50 years ago was 1969, it was when man first walked on the Moon, and it was a time when motor racing was starting to hit its stride. In celebrating this, we take a look back at Bathurst 1969, when battle lines were drawn at the Hardie-Ferodo 500 at Mount Panorama. Holden’s Monaro GTS350 versus Ford’s GTHO 351, with everything in between collateral damage – especially after the first lap’s carnage.

Enjoy this pictorial and blow by blow commentary, with many rare never before published photographs, sourced from the archives of Robert Davies, Autopics and others.

Whilst the 1969 model GTHO didn’t fare too well at Bathurst that year due to poor tyre choice, our feature 62,330 mile Candy Apple Red Falcon XW GTHO has survived in pristine condition mostly due to the caring hands of the dozen custodians it’s had to date!

With only 260 of these Phase 1s built, this one has quite an interesting story to tell.

Up next is the beautifully patina’d 1969 Holden HT Monaro purchased new by a Victorian family as a 21st birthday present for their son, that I’d mentioned earlier.

The Chrysler by Chrysler was the flagship of the fleet, a land yacht by comparison kitted-out with every luxury one needed. Purchased new at Leederville Motors, in WA, we feature this pearler powered by the Hemi six and optioned with power steering, power windows and air-conditioning colder than a streaker in a hailstorm!

Carrying on from the Ford versus Holden theme, on one side of the fence separating their properties, is one-eyed Holden man, Kevin, and on the other side is blue-blooded Ford man, Bob. These two characters have been at odds for years. Occasionally, they cease fire and open the gate to share a beer to chat about their Survivor cars, then after that, it’s back on again! Take a look at the cars, and read their story of an uncanny friendship titled the ‘Warring Neighbours’.

For our future Survivor in this issue, we have a HSV built VN SS Group A. Only 302 of these were built and they were powered by the twin throttle body 215kW 4.9 litre V8. We’d imagine that apart from the racing versions, many would have survived mothballed by collectors as a worthy investment. Build No 110 is one worthy example, showing a mere 42,424 kilometres on the clock.

From our International Survivor stable we have a real peach, a luscious and luxurious 1960 Lincoln Continental Mark V Landau with just 10,025 miles!

There’s something for everyone in another hot issue of Australia’s favourite motoring magazine, so get comfy and get stuck into it.

Afterwards, why not write in to Editor@SurvivorCarAustralia.com.au and tell us what you think.