The night Brock & GMH broke up

By: David Morley, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 11.10.2016

Dave Morley was there the night the HDT empire came crashing down. Here's what happened...

Brock's Director brochure pointed to a bold new direction.

Just like the guy who happened to be filming Mick Fanning when the shark had a crack at him, I was the bloke in the right place at the right time back on a February night in 1987. In a flash reception centre in Melbourne’s south-east, P Brock and his chiropractor guru, Eric Dowker, whisked a cover off the HDT Director and proudly stood back. It was like pulling the pin out of a grenade and dropping it at your own feet.

Next day, Holden officially severed all ties. For those of us watching, it was the bust-up that had previously been unimaginable. No winners that night.

To be standing there was actually quite surreal. Brock was in a dinner suit but while he clearly believed the Director was the start of something big, there wasn’t a single invited person there who didn’t understand that they were watching the disintegration of what had been a beautiful relationship. That it was Brock’s single-minded determination to trust his own beliefs did little to ease the pain. This was a train-wreck.

Eric Dowker was the joker in the pack, too. Although I’d never met him (as a shit-kicker on a car magazine, I was a complete nobody in these circles) Dowker approached me, shook my hand and greeted me by name. How the hell he knew who I was still amazes me, but that’s what happened.

Dave Morley

See our story on the car at the centre of the controversy - the Director

Unique Cars magazine Value Guides

Sell your car for free right here