Although the vehicle had quite a high impact accident the damage was rather superficial. The damage that was inflicted upon striking the armco was the majority of the damage that the Monaro sustained.
Here is a photo of the Monaro straight after Women for Wheels extinguished the fire.
The accident immediately led to the head honchos of Holden walking up to Harry Firth and stating "We want a report on our desk Monday morning as to why this failure occured. We need to be able to compete with Ford at Bathurst" or words to that effect.
The vehicle was subsequently trailered back to Queens Avenue Auburn where the Dealer Team began to strip the vehicle down to determine the cause of the accident. The Motor was removed from the Monaro and taken apart and inspected as was the entire braking system of the Monaro. Asides from identifying the issues with the brake pads the inspection of the engine identified a problem with the pistons of the factory 350. The pistons were starting to deteriorate due to the strenuous operating conditions. Therefore Firth made some modifications and used Moly rings for the remaining 3 HDT Monaros for Bathurst and kept his secret to himself. The Fox as Harry was known did not advise his findings to anyone else in the motor racing industry. This was to prove significant in a few weeks time.
This Monaro was also utilised to make 3 significant homologation changes to CAMS for the Bathurst race. With the HK 327, the Monaro had slotted rims to assist in venting heat away from the brakes. In their wisdom, the HT styling department thought these vents looked at odds with the car so they deleted the slotted rims for the HT range. Harry Firth immediately applied to CAMS to reintroduce the slotted rims as this would assist the cooling of the brakes. After this homologated change Holden reintroduced the slotted rims for the road going HT 350 Monaros. The official General Motors Holden Service Letter that related to this Homologated change for Bathurst is dated 26th September 1969 and a copy of this Service letter is provided with the car.
In another moment of ingenuity Harry also applied to CAMS to have two cold chisel cutouts applied behind the front bumper bar in line with the front brakes to allow a flow of air directly onto the front disks to assist in cooling and improve braking. CAMS approved these modifications. Subsequently, when these vehicles were sold from Dealership floors there were cold chisel cutouts behind the front bumpers of factory 350 manual Monaros. The official General Motors Holden Service Letter that related to this Homologated change for Bathurst is dated 18th September 1969 and a copy of this Service letter is provided with the car.
The last homologated change was to the Air Filter of the Carburettor. The factory Air Filter Body did not allow sufficient air flow to the liking of the Dealer Team, so Harry ordered four large hand cut holes to be made to the Filter Body to allow sufficient air flow to the liking of the 350 Chev. The official General Motors Holden Service Letter that related to this Homologated change for Bathurst is dated 19th September 1969 and a copy of this Service letter is provided with the car.
Due to the fact this vehicle was the vehicle that was utilised to approve these homologated changes this car does not have the modifications except for the modified Air Cleaner. The cutouts behind the front bumpers were never implemented and the slotted rims were never placed on the Monaro. When the Monaro raced it did not race with these characteristics on the car. Due to the historical significance of these amendments after this car raced the vehicle has been left in the condition it was raced in 1969.
