1970 Holden Monaro - Beyond Immaculate - 30

In these days of candy paints and two-tone colour schemes, getting a white car to stand out is about as easy as convincing your partner there’s room for three in your bed. Only a few people can pull it off, and when they do, the results aren’t just good, they are great. Jarod Mahon’s 1970 Monaro is the poster child for standout white cars. With its perfect stance, stunning panel work and angry-as-a-frog-in-a-sock motor, the HT stands well clear of the competition.

Every now and then a show car comes along that makes others pale into insignificance. This nitrous-snorting street and strip-driven HT GTS is one of those machines.

The man behind the machine, Jarod Mahon, hails from Huntly, and although he’s always liked the HT shape he doesn’t limit himself to being a Holden man. In the past all sorts of things from worked four-cylinder Cortinas to ultra-powerful Commodores have filled his shed, but for the last three years, all of his attention has been on the beautiful HT GTS.

Bastardised Properly

The elderly Palmerston North resident from whom Jarod purchased the car “may have accidentally been informed the car would be restored to its former glory, and not chopped up,” says Jarod, laughing. “But now it’s bastardised properly I reckon.” While not totally sure about his choice of terminology, I have to agree. Every single aspect of the car has been re-worked and perfectly finished, but just like the subtle choice of white paint, none of the modifications are over the top.
Take, for example, the tough stance and low ride height. Getting the car to sit that low wasn’t particularly hard, simply a matter of resetting the rear leaves, adding 51mm blocks and fitting six-cylinder front springs. But getting the car to ride nicely at that height was a step further than most would take. Then again, the fact Jarod made sure each and every bolt head on the car was turned to the same direction is a sign the car is far beyond perfection, and is just one key to the subtle first impression it gives.
To provide the vehicle with that added driveability there are stepped rear chassis rails and mini tubbed wheel arches that are not only wider, but also higher than stock. The reason for the extra height is that the car will soon see some drag strip action, but rather than raising it to allow for slicks, the guards were lifted. Instead of the front suspension and steering geometry being thrown out of whack by the ride height, the front cross-member has been modified to correct the adverse effects of lowering the car. Along with the cross-member modifications a Castlemain Rod Shop steering rack has been fitted to provide the car with more up-to-date steering characteristics.

“‘Carl told me to harden up and GIVE it A 200hp SHOT, but I think I’ll try and get used to it how it is first.’ Fair enough too, since the engine was dynoed stateside at over 500hp without the giggle gas”

Apparently our Jarod has a reputation for being a wee bit hard on cars, and though it was built to the highest of show quality finishes, his treatment of this HT was to be no exception. When talking about the vehicle’s rear end Jarod tells us, “Lee [from Diffs R Us] knows how hard I am on stuff, so knew to build the diff as tough as money can buy. And despite me promising him I would break it, so far it’s held up.” That tough-as-nails rear end consists of a shortened Ford nine-inch diff fitted with a Strange head and Currie 31-spline axles. Judging from the difference in tread depth between the 225/45R17 front and 285/45R17 rear tyres, I’d say the diff has had a good workout too. The wide rear tyres are wrapped around a set of 17×10-inch Simmons FR rims, while the fronts receive seven-inch-wide metal. Simmons rims may be on every second car these days, but there really is no other rim that looks as good, let alone on such a range of vehicles.