LE Monaro Story Part II

My father had promised me since I was a kid that one day I would own his LE Monaro. When I turned eighteen he made good on that promise by handing me the keys on my eighteenth birthday. A few days after my birthday my dad took me for my first driving experience in the LE. I was very weary whilst driving the car for the first time because it had been demonstrated to me many times over the years just how much of an absolute untamed beast of a machine it really was. We drove from Isabella Plains in Canberra to Bonyathon, only one suburb over. We drove to drop something off to a friends place but as it turned out they weren't home so we had to go home again. But I didn't mind I was just happy to finally be driving my LE Monaro.

After a while of driving the LE I got the hang of it and was more confident and relaxed with it. About a week or two later I drove the car to college for the first time. I was in year twelve at the time and, of course, all my friends wanted a lift to school the first time. The car was packed with five of us in there, we had the best trip to school I think I've ever had. The car became very popular amongst friends and it was decided that I should give her a new name. When the car was brought into the family it had the number plates "STROP" which then became her nickname of sorts. However, with the change of ownership I felt it was appropriate to give her a proper name, after all she was like a member of the family she deserved to be recognised as such with a new name. After a few days of deep thought and contemplation we still hadn't thought of an appropriate name. Then one day when I was leaving the college car park one of my friends stopped me to say goodbye, and he jokingly suggested calling her "Sally" after the song "Mustang Sally" because both were muscle cars. At the time I thought it was a bit cliche' and didn't like it. So after saying goodbye we left to take my friend home. The next day halfway up Athlon Drive, on the way to get pizza for the team of the design project we were in, we ran out of petrol. This was because the petrol guage was broken and it was a calculated guessing game to know if you had enough petrol or not, a game I had yet to perfect. So as we were waiting for another member of the design project team to come give us some petrol from a gerry can we were talking about a name for the LE. I then told my friend about the last suggestion of "Sally". We both agreed that running out of petrol must be a sign that the LE liked the name, so it was decided that "Sally" would be her new name.

A few short months later towards the end of the year I was invited to a barbeque of a friend's friend. I was told that another friend of his was turning up who had a great interest and knowledge of old Holdens and who, himself, drove an old HZ Kingswood running on LPG gas. I was told that if I drove my LE he would be very impressed and might be able to answer some of the questions about the car and the process of restoring it. So thats exactly what I did. It turns out I had met this person before as we went to school and even college together but he was just one year ahead of me. The first thing he said to me when he arrived that night was "so where is it?". After about half an hour of deep discussions about the LE his HZ and cars in general I told him about the unfortunate inccident that happened with the badge of the LE. The badge had recently been stolen and was for sale on Ebay. I knew it was mine because it was faded and cracked exactly the same as mine. But the real give away was that it was for sale from the A.C.T, and for those people who don't know much about Canberra, it's not a very big place and I knew that I was the only one with an LE in the state. I also had pictures of my badge on my car, up close on my car and even the picture of the one on Ebay and the information of the guy selling it. I took all that to the police but they basically said it wasn't proof. Now my new friend's dad just happened to be an AFP officer so he called him up for advice. His dad, it turns out is a bigger Holden fan than he was, it also turns out that he repaired and restored cars in his spare time. He wasn't able to help with the badge situation and I ended up just buying it back, but his son suggested to bring the car around to him to have a look at it and see if he could help me restore the car.

So a short while later we arranged for me to bring the car around to his place for his dad to check it out. I pulled up at his place and he was the only one home. He told me his dad had gone out and would be back shortly. Then just as he finished saying it his dad pulled up behind the LE, he got out of the car along with his wife and walked straight towards the car. He lit up a cigarette and started to go over the car without saying a word. We then talkedc for a few hours about the history of the car and the process of restoring it. It took a few more visits back and forth and a period of saving money but finally on the 23rd of January 2009 at 3:45pm the car was put in to be restored in his backyard shed.

That is chapter two of the story of my LE Monaro. There is still plenty more to come.

Links

Don't forget to check out the links on the side of the page for more pictures of my LE in different stages of restoration. As well as many different links to other LE related pages. >>>

My LE Monaro's Story

My LE was purchased from Wagga Wagga Motors Pty. Ltd. in Wagga Wagga on the 15th of october 1976. It was purchased by a man by the name of Mr. F. M. Hamblin, his full name is not known. Apparently he had owned the car for twelve months under the custom plates of "STROP" before he sadly passed away. His widow then parked the car in the garage, covered it with a tarp and never drove it again.

In 1989 in Canberra A.C.T a car dealer by the name of Fyshwick Used Cars took delivery of Mr. Hamblin's LE after his widow decided to sell it. A family friend at the time worked at the same car dealership and made a phone call to my dad, Trevor, and told him about a car he thought he might be interested in. My dad, not looking to buy a car at the time, reluctantly went to the dealership to have a look. He fell in love with the car straight away and asked how much he was asking for it. By the end of the day my dad was the proud new owner of an LE Monaro and $15,000 poorer, or an LE richer!

The car then became the family car, and the very next year in 1990 I was born and taken home from the hospital in it, and just like my dad I was hooked. Growing up I always remember the car being around and was used just as any family car was. It was taken on long trips from Sussex Inlet, on the south coast of NSW, to Melbourne to visit relatives on a number of occasions, it was used to go down to the local shops to get the morning news paper and to drive to work in. As the family car it was treated as such with regular cleaning and maintenance, however, most of the interior damage that now exists, exists because of me, the small child at the time.

When we were in the need for another car to run around town in which was cheaper to own and run we bought a little Charade thing that was handed to my mum. Consequently the LE, thankfully, wasn't sold instead becoming dad's "to work and back" car. Unfortunately with the demotion of rank came the downgrade of care. Insted of being treated with delicate care it was treated how you would treat a work car. It was only washed when it was parked or driven in the rain, junk was piled in the back seat and boot and was rarely given a good cleanout. However, it must be said that eventhough it wasn't treated with care it was treated with respect. It's oil and water were changed regularly and it was serviced regularly.

The car hadn't failed once until one day on the the way home from work in 2002, when it dropped a lifter and tore up the engine. The car made it home successfully but didn't move for over two years because it took that long to save up the money necessary to restore the engine. Finally the engine was restored in Melbourne on the 27th of July 2004 at 230,074 Km. After getting a renewed LE back dad found his love and passion for the car once more, he still drove it to work and back every day but he certainly treated her a little better.

Ever since I was a little kid dad promised me I would one day own the LE. That's why it broke my heart to find out at the start of 2008 he was thinking of selling it because it was just too expensive. I argued and pleaded with my parents not to ged rid of it and that I would take it even buy it off them if I had to. However, to my joy and and very much surprise in front of all my family and friends I was handed the keys to the LE on the night of my 18th birthday.

And that is where this chapter of my LE's story ends, however the story's not finished yet...