The Holden Dealer Team brand has a new custodian.
Businessman and multiple Bathurst 12 Hour winner Kenny Habul is the new owner of HDT after purchasing it from former mining magnate Peter Champion.
Habul has a personal link to the brand having been taken in by Peter and Bev Brock during his youth, while also owning many of the racing legends former race cars including the 1987 Bathurst winning VL Commodore Group A.
As part of the transaction, Habul will acquire the remainder of Champion’s Brock collection comprising of significant HDT road cars.
Champion was friends with Brock after building a collection of the star driver’s race and road models, which were housed in a museum at Yeppoon in Queensland before being sold off in 2018.
The HDT in its original form was founded in 1969 and carried Holden’s factory hopes in racing until early-1987 when Brock’s Energy Polarizer forced the manufacturer to dissolve its relationship with the squad prior to Round 1 of the Australian Touring Car Championship at Calder Park.
Brock had purchased the team ahead of the 1980 season following Holden’s withdrawal and as a result of a group of dealers coming together led by South Australia’s Vin Kean. As part of the agreement, the dealers to invest received specially developed Commodore road-going models to sell to consumers.
Under champion’s ownership, HDT restarted this practice during the VE run by offering recreations of famous models including the VK ‘Blue Meanie’ Group A SS and VC Retro range.
Champion announced the sale on social media.
“For those who have heard the rumours floating around, it is now official,” he revealed.
“After nearly 20 years of owning HDT Special Vehicles – the brand that was made famous by Peter Brock from 1980 till 1987 – I felt it was time for me to move on and sell it to someone that is just as passionate as myself and that person is Kenny Habul.
“A lot of people will have heard of Kenny who has won two Bathurst 12 Hour races and many other races on the world circuit.
“I’ve known Kenny for quite a long time and he, like myself, had a personal friendship with PB so that makes it easier for me to let go and move on.
“Kenny has some amazing ideas of what he wants to do with the brand and is moving it all to Bathurst.
“In letting go of HDT, I decided it was time to let go of my HDT Brock built Commodores that I had been collecting as far back as the early 90s.
“That has been one of the toughest decisions I’ve made in a long time. The truck turned up [Sunday] and picked up five of those cars and that my friends was a tough day.
“To show how passionate and thoughtful Kenny was that he got out of bed early hours in the morning from the other side of the world to check and make sure that I was okay.
“That tells me that Kenny is the right person to take on the challenge of keeping this famous brand with these amazing cars alive.”
HDT will be relaunched on Monday, October 12 following the Great Race, which will celebrate Brock’s legacy 20 years after his death.