Restored Coca-Cola Commodore revealed

A 1990s Coca-Cola Wayne Gardner Racing VR Commodore has been restored and revealed, 30 years after it raced to the Bathurst podium.

Eggleston Motorsport has revealed the Commodore, designated WGR2 or DENCAR 21, which debuted mid-season in the 1995 Australian Touring Car Championship in the hands of Neil Crompton.

Crompton and team boss Gardner shared the Commodore for the endurance events, finishing third in the 1995 Bathurst 1000 after a DNF at Sandown.

The car was retained by WGR for 1996, and has since gone through numerous owners.

The car is now owned by Anthony Poloni, and has been restored to its former glory by Eggleston Motorsport.

The restoration utilised some of the original members involved in its build, including DENCAR’s George Smith and engine builder Neil Burns.

“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,” Ben Eggleston said.

“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 views it and I think Wayne will be pretty proud of it too seeing as he owned the team at the time.”