2005 VAUXHALL MONARO VXR500

BRASH, BLOWN AND BACK ON HOME SOIL, LINDA AND CHRIS DEUTER'S VAUXHALL MONARO VXR500 IS LUTON IN LABEL ONLY

When Linda and Chris Deuter decided they wanted to replace their HX Holden LE, the last thing they were expecting to buy was a Vauxhall. "We wanted an HSV GTO," Linda begins. "We'd just driven our HX LE back from the Monaro Nationals in Toowoomba, and even though we'd taken it easy and stopped along the way, it was pretty exhausting."

Linda and Chris have owned various collectible Holdens over the years, including SLR and SS Toranas, HJ and HX Monaro GTS sedans, a one-of-450 'Classic Edition' HZ Statesman and no less than two 1976 HX Holden LE coupes, the latest of which they'd elected to be their long-distance cruiser. Linda continues, "We're not afraid to take our cars down the road. We've driven them all over the country, but there's no comparison with a modern car." Chris agrees, adding, "The LE's got no cruise, so you're constantly concentrating on your speed these days, and the air-con in them never worked well. There was a brochure that came with them from new that said something like, 'please avoid using air-conditioners on hot days, when going up and down hills." 

With a fondness for the factory fresh, modifying their LE just wasn't an option, meaning to combine Monaro magic with modern motoring, they'd have to look to a V2 or VZ Monaro or same-era HSV Coupe GTO or GTS, built from 2001 to 2006. Linda continues the story, "So we started looking at the GTOs, but they were way out of our price range," she gestures to their supercharged silver beast, parked on Turn 3 of the Adelaide Steet Circuit, "until I stumbled across this on Carsales." It was listed under 'Holden Monaro, but the text described it as a Vauxhall Monaro VXR500; one of just 18 built in that configuration and sold new in the UK.