler, chrome side-strips, badges and seatbelt bolts on the B-pillar were all removed to give the HR a clean and tidy look. With a little more help from his friends, Scott took on an extensive amount of fabrication work under the car too. That included fitting a four-link rear, custom chassis rails with a braced front end and coil-overs, an LX steering rack conversion, gearbox crossmember and a flat firewall. While they were in the engine bay, all the unused holes were filled, new engine mounts were made to accept a new donk, and the radiator support panel was boxed in.

With the body tidied up and the fabrication work complete, Scott entrusted Tony from Tony’s Bodyworks to get it perfect and lay down the paint. The final result is pure class, with the subdued Tungsten Mica Metallic a perfect choice to cover the razor-sharp panels. A sprinkling of factory chrome, with 17×7 and 17×9.5 Old Skool Muscle wheels, completes the picture.

Given how sensational the HR looks, it needed something special under the hood. Scott first got the car running with a set of triple downdraught Strombergs, which suited the car’s overall vibe perfectly, but it was a little down on grunt.

The solution was to drop in a Holden V8, displacing a healthy 336 cubes. “My mate Dale built the motor for his Torana hatchback,” Scott says. “But he changed his mind and decided he wanted to go faster, so now he’s built a 400-cube Chev.”

Backing up the bent-eight in the HR is a Turbo 350 with a 3000rpm Dominator converter and a nine-inch diff featuring 31-spline axles. Pulling it all up are slotted PBR HQ front discs, and HQ rear drums.

With Summernats 21 getting awfully close, a mammoth effort was needed to get the trim done. Thankfully Brad of Brad’s Custom Trim was more than up to the task, and the HR was completed in time. Mind you, Brad and Scott logged 200 hours in one week to complete the interior! “I can’t thank him enough,” Scott says.

The interior features custom seats, custom door trims, and flat floor and firewall panels, all finished in scrumptious leather. There’s no doubting that the interior has been modernised but the clever use of the standard steering wheel and a bench seat up front maintains a strong sense of nostalgia and style.

So what does the future hold now that Scott has completed the HR? Well on our tech sheet he listed his next project as “a house”. But one can safely assume he’ll still be spending plenty of time in the garage with friends and family. You see, Luke’s EH isn’t running at the moment and Dale is still working on his Torana. And there’s one more thing Scott will be doing — driving the wheels off his HR. At least he doesn’t need Dad to do that now.

SCOTT McGEACHIE
1966 HR HOLDEN

THANKS
Mum, Dad and Luke; Jordy Moffat, Benny Rudd, Adam Smith, Sarah Jane, Paul Lav and all my mates who helped; Dale for the motor and mechanical help; Sam for tech advice; Brad, Brad’s Custom Trim; Tony, Tony’s Body Works; Barry, Autobarn Maitland; John, John Colin’s Dyno Tune.