Coca-Cola has supported Australian motorsport since the late 1960s when Allan Moffat’s iconic Ford Mustang ruled the circuits, but Wayne Gardner’s touring car team of the 1990s rose the presentation stakes.
This has continued in the form of Eggleston Motorsport’s latest completed restoration project.
Eggleston Motorsport has not only led the way in Super2 for a sustained period of time, but has formed an enviable reputation for restoring some of Australia’s most prized touring cars.
The latest is a Wayne Gardner Racing VR Commodore featuring the memorable Coca-Cola scheme of the 1990s.
Designated WGR2 or DENCAR 21, it debuted mid-season in the 1995 Australian Touring Car Championship in the hands of Neil Crompton before team boss Gardner joined for the endurance events.
Although a contender at Sandown, the entry retired on lap 139 due to vibrations.
Bathurst was a different story as the team were in the hunt all day, leading during the early stages. In what was a tight battle for the entire event, a delay during the final stint led Gardner and Crompton to finish third as Larry Perkins partnering Russell Ingall charged to a famous victory.
After being retained by WGR for 1996, it has gone through numerous owners resulting in the chassis being semi-restored featuring the iconic Coca-Cola colours it wore during the mid-1990s.
“The car is owned by Anthony Poloni from Melbourne and he bought it from another collector, then he engaged us to do a full restoration on it,” said team owner Ben Eggleston.
“It was a complete car, but it was in a bit of a rundown state. The car was fully stripped down and blasted before being fully fabricated back to its original configuration in regard to the bar work and pedal box by George Smith of DENCAR.
“We then painted it and reassembled it with a correct engine installed that was built by Neil Burns, who was the engine builder back in the day. It is period correct as of 1995 Bathurst.
“The 1990s to the early 2000s were my favourite era. It was what I grew up watching and how I got interested in it. This car in particular is very cool with the Coca-Cola livery in addition to Wayne Gardner and Neil Crompton sharing it is awesome.
“With the restoration now complete, it is one of the best VR/VS examples in the country by far.
“I can’t wait to see when Neil [Crompton] views it and I think Wayne [Gardner] will be pretty proud of it too seeing as he owned the team at the time.”
Now owned by Anthony Poloni, WGR2 has been restored to its former glory by Eggleston Motorsport utilising some of the original members involved in its build including DENCAR’s George Smith and engine builder Neil Burns.
Eggleston Motorsport is a specialist in restoring projects like this, undertaking many high-profile refurbishments on chassis from the early V8 formula.
