The blue Skelta G-Force displayed at Autosport International is shortly to be set up as a circuit racer for Matt Cummings of Stratton Motor Company. However, last week (January 29) the opportunity was seized to whip it over to Ireland and assess its potential for tarmac rallying in that country.

And, who better to make that judgement than five times Irish Tarmac Rally Champion Eugene Donnelly and his highly-renowned engineering partner of 20 years, Derek McGeehan?

Said Donnelly, “The test was unavoidably subjective as the car was not fully set up for our type of stages and the weather was very poor. However, I must say the Skelta impressed me and I feel it could readily be made competitive.

“Its supercharged Honda engine is incredibly responsive and the car is very well balanced. The combination makes for a very agile machine. I see no reason why converting it to full rally specification should in any way blunt its obvious abilities. The car is quick by any standards and I much enjoyed driving it, and would be delighted to see a version developed to compete over here – I think it could do very well.”

Skelta’s founder Ray Vandersee commented, “I designed and built the car to win Targa Tasmania, so it is used to faster, smoother tarmac roads than they have in Ireland. However, I was extremely encouraged by the feedback we received from Eugene and Derek and very grateful for their valued input.

“We have a lot on our plate at the moment, as both the G-Force and the open-topped Spyder created a lot of interest at Autosport International. We are also busy finalising our 2010 racing plans. However, the car was born to rally and if the opportunity arises to get one into tarmac rallying in Ireland, or anywhere else in Europe, we’d certainly be very interested.”

Five time Irish Tarmac Rally Campion Eugene Donnelly at the wheel of the Skelta G-Force

First registered in South Australia by 2003 the paintwork on this vehicle was in rather poor condition although mechanically it was still sound when it was picked up by Coca Cola. The original restoration work was done by Coca Cola and the van was offered as the main prize in the 2004 Summer of Coke competition.

The winner was undoubtedly jumping for joy when he found he had won what was advertised as a fully restored 1976 Holden Sandman but was less than pleased when he discovered that what the PR people who were running the competition had an entirely different idea of what “fully restored” meant than most people.

The paint work and decaling was far below what anyone would consider to be fully-restored and after a little haggling Coke agreed and the van disappeared into a panel shop in Mudgee NSW to really be restored.

$8000 later and the Sandman emerged in a genuinely fully restored condition … much as you see it here and a few years later it changed hands for $17,000.

Today this beautifully restored 1976 Holden HT Sandman is owned by David Guy and you’ll see it occasionally on the streets of Rutherford New South Wales where it’s registered for general road use.

While the body has been fully restored there has been very little mechanical work done to this Sandman … there has simply been no need to touch the motor or transmission.

Even though it now has over 290,000km on the clock the 4.2 litre engine and auto transmission still perform faultlessly and the engine note from the single exhaust system is perfect.

Even though you probably haven’t been to Rutherford and never took much notice of that 2004 Coke promotion the chances are that you have seen this vehicle around.

A painting of the vehicle was on the front cover of the 2009 Trax calendar … it’s also appeared on a set of coasters and placemats and there are prints of the original painting on sale around the place (all done without any consultation with David).

The only thing David would like to do to the vehicle is add an air conditioner and find one of surfboards custom surfboards that were often seen hanging out of the van in the promotional photos that were used by Coke back in 2004. So if you happen to know where one of those surfboards might be then email us here at Aussie Motoring and we’ll pass the message on.

And did I get to drive it? Would you let someone who turned up in an egg carton on wheels drive this 1976 HT Sandman if you owned it?

Yeah I thought so and that’s what David thought too.

(Sadly the strong midday sun tended to fade the colour in the photos and no amount of fiddling in Photoshop could improve it)

Earlier this month fully restored red version of this classic Australian muscle car was stolen from a collector in Perth. Sadly this car is now right out of circulation and, unless the thieves are caught, it’s unlikely it will ever be seen again. With only 300 of these cars ever produced these days such a vehicle could never be re-birthed.

I had the good fortune of being able to photograph (and listen to) this 1970 version of the Falcon GT here in Queensland earlier this year. You can read more about this particular car here

Like most car enthusiasts I can appreciate anything with a Ferrari badge on it. BMWs are interesting, Ford Focus XR5s are pretty cool too (and if my daughter ever buys one she better let her old man have a drive or she’s out of the will for ever) but what really gets my blood pressure up is the sound of raw power that comes from an old Falcon GT.

One turned up in my driveway some weeks back when Mick McCalman was home from Hong Kong. This is Mick’s pride and joy and he kindly interrupted his busy schedule to bring it around so I could photograph it.

Sadly I don’t think my photos do it justice (the lighting was getting worse by the minute as the sun started to go down). This Ford Falcon XW GT is one very serious piece of Aussie muscle and it’s kept in immaculate condition.

This Falcon GT is painted in Reef green with saddle interior and runs on original 5 slot rims.

The motor is a 351 cubic inch (5.8 litre) Cleveland V8 matched to a 4 speed toploader.

This Ford Falcon GT is definitely something very special.

For a town of such relatively small size we have a surprisingly large number of very interesting motor vehicles here in town. I’ve photographed and written about a few here already and there will be more to come but right now let me show you a nicely restored Valiant Charger I happened to see late this afternoon.

For our overseas visitors I should explain that all Valiant models were produced here in Australia by Chrysler. The first model rolled off the production line in 1971 and the last was produced in 1978. Some were definitely more muscle than others.

I’m certainly no expert on the Valiant Charger but I think this one is one of the more civilised CL models. If anyone can positively identify which model it is then feel free to mention it in the comments section.

The 1972 model Valiant Charger E49 sub-group is recognised as Australia’s fastes muscle car.