The 2024 Repco Bathurst 1000, running October 10-13, will see a homecoming four decades in the making with the cars that finished 1-2 in the 1984 James Hardie 1000 reunited for the first time wearing their correct race numbers – #05 and #25.

The pair of Holden Dealer Team VK Group C Commodores will be displayed together at the National Motor Racing Museum during race week. The two cars, driven 40 years ago to victory and second place by Peter Brock/Larry Perkins and John Harvey/David Parsons respectively, will be a major drawcard to the museum.

“The history of the two cars has been very complicated for us over the years,” explained NMRM coordinator Brad Owen. “It’s really nice that it is now clarified. We can recognise both of cars for what they are.”

The Big Banger reunion follows many years of debate as to which HDT VK from the fondly remembered ’84 race, the last for Australia’s indigenous Group C category, was the actual race winner and which car finished second. In the sport’s highest profile case of disputed identity, the two Commodores were displayed as the winning #05 car by their respective owners.

It took until the purchase of the Harvey/Parsons Commodore by the Bowden family in 2022 and their subsequent changing of its race number from #05 to #25 – along with corresponding livery changes – for the correction to be made. It puts an end to any doubt the National Motor Racing Museum at Mount Panorama owned the 1984 race winner, which has resided in Bathurst since 1985.

The Queensland family’s purchase and actions followed a thorough investigation by Australian Muscle Car magazine in 2014 for the race’s 30th anniversary which determined the real #05 was owned by Bathurst Regional Council and displayed at the NMRM. AMC’s investigation, in conjunction with the V8 Sleuth’s Aaron Noonan, matched weld marks on the museum car’s roll-cage to those in race day photographs from 1984 found in the magazine’s archive.

“We would never have bought the car without that article,” Chris Bowden says in the latest issue of AMC. “The evidence presented in that magazine made us want to buy the car and do the right thing. We are just the custodians of it but what a privilege it is given its connection to Bathurst.”

Bowden expands on the reasons for his family’s acquisition, including the desire to properly honour a legend of the sport, in issue #146 of Australian Muscle Car, on-sale now.

The Big Banger reunion over the 2024 Repco Bathurst 1000 weekend not only puts a full-stop to an enduring mystery, it provides for a contrasting display. The race winner remains in an unrestored state having not competed beyond 1984, while #25 underwent restoration after a long and distinguished racing career, flying the flag for Aussie muscle cars overseas.

The HDT pair will be central to the NMRM’s 20-plus car special exhibition marking the 40th anniversary of the Group C touring car era’s final Great Race. The museum will be open throughout race week with extended visitor hours.

Image supplied by the National Motor Racing Museum.