One-of-10 CAPA F-320c Monaro for sale

We've all heard of the Vauxhall Monaro; the F320-C isn't just any old Monaro, though...

While the Vauxhall-badged Holdens are most certainly lovable beasts, there’s also no doubting the fact that they don’t come up for sale very often. Partly that’ll be because of age - the first Monaros arriving here more than 20 years ago now - partly that’ll be because of relatively small sales even when new, and partly that’ll be thanks to owners keeping hold of them. If you had a Monaro or a VXR8 and got rid, what on earth would it be replaced with?

The scarcity certainly adds to the appeal, a rarely seen reminder of a simpler time. Even more so in the case of this Monaro, which is an awfully long way from standard - in case the wheels, paint and bodykit didn’t give it away. This is the work of CAPA Performance in Australia, and is officially called an F-320c. Indeed it’s actually registered as a CAPA car, not a Vauxhall or a Holden, in much the same way as a Shelby might be, such was the level of modification made. CAPA made its name in supercharging, a business it still maintains today, but this car came from a 10-unit run of complete conversions back in the early 2000s.

Without a supercharger, oddly enough, but CAPA did make a host of changes. See the ‘320’ in the name refers to kilowatts of power, and 320 in kw is 430 imperial horsepower, a very handy gain over the standard car’s 330hp. It was achieved through, among other things, treating the LS to a spicier cam, freeing up the intake and exhaust, fitting a new throttle body, even changing the valve springs to liven up the 5.7 V8.

There wasn’t much about the Monaro left untouched by an F-320c overhaul, which is why it cost almost 100,000 Australian dollars back in the day. There was a new six-link rear-axle fitted, uprated suspension, better brakes, stiffer mounts - a proper going over, basically. And not just a silly exhaust for the V8 plus a set of split rims straight from Need for Speed: Underground.

It all makes for a hugely intriguing muscle car, a familiar shape yet one that promises a drastically different experience to the norm. As might be expected for something so niche, the CAPA has come from a Holden collection, so really the best kind of home for it. According to the advert, a lot has been spent recently on new brakes, a respray and some light recommissioning. If you’re sufficiently invested in Holdens to own one of these, you’re going to be the type of person to really adore it. The condition would appear to reflect that.

This CAPA has actually been in the UK from new, which makes it all the more surprising/disappointing (delete as appropriate) that we really knew nothing about it until now. Having been laid up for a decade from 2012, it’s enjoyed occasional use (a thousand miles a year or so) since then. Now it sits as a 42,000-mile, £25,000 Monaro like no other. More expensive than you’ll find a standard 5.7 for, though it’s easy to see why a CAPA is deemed more valuable than a regular Monaro. Maybe its automatic gearbox and modified nature - there’s not a Holden badge to be seen anywhere - might put some folk off, and also make it hard to shift in future, but there’s a simple solution for that: cherish the CAPA for as long as possible. Shouldn’t be too hard…

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Taz73

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33 months