{"id":925219,"date":"2026-10-12T08:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T08:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/925219\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T08:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T08:46:14","slug":"plan-to-future-proof-peter-brocks-hdt-special-vehicles-legacy-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/925219\/","title":{"rendered":"Plan to future-proof Peter Brock’s HDT Special Vehicles legacy revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Bold\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Richard Gresham<\/p>\n

Habul recently bought the HDT Special Vehicles business from Peter Champion, who had been its custodian for the last 20 years.<\/p>\n

Brock ran the company from 1980 to 1987, producing over 4000 hotted-up Holdens until the infamous Energy Polarizer saga ended the arrangement.<\/p>\n

Its time under Champion included a limited run of VE and VF Commodore-based models.<\/p>\n

Already a collector of Brock and HDT vehicles, Habul announced his plans for the business during a public function in Bathurst on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want the brand to die. I didn\u2019t want it to disappear,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to revive it and add some capital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Habul\u2019s vision includes restoring existing HDT vehicles and developing upgrade kits for them, leaning into the \u2018restomod\u2019 phenomenon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kenny Habul with a VL Plus Pack on display inside a Peter Brock activation in Bathurst. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have prototype cars being tested here in Australia, as well as in Germany and the USA,\u201d Habul said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of work to do before we have an HDT-reimagined car to present, but there is a fundamental recipe that I think will be very impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US-based solar energy mogul already owns multiple properties at Bathurst and plans to establish a HDT headquarters in the city.<\/p>\n

Should ongoing talks with local authorities come to fruition, that would include a museum, workshop and showroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have huge plans for the reborn HDT brand,\u201d Habul said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey include building a factory in Bathurst focused on a range of enthusiast applications including restorations, performance enhancements and more.\u201d<\/p>\n

A series of classic HDT road cars were on display at the announcement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

From left: Peter Champion, Kenny Habul, Graeme \u2018Mort\u2019 Brown, Lewis Brock and Richard Craill at the announcement. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n

It followed a Bathurst 1000 in which multiple Habul-owned Brock race cars took part in commemorations of 20 years since the legend\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

The pride of Brock\u2019s collection is the VL Commodore that won the race in 1987 \u2013 a year in which Habul joined the team as a gopher.<\/p>\n

Habul had the car air-freighted back from the US to take part in the Bathurst 1000 festivities, driving it in the parade on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that car,\u201d he said. \u201cI blew it up, unfortunately, trying to do donuts for the crowd. It blew the clutch or the gearbox or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"White<\/p>\n

Kenny Habul at Bathurst. Image: InSyde Media<\/p>\n

Habul stressed his overall goal of helping the legend of HDT and Brock lives on for decades to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cEventually generations move on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I just hope that we never forget and we try and maintain the history, the legacy and the culture, and pass it on to future generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope there\u2019s another one of me that comes along and says I\u2019ve got better ideas for this and it continues.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Richard Gresham Habul recently bought the HDT Special Vehicles business from Peter Champion, who had been its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,41956,7499,85],"class_list":["post-925219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-peter-brock","tag-slot4","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}