2020 50c 1970 Holden HT Monaro GTS 350 – 60 Years of Supercars Coloured Coin in Card

Australia enjoys an enduring love affair with Supercars racing and this year celebrates 60 years of the Australian Touring Car Championship. The first Australian Touring Car Championship was held in 1960 at Gnoo Blas, NSW where the single-race title was won by David McKay driving a Jaguar.

An Australian-made car first won the ATCC in 1970 – the second year of the title being decided over a series of races – when a Holden Monaro GTS 350 ended a decade of dominance by British and American cars.

Jaguars dominated the early years, but the V8 power took over in 1965 when Norm Beechey won at Sandown in the first Ford Mustang brought to Australia. V8-engined cars have subsequently accounted for all but 10 titles. Since the arrival of the Mustang in 1965, Australians have had a passion for V8 engines that remains the foundation of the sport. This fascination of V8s reached its zenith in the Supercars era from the 1990s to now, a Holden-versus-Ford era that has the Red Lion ahead with 15 Supercars titles to the Blue Oval’s 12. However, over the total 60 years of the ATCC Ford leads with 26 titles to Holden’s 21. In the hundreds of races since its humble beginnings in 1960, the ATCC has created champions and legends through classic races and rivalries.

HT Monaro GTS

Holden captured the spirit of the Swinging Sixties with its sleek new Monaro in 1968, and race teams were quick to put it on the track.

Flamboyant Melbourne racer Norm Beechey, who usually raced big American V8s, couldn’t resist the homegrown two-door. Beechey won the 1970 Australian Touring Car Championship with his ultimate creation, a HT-series Monaro GTS 350 powered by a thumping 6.0-litre version of the car’s standard 5.7-litre Chevrolet V8 engine.

Storm’ Norman’s cheekily named ‘Trans-Aus’ Monaro – a retort to rival Allan Moffat’s revolutionary American-built Trans-Am Mustang – was built with covert assistance from the Holden factory and was the first Australian car to win the championship.

Coin Set Features

• Uncirculated coloured coin in presentation card featuring information on the 1970 Holden HT Monaro GTS 350 driven by Norm Beechey
• Obverse features the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II sculpted by Jody Clark
• Australian legal tender

Technical Specifications

ABOUT THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN MINT

The Royal Australian Mint is the sole producer of all Australia’s circulating coins. Opened in 1965 and situated in the Australian federal capital city of Canberra, in the suburb of Deakin, the Mint is also a very popular tourist destination for visitors and locals alike. Swan Bullion Company is proud to be an authorised distributor for The Royal Australian Mint’s bullion and numismatic products.

* Coin is not to scale in image 1 *