For Australian motor racing enthusiasts, one of the darkest days in the sport’s history occurred on September 8th, 2006. On that day, Peter Brock, the man dubbed “King of The Mountain,” or affectionately known by his legion of supporters as “Brocky,” lost his life in a racing accident while competing in the Targa West rally. The public outpouring of grief at this loss was unprecedented in Australian motorsport history, with the great man even receiving a State Funeral. Today, his former race cars are highly-prized, and when one comes onto the market, interest is extremely high. This 2001 Holden Monaro CV8 is one such car, and Brocky used it to compete in the Targa Tasmania rally from 2002 until 2004. It remains in the same condition as when it finished that final rally and has never received any restoration work. The owner has decided to part with it, so he has listed it for sale here at Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers. Online bidding has already reached A$89,050, and there is still plenty of time left on the listing.

For American readers, the Monaro probably looks pretty familiar. That is because while it was developed and built Down Under, it was marketed in North America as the Pontiac GTO from 2003 until 2006. This particular Monaro was modified for Targa rally competition, a multi-day event conducted on closed public roads. It remains as it was last raced, still carrying all of the sponsorship signage over its beautiful Black paint. It is a striking-looking car and remains rust-free. The body is unmodified, and it retains all of its original panels and trim. The glass is in excellent order, and the aftermarket alloy wheels show no evidence of damage or deterioration. Under the rules of Targa competition, cars must remain essentially roadworthy and capable of being registered for use on public roads. However, mechanical modifications are permissible, and that is why this Monaro is fitted with aftermarket wheels. They are wider and larger in diameter to get more rubber onto the road and house an upgraded braking package. However, while it might present nicely, this Monaro is by no means perfect.

As you can see, the front of the Monaro wears a scar or two, and these scratches were inflicted on its last day of competition. During the final Targa stage of the competition, Brocky made a minor misjudgment and sailed off the road. Remember, Targa competitions are conducted on public roads. That means that there are plenty of obstacles awaiting anyone who gets it wrong. In this case, it was a barbed-wire farm fence that the Monaro plowed through, leaving a good selection of scratches and marks. Repairing these would have been an easy task, but thankfully, the owner chose to leave the vehicle untouched. I can only hope that the buyer decides to continue this trend because the Monaro deserves to be retained as an original survivor.

The Monaro features a 5.7-liter LS1 V8 that would have produced 300hp when the car rolled off the showroom floor. Bolted to the back of the LS1 is a 6-speed manual transmission, while the vehicle also features power steering and 4-wheel disc brakes with ABS. While Targa vehicles must be roadworthy, modifications are permitted under the racing rules. This Monaro has received numerous upgrades to the engine, along with improved springs, shocks, and other suspension components. The aftermarket wheels cover enormous new discs and calipers produced by Harrop Engineering. It isn’t clear what the power output of the V8 now is, but I can guarantee that it is a lot more than the original figure. Holden owned the Monaro during its racing life, and it has seen no competition use since 2004. The company sold the vehicle when production of the Monaro ended, and it has been on display in a museum ever since. It isn’t clear whether the car runs or drives, so it may require work to return it to a roadworthy state. Thanks to it living a life in competition, it has only accumulated 28,164 kilometers (17,500 miles) on its odometer.

Holden designed the Monaro to combine comfort and performance, and there’s no doubt that this would have been a comfortable interior when the car rolled off the production line. However, air conditioning, powerful sound systems, and trip computers aren’t necessities in a race car. All they do is add unnecessary weight that can blunt vehicle performance. The Monaro’s builder ditched all of those niceties and transformed the interior into something more befitting its new purpose. The luxurious leather bucket seats have made way for purpose-built Recaro racing seats, while the inertia-reel seatbelts have been made redundant thanks to the inclusion of six-point racing harnesses. There is also a cross-braced roll cage to maximize occupant safety and a Terratrip to keep the navigator informed during competition stages. A few luxury features like power windows remain intact, but otherwise, it looks like any production-based race car’s interior should. I hate to use the term time capsule, but the unmolested state of the interior since its competition life ended allows it to wear this tag.

Many Australian motor racing fans will clearly remember where they were when the news broke of the terrible accident that claimed the life of Brocky. I had the good fortune to meet the man on a number of occasions, and almost anyone who did will tell you the same thing. It didn’t seem to matter what the circumstances were; when you and he talked, you were his world. Nothing else mattered, and there were no distractions. You received his attention 100%, and this is an example from which many professional sportspeople could learn. The last time that I had the opportunity to attend an event and see him in action, he was behind the wheel of this car competing in Targa Tasmania 2003. He had stepped away from full-time professional competition nearly seven years earlier, but he had lost none of his magic or his ability. He was still prepared to push the boundaries, and in his own words, “give it a red-hot go.” His ability and legacy have managed to transcend generations, and even people who are too young to have seen him race, speak about him with awe and respect. This is because his record speaks for itself. He won the Bathurst 1000 race a record nine times. He also lifted the Winner’s Trophy three times in the Australian Touring Car Championship and led a Holden clean sweep of the 1979 Repco Round Australia Trial. His final major success was a victory in the 2003 Bathurst 24-Hour Race. I wish that I had the money to bid on this car because it would be a privilege and an honor to protect and preserve it for future generations. I hope that whoever buys it is prepared to do that because Brocky’s memory deserves nothing less.