Holden Dealer Team’s base at Firth Motors in
suburban Melbourne. All but off the radar, the
tyranny of distance may well have played a part
in a lack of support for the bloke who broke
Holden’s duck.
When McPhee sought assistance in securing
one of the new HT Monaro GTS 350s to defend
his crown in ’69, he would be left disappointed.
Just why McPhee received no love from GM-H
remains a mystery today, although two members
of his ’68-winning team could shed some light on
the situation when contacted for this story.
The rst is Mark Levenspiel, who, aged 28,
was one of the race mechanics entrusted with
changing brake pads during the famous ’68
race win. Levenspiel was the son of Wyong
Motors owner Phil Levenspiel and worked in
the dealership at that stage. He recalls that an
unful lled promise by Holden in the immediate
aftermath of the ’68 win to reimburse Wyong
Motors for all the spare parts used in the
preparation and
aintenance of the
#13 GTS 327 meant that Levenspiel Snr still had
a bone to pick with GM-H when October 1969
was looming large on the horizon.
“My father wasn’t happy that John Bagshaw
had promised to pay for the dealership’s cost of
supplying parts to the ’68 winner, but when that
didn’t happen he encouraged Bruce to go see
Klosters instead.”
More on Newcastle Ford dealer Klosters
shortly, but rst, it’s important we present the
recollections today of McPhee’s daughter Ann
Lee, who lapscored in the pits, aged 18, the day
her Dad won Bathurst. Ann couldn’t shed any
light on Holden’s snub per se, but recalls that
her father remained on friendly terms with then
HDT head honcho Harry Firth and that in later
life joked that they’d overlooked an opportunity to
contest the race together.
“I’m a bit hazy on the speci cs, but I know
that Dad and Harry got on well overall and I
recall Harry saying something years later that
he’d wished he’d asked Bruce to drive one of
his Monaros in ’69,” Ann Lee says. “Harry didn’tconsider giving him a call as he thought Dad
was already locked into doing his own thing with
Wyong Motors.”
Bruce con rmed this missed opportunity
to drive for the HDT when he penned his
recollections of driving GT-HO Falcons in 1969
and ‘70 for Stephen Stathis’ book Bathurst GT-
HO Falcons: A Photographic History.
“Nobody approached me with an offer of a
car to drive. This may sound a bit big-headed
but I reasoned that, after buying and running
my own cars at Bathurst every year since 1963,
with good results, winning the event might just
qualify me for an offer. But with the entry closing
date approaching and no offers forthcoming, I
must admit that I was a bit miffed, so I decided to
change camps and get a Falcon.
“Living at Wyong I thought I’d keep the
business local, so I approached Kloster Ford
at Newcastle. Harley Kloster was a bit of a fan,
so he generously sold me a car, the latest XW
Falcon GT-HO 351, at cost. He also allowed me
the services of a mechanic for two weeks to help
me prepare the car. Nothing fancy, of course, just
changed the plugs, battery and so on, and ran it
in with some longish drives over a few nights.
“So, with my usual crew – my wife Alma, my
mate Bruce Moir and Barry and his girlfriend –
we drove up to Bathurst on the Thursday to settle
in andgetreadyforSaturday’spractice.
Inset far left: Harry Firth didn’t miss many opportunities,
but the HDT chief copped it from Alma McPhee for
leaving it too late to recruit her hubby for Bathurst 1969.
Main: By the time Harry came calling, McPhee had
already done the deal with Klosters Ford for a new XW
GT-HO and committed to running his own show again.
Autopics.com.au