Update, 29 May:

With one more day to go in the Shannnons 2023 Autumn Online classic car auction, let’s have a look at what potential bargains there may be on offer.

Did you know TE Cortina wagons were assembled in Renault’s Melbourne plant? Neither did we! This one escaped with a 3.3-litre six and three-speed floor shift and later copped a set of 12-slotters and a sundroof.

While it would make a great P-plate cruiser and is probably a reasonably rare survivor, we reckon it would make a killer Drag Challenge car. These Cortinas are great for engine swaps (Barra or LS being the obvious choice) and with loads of room in the back, all you’d have to do is add a roof rack to create a ripper trailer-free DC weapon. Check it out here.

These Dodge utes were the poverty pack of the Chrysler’s ute range and this one fits the bill, with a 215ci Hemi six, three-on-the-tree and unboosted disc/drum brakes.

Again, this would make a great cruiser or an outstanding base for Drag Challenge assault. The current bidding at time of writing is $14.500. Suss it out here.

While Zephyrs were a hot ticket back in the day, they’ve never achieved mass popularity in Australia, despite the good work of fans like John Peterson and Ken Spence.

This 1957 MK 2 Zephyr could be something of a bargain, when compared what is being asked for comparable FC-FE Holdens. The Mk 2 offers the similar rock and roll vibes as the Holdens, but are arguably a better car to drive. The interior is worth the price of admission alone, have a squiz here.

Again, this Nissan 280ZX presents us with a quandry. It now old and rare enough to be prime cars and coffee bait, but would also make a fantastic base for a Drag Challenge weapon, with Nissan RB or Toyota 2JZ power, perhaps. Then again, you’d have to watch the chassis twist, lest you pop the targa roof panels on launch. Please consider, here.

This HQ Sandman tribute is already at $27,000 and while the interior needs a makeover, it might be worth keeping an eye on. There’s a 253 and four-speed in there a the moment, but the van is apparently a factory 308 deal. Have a look for yourself here.

Update, 23 May: Bidding is now live in Shannons 2023 Autumn Online classic car auction, with plenty of ripping cars to wrap your mits around.

Bidding is open for a week, wrapping up from 6pm AEDT on Tuesday 30 May. You can view all the listings in this auction here.

One car that our Editor-in-Chief Simon Telford took a particular liking to is this Ford Escort Sundowner tribute panel van, complete with all the right graphics, bubble windows and in a nice lick of Pine Lime 70s yellow!

Poke around under the bonnet Pinto engine, paired with a newer five-speed manual ‘box. The car is said to have had extensive resto work done as part of the conversion to a Sundowner, and inside and out the condition reflects that. It’s being offered with no reserve, so if this is your jam then we suggest placing a bid.

We’ve got a bit soft spot for HR Holdens, and this one is a perfect candidate for a simple cruiser. While there’s no V8, the the 186 is a hottie with twin Strombergs, and being paired with an Aussie four-speed.

The current seller getting the car from the original owner in 1996 as a deceased estate. From there the rust-free car underwent a resto, copping the lick of blue paint and an interior from a Premier with external touches from the luxo model as well.

While most remember the XF/XG Falcon utes as white, beaten-up tradie cars with rust and paint stains all over the tailgates, Tickford did whittle together a slick XR6 version for those who wanted a bit of poke and style on the way to the job site.

This one is an absolute pearler, a genuine XR6 that’s undergone some decent resto work. The green paint is all new, while the Tickford six-pot has also copped a refresh. The rare XR6 seats look in primo condition, and you also get a slick pair of Globe-style alloys. Up for no reserve, we reckon it’d make a cracking addition to any Ford man’s stable.

Fancy your dak-dak with less dak and more brap? This ’72 VW Beetle may be wearing a bit of a wild kit and colour, but that’s by no means the coolest or most unique feature on this bug.

In place of the old air-cooled donk is now a Mazda 13B Bridgeport motor, paired with a Baja manual ‘box. We reckon it’d make a great club plate cruiser, and it’s a cool way to enjoy a dak-dak while standing out from the crowd.

The story to here

17 May: As the leaves fall, a new season is upon us, and while we’re not stoked about the cold, it does bring with it Shannons’ 2023 Autumn Online Timed Auction, which gets underway on Tuesday 23 May, wrapping up a week later on 30 May from 6pm AEST. You can view all the listings now by clicking here.

We’ve had a look at the offerings and cherry-picked some of our favourites from this auction, the first of those being this beautiful XE Fairmont ESP.

Originally a six-pot car, the Fairmont now sports a period 5.8-litre V8 paired to a proper gearbox that requires three pedals. The delicious tan Scheel seats are all intact, and the bonnet bulge and rear spoiler are nice exterior touches.

