From Craig Neary (2017)
Craig Neary lives in Bathurst, Australia, and is the current owner of this Heron, with the original reg number LI5. It was owned previously in Australia by Darren Painter.

I first saw the Heron on one of my nightly scrolls through the collector cars section of eBay. I must admit that like most people I hadn't heard of them before, but I was instantly taken in by its aggressive styling. As a kid I was always dreaming about Purvis Eureka's and lotuses and here was a production car of my dreams. Upon contacting the owner in Sydney, I was told that a guy was coming from Perth to have a look and had the first option. Luckily for me, he couldn't fit in the car. Upon first seeing the car I was very disappointed in the run-down condition but was smitten with the car all the same so onto the trailer it went. One drive was enough with no brakes and the engine backfiring continually, so it was straight to ACM in Bathurst for some serious mechanical work after replacing the brakes and rotors with parts sourced from New Zealand it was onto the mechanicals. This is where I got my first break as I found the original designer and builder of the Herons Ross Baker was living on the gold Coast. His help advising on parts and general info on the car was invaluable in the restoration. While waiting for parts to be imported I decided I couldn't live with the bright blue interior and shipped the car off to Bathurst car and boat upholstery who recoloured the leather interior and retimed the seats etc. It was here that I discovered to my horror that one of the previous owners had a habit of cutting holes in the body to access difficult areas these holes were repaired, and the interior replaced. A slight mishap then occurred with the windscreen which was finally identified as the rear screen from a MK2 Escort (try to find one of those without a demister) this was refitted and then the car went to Mille Miglia exhausts in Bathurst where Geoff from Research and Development made a custom stainless exhaust. While this was going on I was frantically trying to locate wheels and finally identified them as BBS E30 Race rims. Thanks to the wonder of the internet, I purchased a new set of outer rims from BBS in Germany and powder coated the centres the car runs 13inch 4 stud front and 14inch 5 stud rear wheels. After much more mechanical work and various little bits and pieces, the car was deemed ready for Rego.

After getting several pieces of conflicting advice I finally got a break and found amongst the import paperwork a form for the issuing of a compliance plate after obtaining this I only needed a blue slip. After another frustrating week sorting out with the RTA whether the number was a VIN no or a chassis no and then waiting for them to put a heron on their system, I received my HERON plates. Since rego the car has had twin 45mm Weber’s fitted and an aftermarket boosted brake system The motor was a little tired and a new one was built by ACM in Bathurst and runs a manifold injected nitrous system

I originally purchased the car with the intention of running a supercharged V6 Commodore motor but after much advice decided to keep the car as original as possible. The twin-cam 2lt Bertone certainly has enough punch to be fun in a 700 kg car. The car has phenomenal handling ability and will certainly corner harder than I am brave. I chose the Nitrous as a performance product that allows me to easily put the car back to original specs we also fitted an electronic ignition system and fuel pump as well as some new gauges and taco to keep track of the engine better. The paint job on the car is a bit ordinary and I will be respraying the car in the same colour with maybe some soft ghost flames somewhere. To drive the car is loud hot and a little cramped for someone of my size and I love every minute of it, my wife is sick of me forgetting things so I just have to slip back into town...