Back on the road

Phil Illfield’s magnificently restored 1970 model Holden Belmont NRMA Road Service panel van is the only one of its type in Australia – which means it’s also the only one in the world.

Story: Steve Normoyle

It’s not a muscle car, but it’s probably helped keep plenty of high performance cars on the road over the years. Phil Illfield has preserved a small but important part of Australia’s motoring history with his magnificent restoration of a 1970 HT model Holden Belmont NRMA Road Service panel van. Starting with an old NRMA van which had spent the past 20 years sitting in a paddock, the retired boilermaker invested 15 months and some $60,000 into turning this rusting, decaying wreck into the meticulously presented machine which you see here. At this point, the question might be posed: why spend so much time and money restoring such a mundane vehicle as an old NRMA van? Phil’s answer to that is a simple ‘why not?’ “I just thought it would be a bit…

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Australian Muscle Car (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 79

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