The Matlock Monaro

The Matlock Police TV series was launched in 1971 on the Ten network. Many fans nominate Matlock’s HT Monaro as their favourite Australian cop car. It was based on the actual vehicles used by Victoria Police’s traffic section.

TV historian Chris Keating reckons the one used in the show was probably the base model 161 Monaro due to the lack of any 186S badging. The car was given a starring role in the series, featuring in the opening credits where it’s seen travelling at high speed in footage taken from a chopper which appears to be struggling to keep up.

The series was supposedly set in a small country town called Matlock, but was actually filmed around the outer Melbourne suburbs of Warrandyte, Lilydale and Whittlesea. Ringwood Police Station was used as the Matlock cop shop.

The Matlock Monaro had a tough life. It seemed to feature in a car chase in just about every episode, driven hard by either Grigor Taylor or Michael Pate, often on unsealed roads. In one episode it was bogged wheel-deep in snow. Dented panels can be seen in several episodes.

It had to be temporarily replaced (by an HK Monaro) following the tragedy involving cameraman  Colin Ennor, killed when the actor driving the car attempted a sharp corner at high speed, lost control and crushed the cameraman against an embankment. This happened in an episode called  ‘The End of the Road’.

The fatality was headline news at the time, but given the number of chase sequences filmed by Crawford over two decades it seems remarkable that this was the only serious accident.

THE DIVISION 4 KINGSWOOD Meanwhile, in Crawford’s other great cop show, Sergeant Frank Banner and the team had to make do with this standard-issue sky-blue Kingswood. Behind car: Gerard Kennedy as Banner, Chuck Faulkner as Vickers, Terence Donovan as Peters. Front of car: Ted Hamilton as Dwyer, Patricia Smith as Margaret Stewart.