I recently traveled to Mansfield, Victoria for the Mansfield Classic Holden Nationals. 

Unfortunately it was abruptly and disappointingly postponed when the recent Covid related 5 day lockdown was announced. 

It couldn’t have been worse timing for this 5 day event. 

People had traveled many miles from all around Australia to take part. 

One such person was Paul from Tasmania. It’s fair to say making the trek from Tassie to Mansfield was a huge commitment for Paul which was annoyingly cut short for him. 

Even though the Friday show and shine in Mansfield was brief, Paul and his Holden Ute still certainly made an impact on the participants and spectators there. 

Paul was kind enough to share a bit about himself and his car with me. 

Classic Car Quiz #18

◾️Name of owner - Paul Anderson 

◾️Car make and model

1973 Holden HQ 2 Tonne Cab Chassis

◾️When did you get the car/how long have you had it? 

I got the car in 2014 from Bendigo but it did not look like it does now. I’ve owned it from 2014 until present. The origin of these cars is that they are a ambulance chassis built by Hayman Reece in South Australia. They built them from HQ to WB.

◾️Why do you love your car?

I love my car because it represents me with all the skulls as I have a lot of skulls tattooed on my body.

◾️Does the car have a name and why?

When I built the step-side back on it I went to a few shows and some people said it looked like a coffin, so that name stuck. I call it The Coffin. 

◾️What restoration/modifications have been performed on the car? 

As I said it is a HQ but the body had too much rust in it for my liking so I got another body and front clip off an HZ Premier and put on. The only modification on the car is the tub on the back. The tub is 9 foot long, 4 foot across. The guards are off a 1974 Chevy C10 pickup, reshaped to to look the way they do now. Each guard took 8 weeks to do and they are the original length. Tail lights off a 1959 Caddy and LED units, 70 litre fuel cell and the skulls and gargoyles are made of fibreglass. Dash is 3mm brass plate cut to fit the facia plate. Aftermarket gauges, custom steering wheel. Engine is 308 Holden, Turbo 350 gearbox. 

◾️How often do you drive your car? 

I only drive the car to shows or any car related event. Other than that it sits in my shed. 

◾️Have you always been into cars, and if so what other cars have you had? 

No I wasn’t always into cars! I did the Harley thing. Built a few of them, then went back to the cars. I have owned are when i lived in NZ I built a T-Bucket twin supercharger. It was street legal in NZ, but when I moved back here, I found this and built this car to look like this. 

I have owned all sorts of cars over the years. 

◾️What was your first car? 

My very first car was a ZD Fairlane