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The ‘truck’
Long before Australian MUSCLE CAR magazine was even a twinkle in the eye of one of its founders, Ray Berghouse, there was Australian MOTORING NEWS. Established by Berghouse and Tom Floyd, this was Australia’s rst motoring and motor racing bi-weekly magazine/newspaper, predating the now iconic AUTO ACTION by a year or two.
During the latter period of the mag’s life, in 1973, Holden, Ford and Chrysler were all producing high-performance versions of their respective station wagons for those with a need to carry loads of ‘stuff’ at high speed.
Floyd owned an XW Falcon GS wagon (Vermilion Fire), so Berghouse ordered a yellow HQ Kingswood direct from Holden. Having highlevel contacts in Holden’s marketing department allowed for some very non-standard extras to be attached to the order.
When it was delivered, it came with a Repcomodi ed 5.0-litre V8 complete with a bunch of go-faster bits, including a four-barrel Holley and extractor exhaust. It was tted with a Chevrolet automatic transmission, lowered Monaro suspension, Globe wheels, limited slip diff, a Bose Hi-Fi system, Monaro interior (all black, not brown) and dashboard gauges.
At the time, from a factory production point of view, it was de ned as a one-of-one. It was later tted with Cibie headlights and two Super Oscar driving lights, which Berghouse says turned night into a moving strip of daylight!
The ‘truck,’ as it was known to the team at MOTORING NEWS, did sterling service for several years chasing Australian Rally Championship and Southern Cross rallies, along with numerous interstate trips to race meetings. It even served as the ‘escape’ vehicle for Ray’s marriage!
Sadly, in the later part of the 1970s it was sold to make room for, of all things, a Citroen SM…
No doubt many AMC readers have tales of the cars they once owned, and which in hindsight should still be parked in the garage today. Ray says he has many such stories but the ‘truck’ is de nitely his one-that-got-away.
Indeed, as a high-performance, Repcoenhanced special-order one-off hotrod HQ Holden wagon, Berghouse’s ‘truck’ is certainly a car that ts the collectible bill.
But does it still exist? If anyone knows of the whereabouts of the ‘truck,’ or anything of its postBerghouse history, we (and Ray) would love to know – he’d love to get his ‘truck’ back.
Pacers found
Regarding the racing Pacers we were pondering about in Whaddayaknow last issue, Stewart Eckermann wrote in with some answers:
“Beechey’s Shell yellow car was considered lost for many years until discovered and restored by VG Pacer legend
Wally Rybnik in Villawood, NSW, in 1991. A photo of the unrestored car is attached. As you can see it was a basket case. Wally restored it to as-new condition, race decals and all. It is now in the possession of a doctor and Mopar fan in WA. “The roll cage from Des West’s car was sold to Leo Geoghegan after Bathurst and the cage found its way into Leo’s white-and-green striped VG mentioned in your article. Leo had a big shunt at Amaroo in this car in 1971. The car was originally Thar She Blue but was repainted white and green in line with Leos Castrol sponsorship. I’m unaware of what happened to the chassis after the shunt. However, the cage, tank, diff, roll bars, sump and boot lid found their way onto another VG that Wally Rybnik restored in 1991. It’s Thar She Blue and I bought the car from Wally in 1992 and still have it (see pic).
“A couple of the other panels from Leo’s white/green Pacer found their way onto other VGs that Wally restored. I believe the front wings are on a replica restoration of the car, possibly in SA. The bonnet resurfaced recently and is now a conversation piece in a Mopar man’s man cave.”
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