Car nerds of Newcastle, have a look at this. And now ... breathe.
The Monaro has a special place in the Aussie psyche. Nick Giannopoulos lampooned this superbly with his character Jim in the TV series Acropolis Now in the late 1980s, early 1990s. It was all about the fluffy dice and mag wheels.
Anyhow, Lloyds auctioneers tells us that this is a photo of a 1969 Holden HT Monaro.
If they're wrong, we'll soon know it. The Hunter Region has loads of cluey car sleuths who know every detail of particular models and the years in which they were made.
Lloyds Auctions chief operations officer Lee Hames said it was the "first factory-built race car to bear a Holden badge".
It's predicted to sell at auction for more than $1 million.
The 1969 HT Monaro launched Holden's racing dominance in the 1970s and '80s and drove the Holden-Ford rivalry.
"This particular HT Monaro is an extremely special car with a very rich history and a story that will never be forgotten," Lee said.
"This car is a significant piece of Australian motorsport history, not only shaping the success of Holden as a company, but also setting the stage for the domination by Holden and Peter Brock for the following two decades."
He said rare classic cars like Holden Toranas and GT Falcons sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. But none of these had the "colourful backstory or cultural significance of this Monaro".
"This HT Monaro is the first Holden prepared by motorsport legend Harry Firth. It debuted at the 1969 Sandown 300. A fiery crash at the 45-minute mark ended the race prematurely."
The vehicle goes to auction on Saturday.
Plastic Planet
The organisers of the Plastic Free July campaign sent us a feature film titled The Story of Plastic.
This mind-blowing documentary digs deep into the so-called "recycling myth".
As we wrote recently, we've all been deluded about our yellow-lidded bins. We thought we were recycling, but it's a big con.
Greenpeace says much of this toxic trash ends up in the Third World where it's dumped into rivers and the ocean, buried in dodgy landfills or burnt.
The documentary examines the man-made crisis of plastic pollution, the corporate swindlers who create it and the massive mess they leave behind. It shows the destruction that plastic causes across the planet and the links to the fossil-fuel industry, climate change and human health.
The pollution shown in the Third World is astonishing and horrendous. A lot of this waste comes from mindless consumption in the West. Use it once, throw it away, forget about it. But there is hope ... we hope. Inspiring people are trying to make a difference.
Non-Viral Jokes
We may not be able to recycle plastic, but we can recycle jokes. What do you call a conversation about the world's waste problem? Trash talk.
People are making end of the world jokes like there's no tomorrow.
Backhand Shot
New Lambton's Ross Greig noted that Novak Djokovic's charity tennis tournament led to the world number one and a number of other players testing positive for COVID-19.
"I was wondering if his new nickname would be No-vax Djokovic," Ross quipped.
"He's aced himself. Not much 'love' in that tournament."
