MID season livery changes are nothing unusual in V8 Supercars but they will have a special significance for the Bathurst 1000.

Almost half the cars on the grid will sport different paintwork to previous rounds.

Some, like Russell Ingall's Supercheap Auto Commodore and Shane van Gisbergen's Stone Brothers Falcon, have made the change for the sake of it but others are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Great Race in style.

Ford Performance Racing have gone all out, with their two main Falcons, which will be driven by Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards and Will Davison and John McIntyre, resembling the Falcons that produced a 1-2 form finish in 1977.

The Bottle-O car of David Reynolds and Dean Canto looks perhaps even more impressive in its British racing green that mimics the look of the 1967 Bathurst winner driven by Harry Firth and Fred Gibson.

That was the first win by a Falcon at Bathurst and Reynolds and Canto will also carry the 52D number of Firth and Gibson.

Dick Johnson racing has created another stunner while celebrating their heritage. Tru Blu are making a reappearance on the side of the James Moffat/ Alex Davison Falcon, which will also carry #17 for the weekend.

From the Holden side of the fence, Team Vodafone has probably been most proactive. Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff will pilot a Commodore that looks similar to Peter Brock's 1979 Bathurst winning Torana.

Not to be outdone by anyone else, they choppered the Commodore to the track, allowing those at the top of the Mountain a good look at the car before placing it down at Skyline for Craig Lowndes and Bev Brock to drive it down to the pits.

The second Team Vodafone car of Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell will wear the usual livery.

The only other Holden to have made a retro change is the Fair Dinkum Sheds car of Karl Reindler and Daniel Gaunt. It doesn't resemble any particular car from the past but is still a nice little touch.

Disappointingly HRT appear that they won't be doing anything with their paint jobs. They celebrated the 20th anniversary of their first Bathurst win in 2010 by using the old navy blue and white design but have decided not to make a change this time around.

There have been some fantastic Holden winners in the past including Colin Bond's 1969 Monaro, several of Brock's cars, the Chickadee Commodore of Allan Grice and Graeme Bailey and some of Mark Skaife's HRT wins. It's disappointing that none of those will be represented.

The same could be said for some historic Ford liveries including Moffat's GTHOs, the John Goss/ Kevin Bartlett winner from 1974, Dick Johnson's Greens Tuf Falcon, as well as his Shell liveried car.

The good thing is that many of these original cars will be on view over the weekend, either at the National Motor Racing Museum or the Legends Museum behind the pit complex.

What do you think about the changes to the livery? Comment below.