There’s a smattering of XA-XC Falcons in this auction, too, including a pair of XA GT sedans, but our pick of the lot has to be this genuine 1975 XB Falcon John Goss Special hardtop.

Like all Goss Falcons, this one carries the smaller 302-cube V8. It’s paired to a three-speed auto, as it was when new, and the whole car has undergone a recent restoration topping around AU$50,000.

The Falcon comes with all the original documentation, and the only major modifications made during the resto were some aftermarket speakers and the wheels copping some extra width to fill out those massive rear arches.

There’s a nice crop of classic lions hitting the block in this auction as well, one of the best being this genuine 1975 LH SL/R 5000 Torana in bronze with a tip-top brown interior.

The LH has resided for the past 23 years with the current owner, who stuck a nice cam in the 308 V8 the day he got it, so it sounds like he speaks our language!

Other notables include a conversion from the original three-speed slushbox to a Toyota Supra manual.

For the Mopar crowd, we’ve gone for this 1970 VG Valiant Pacer sedan, an original Pacer ordered as new in the desirable Hot Mustard hue.

The original 245 Hemi and three-speed manual have made way for a hotter 245 and four-cog manual in the hands of the current owner, but if purity is your concern, fear not! The original mill and ’box are also included as part of the sale.

Everything else Pacer is still there and in really good nick, so if this is your Holy Grail of Aussie Mopars, look no further.

It’s not often the words ‘EA Falcon’ and ‘special’ are used in the same sentence, but the 1988 Brock B8 Falcon is one occasion it’d be deemed acceptable.

The B8 is the result of a brief love affair between Ford Australia and Peter Brock after his falling out with Holden.

Unfortunately, the ‘8’ in B8 doesn’t mean eight cylinders. Brocky got stuck with the EA’s maligned 3.9-litre six, but he still gave it some stonk with a new intake, extractors and exhaust to take power from 139kW to a quoted 164kW. That’s only 1kW shy of the VN SS, so it’s not bad shove for 1988.

Of the proposed 500 to be built, it’s more likely only 126 came to fruition. This is #33, and PB allegedly flew to Queensland to personally hand deliver it to the first owner, signing the headrests in the process. It now shows over 250,000km, and has had an engine replacement with a hot cam along the way.

Another plastic-bumpered rarity up for grabs is this 1994 HSV-Enhanced VR Commodore wagon, from an era when you didn’t have to pay a ClubSport sticker price to get into an HSV-tuned machine.

This wagon started as a Berlina before getting sent to HSV’s Clayton laboratory for some love. The rare tan interior copped some Howe leather with HSV front seats, while under the bonnet, it got the full-squeeze 185kW HSV version of Holden’s iron lion.

Outside, the HSV wheels, front bumper and skirts complete the enhancement. It’s also being offered with no reserve, so we’ll watch the bidding on this one with interest.

To commemorate the end of the Z-Series ClubSport in 2006, HSV had two limited runs of the model that aligned with their on-track success in Supercars: the Toll HSV Dealer Team edition and the Holden Racing Team edition.

Just 50 of each were produced, this example being build #35 of the HRT version. Along with the special decals and white wheels, the HRT models were manual only, with R8 goodies including AP Racing brakes as standard.

This example presents very nicely, as it should with just over 23,000km on the ticker. We rarely see these things hit the market, so it should give an indicator of where the VT-VZ HSV market sits when the hammer falls.

At first glance, this 1982 Nissan Bluebird TRX may just look like a stickered-up machine, but popping the bonnet reveals a very different story.

This particular TRX is allegedly one of six promotional vehicles built by the Fred Gibson-led Nissan Racing Team, using an HKS blow-through turbocharger kit on the Bluebird L20B four-pot.

The current owner went to the effort of having the turbo and engine refreshed, so it should treat its new custodian well and make for a great conversation piece at any car show.

While the Bluebird lit the spark for Nissan’s motorsport history with a pole at the Bathurst in 1984, it was Godzilla that rocketed the brand to the top and cemented the GT-R name in motoring history.

This 1990 Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R rounds out our picks for this auction, and it’s a 500hp example with a mods list that any GT-R fan would enjoy pulling apart.

Matching the 500hp underneath is a full respray in the original KH2 gunmetal grey, with some nice N1 touches to make the purists happy. It’s currently showing 125,000km, and is said to have been imported in 2006.

The last R32 GT-R to go up for sale at Shannons did so with no reserve and scored a lower-than-expected result of AU$53,000, so it’ll be very interesting to see where this one lands in the bidding.

You can view and bid on all these lots, along with the many others on offer in the Shannons Autumn Online Auction, right here.